Yeah, all the "made for TV" restoration programs have the same issue -- an
artificially tight deadline imposed merely to create dramatic tension. The
producers don't care if the final product has some detail shortcomings, so
long as it looks shiny for the cameras, and actually moves under its own
power (and most importantly, they have captured a few screaming arguments
among the team members). Once the program is over, they couldn't care less.
I was just watching a show on reconstructing a Roman catapult. First, they
decide it has to be built in 10 days, because Roman accounts of the siege of
Jerusalem in 70AD mention building catapults in 10 days. Yeah, but the Roman
military engineers had a set of proven plans, and previous experience
constructing that exact design, and unlimited manpower. Then they decide
that they don't have the resources to hand-twist 3 miles of sinew rope,
which provides the power for the catapult, and substitute polyurethane rope,
which turns out to be grossly inadequate. I'm grumbling, "Hmmph! The Romans
would have slaughtered 500 cows, and had 1000 slaves crank it out in a few
days." Or more appropriately for today's sensibilities, with a little
foresight they could have quietly started rope production a few months in
advance of filming. Otherwise, what was the point of the entire exercise?
It was like reconstructing the Wright Flyer, then deciding they didn't have
enough time to fabricate a replica Wright engine, and substituting a modern
light plane engine instead... or a rubber band.
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the primer red one with chrome wires
on 1/24/06 10:14 AM, Dodd, Kelvin at doddk@mossmotors.com wrote:
> This sprang to mind, as I remembered the last ground up restoration I
> did for someone.
>
> They came over one day to see how I was doing and I told them I was
> going to drive the car around the block for the first time.
>
> They asked if they could drive the test run, and I said, well ok.
>
> Note, this was not a professional restoration, but a favor.
>
>
> I did not see them again for two weeks. Then the guy came in and
> complained that some of the switches were not working.
>
> No wonder, since I had never hooked them up! All I had done was get the
> car drivable, nothing else had been finished.
>
>
>
> Kelvin.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul T. Root [mailto:ptroot@iaces.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 10:11 AM
> To: Dodd, Kelvin
> Cc: Eric Erickson; MG LIST
> Subject: Re: Mark Evans MG for sale
>
> That's true, I hadn't thought of that.
>
> They never even mentioned wiring, if I remember correctly.
> That seems to be typical. Watching "Overhaulin'" once in a
> while, they never say a word about wires.
>
> Dodd, Kelvin wrote:
>> Ummm. I might point out that the car was built on a very tight
>> schedule. Even though overall the quality of the work looks really
>> good, I'd be a little leery of the car being "well sorted".
>>
>> The reality of the time lines and production schedules mean that there
>> may be a lot of sorting that needs to be done that was glossed over.
>>
>> Just a thought.
>>
>> Kelvin.
|