Brad,
Just watch Antiques Roadshow sometime. I have seen pieces of furniture that un
"refinished" that would go for $100,000 but after Frank's meddling would only
be worth
$10,000. This is commonplace with antique furniture but whether the same goes
for a
steering wheel, I don't know. Stripping off the old, black, gunky Shellac is
not the way
to value. If it is just for you and ascetics, do what you want but you could be
removing a
significant portion of the value.
I remember one show a lady had a beautiful Philadelphia chest-on-chest that was
refinished. She said it was all black and icky and wanted to see the beautiful
wood
underneath. In its present form I believe it was worth about $15,000. If in the
original
condition it would have been worth several hundred thousand. The look on her
face was
priceless. Pun intended.
Andy
You get the motor worked on yet.
Frank Clarici wrote:
> 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.
> --
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