Brad Fornal wrote:
> Restoring Vs Value
Brad
who is to say the "professional" who "restored" your car was a Sprite
"professional"?
What if the guy was a corvette specialist?
Would that make all the fiberglass on your sprite more valuable?
I once contracted a window and vinyl siding job, I installed the new windows,
had the siding delivered to the job and just started to put it up when the
owner asked me what I was doing? I told her "siding"
She proceeded to tell me I was NOT a professional sider because it did NOT say
so on my truck! Needless to say, she was dead serious so I subed the siding
part out to a "professional sider" who had "siding" written on his truck. I
also made her wait 3 months for "the professional"
Back to the question, what makes someone a profession restorer?
Price?, Name on his shop? You could print up some letterheads and call
yourself Brad's Professional Austin Healey Sprite Restoration shop.
Heck, Geoff Healey personaly told me I was able to use the the word
"Authorized" Healey repairs. Does this make me a professional Healey mechanic?
No! But I can use (and I have the sign) Authorized Austin Healey repair. If I
did it for money,. it would no longer be a hobby and no longer be fun.
Now for the LL wheel. You can restore it yourself.
The black mung is semi melted varnish, hand oils and shop grease. lacquer
thinner will clean it off.
Rock Hard brand wood filler mixed with some walnut stain will fill the cracks,
sand it down, use a good oil based marine spar varnish, NOT polyurethane, and
spray it on. It will need about 8 coats to look like new. It is also the
period correct coating.
I am going to redo my wife's Formula wood wheel real soon, it's sun baked and
split too.
--
Frank Clarici
Toms River, NJ
Lots of Sprites
http://www.exit109.com/~spritenut
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