| Classic car restoration is not only about restoring a | | | | are willing to restore "as close as possible" to their |
| vehicle, it's about restoring the times of a bygone | | | | original states. |
| era. For hobbyists that restore these cars, it's a labor | | | | 2. Patience - It may sound paradoxical, but without |
| of love. | | | | patience, your chance of finishing your auto |
| Now, you've found the perfect classic car, perfect | | | | restoration are slim. You need patience because a |
| model - it just needs a little work. But, where to | | | | major restoration job is seldom without problems. |
| begin? The hardest part of any auto restoration | | | | You discover the fuel gauge is not working and you |
| project is determining the scope of the project. | | | | have to scrounge around for a replacement. Or, the |
| Without clear cut goals and budgets at the beginning, | | | | electrical system is suddenly becoming erratic and |
| you can easily find yourself in an endless and ongoing | | | | you lose two weeks time resolving the problem. |
| relationship with your automobile. Your money will | | | | Without patience, you may well decide to just give |
| rapidly transfer itself to your car, your time will | | | | up and abandon the project or leave it until another |
| disappear, and your automobile will never be quite | | | | day that never comes. |
| finished - because you'll always find some other slight | | | | 3. Love of Research - A good restorer, by necessity, |
| imperfection to work on and "fix". | | | | has to be a good researcher as well. A car restorer |
| There is no one right way to go about restoring a | | | | spends much of his time not actively working on the |
| car. But good restorers do have common traits that | | | | auto, but finding what replacement parts are needed |
| separate them from the ones that never seem to | | | | for his classic car and locating them. There are times |
| finish their restoration jobs. | | | | when you will find yourself literally doing research for |
| 1. The ability to set realistic goals - No matter how | | | | an entire day. If you don't love research - or at least |
| long you take or how much money you spend, you | | | | like it a lot - you can be sure of many miserable days |
| will never be able to restore a classic car exactly to | | | | ahead. |
| it's state when it was originally brought to the | | | | 4. Good manual skills - This goes without saying but |
| market. Body paints are produced differently now | | | | unless you love working with your hands and have |
| than in the past so while you can easily get a color | | | | some skills to speak of, you might just as well take |
| match, you will never get an exact paint ingredient | | | | your checkbook out and pay someone to restore |
| match. Likewise, the formulations of finishing materials | | | | the car for you, because you'll never get it done |
| such as varnishes, enamels, and so on are no longer | | | | yourself. |
| the same. And the same is true for many of the | | | | It seems as though the hobby of restoring classic |
| other classic car components. So you, as the | | | | cars is having a resurgence but before you decide to |
| restorer, have to set realistic goals as to exactly | | | | take the leap yourself and outfit your garage with |
| what parts of the car you are going to restore to | | | | installation tools, make sure you have the traits that |
| their original states and what parts of the car you | | | | will let you succeed at your new hobby. |