Hi Rande,
I don't disagree with your assessment of the Miles Tiger, or of Bo
Cheadle's efforts, one bit. I overheard parts of his conversations with
others, including Dick Barker, where they swapped stories about the
efforts they went through to find the correct parts or track down the
original parts for their respective cars, and I have nothing but
admiration for the tenacity and determination that was required to turn
their Tigers from piles of scattered parts, to the showpieces they are
today. The level of effort they went through was well above and beyond
what is required for an ordinary restoration, and they didn't cut any
corners. In both their cases, the cars were far from 'original' when
they came into their ownership, and I think there's a difference between
restoring a car such as the Miles car, where you're undoing thirty years
of poor stewardship, and restoring a car such as Bill Carroll's, that's
been taken care of in a manner that reflects the owner's appreciation
for what the car means to the Tiger community.
I'm no expert on the various Ferrari and Maserati sports racers that
were built in the fifties, but as I understand it, there was a trend
when 'restoring' them, where it was standard procedure to grind down and
smooth out all the welds on the frame because that looked better. Of
course in the process, they would also wipe away any sign of the
craftsmanship (or lack of it, I suppose) that was used to create the
frames to begin with. When I wrote 'it's only original once', it's more
that kind of erasing of history that I was thinking of.
My Tiger has holes on the rear shelf where a previous owner mounted a
roll bar. It had a couple of extra holes in the transmission tunnel for
easier access to the bellhousing bolts. There was some tremendous road
rash on the right front lower control arm, and the chassis still has
stress cracks on the rear spring mounts. It's been three different
colors - the original 86 green, a darker red, and the current Carnival
red. The engine that I took out is a 289 five bolt with polished heads
and a cam. I've added in a welded-in roll bar, patched the transmission
tunnel holes, and I'm in the process of doing some very non-stock
suspension work, besides putting in the 5.0.
All of these non-original things are restorable, but it's also part of
what makes my Tiger what it is - it's all the things that it's been over
the last 39 years, for the other owners, and for me. The car got all of
these things through its lifetime, and I for one would be thrilled if I
showed the car at some meet and someone were to walk up, have a good
look at the car, and then tell me that they knew the car because of some
little thing that they did with it.
This doesn't mean that I can't understand the 'original is best' point
of view - I have kept any original parts that I've removed from the car,
because they are part of the car even if they're not currently ON the
car... if you know what I mean.
Best regards,
Theo
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