I would add just one element to what's been discussed. That's the definition
of "restored."
The automatic assumption is often that when a car is "restored," followed by
any number of adjectives suggesting immaculate attention to detail, the car is
like new. Don't be surprised by the shakedown bugs you'll find as you drive it
for any length of time. These are often invisible to concourse judges, but can
leave one coughing distractedly into one's fist at the side of the road when
one finds, for instance, that one should have used a pliable red wire instead
of bigger rigid stranded wire from the alternator conversion, to find the wire
broke because of vibration.
When one finds one, one fixes one, then two, then three. My sister describes
my experience with my '68 MGB in college as "his torso under the hood, his butt
in the air."
Three-quarters cool, one quarter embarrasment. But I'd rather be embarrassed
with a cool car than yawning in a modern compact.
Terry Smith, '59 TR3A
New Hamsphire
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