this might be a dumb question but it has been nagging me for a while. what makes an "all original" car all original? 1. is it that every piece on the car is what was on it the day it left the showroom. meaning the parts have been rebuilt to keep it this way? or 2. can an "all original" car have new parts, i.e. new wheel cylinders, radiator, ect. that are specific to the model but are not what came on the car? hopefully this question makes sense to someone other than me . maybe im just thinking too much.
Exactly, it really depends on who you're talking too. Most "all original" cars do have updated saftey features, I see alot of "all original" '32's and Model A's with hydraulic brakes and a dual master cylinder. This one is gonna be split down the middle I think.
original? my mothers 1932 Chevy coupe,18,000 miles,still on it's original tyres ,recapped in 1940 (!) Same paint and upholstery as it had when it left the production line in 1932.The car is long gone but I still have the 1932 issue plates from it. I tend to judge any 'original' car against that one ..
Man this is a can of worms to open. I always figured "all original" ment the way it originally sat on the showroom floor when new. One has to remember a lot of those cars were shipped pretty bare and most of the accessories were dealer add ons. (Even the heaters were an extra cost item up into the late 50's mid 60's.) So proper for the year dealer add ons are ok even if they are ugly. For too many guys around this area "original" means that they didn't chop it or take the chrome off. But I think the all original thing can be carried to far sometimes. Several years ago my students and I hosted a local car show. one of the participants towed a bone stock survivor 57 chev 4 door sedan in on a trailer behind a spiffy black Nomad. He was all to hell proud of the 57 Sedan because it had won a trophy at a national 57 meet as the "most original 57 in the country." The car was nice and definetly was all original right down to the hoses and tires but the chrome was worn and the paint was worn through to the primer. It didn't get a second glance all day while the Nomad that the kids and I had to beg him to enter took first in cl*** and was heavily in the running for peoples choice. I think the only item that had been changed on the 57 since new was the oil filter, it was that box stock.
Typically, original means that all of the parts are the appropriate parts that would have been on there when it was built at the factory. It doesn't necessarily mean that it made up of the exact parts that that particular car came from, nor does it mean that the parts are original period parts, as opposed to reproductions. This is where there is all sorts of jargon to the resto boys to identify just how original it is. An unrestored original will quite likely refer to a stocker that has never been rebuilt, but it's possilble (probable) that repairs have been made along the way. It's quality is based on not only how well it's preserved but how extensive those repairs were: i.e. changing the spark plugs and replacing the wiper blades, no big deal, replacing and painting the whole front end due to a wreck, well that's another story. Most likely these cars will show the ravages of age and use. The term numbers matching means that all major parts on the car are the ones that came on that car. This can apply to unrestored as well as restored cars. Sometimes you'll hear a car judged on a percentage. A 99% or 99 point car is usually certified by the accepted experts to be restored or preserved as close to absolute original as humanly possible. I suppose the only way to get a 100% car would be to have a car sealed in a vac*** since the day it was built, but these guys go to amazing lengths to get as close as they can. I've had people ask me to purposely screw up pinstriping because it wasn't straight from the factory.... hey, can do buddy I've seen restorers drive painters nuts wanting just the right amount of overspray in just the right area, because thats how it came from the factory. I've seen em add chalk markings to specific areas to recreate where some supervisor approved a car before it left he plant. Basically, just like every other genre of cars building, it depends on your particular point of view as to what a term means and just how snobby your gonna be to other cars. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Restorers have a harder job that hot rodders. We can do anything we want, with any parts we want, with any level of quality we want, while restos gotta follow a rule book down to the letter. Harder? Yes. More Fun? HELL NO! I don't like to color inside the lines, and after all this, I feel the need to go out in the garage and cut up something old.
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