What Carchaeologists Could Learn from Henry Jones (Post # 98)

Archaeology
Dr. Henry Jones and his son Indiana--the two most famous "archaeologists" in the world--are racing across Europe to beat the Nazis to an artifact of unimaginable power: the Holy Grail. They stop at a crossroads. Indiana wants to press on to Jordan, but Henry insists that they turn back to Berlin to recover the notebook he compiled containing cryptic clues to the Grail's location, which has fallen into enemy hands. Exasperated, Indiana says "Well you wrote it down, can't you remember it?" With infinite restraint Henry responds, "I wrote it down so I wouldn't HAVE to remember it."

The point is don't trust your memory. Real archaeologists take it one step further: "If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen!"

Indiana to Henry Jones: "Well don't you remember?!"

Carchaeology

If there is anyone out there reading this blog who is also in the throes of a restoration project, this post is for you. In my experience with vendors, collectors, and even authorities on the subject of rare old cars like The Alfatross, there is not nearly enough note taking, record keeping, sketching, or photography going on. There are exceptions of course, but a lot of people in the business seem to prefer, or at least rely on "word-of-mouth conventional wisdom" rather than actual hard evidence. Sometimes there isn't any hard evidence-- because nobody ever wrote anything down and made it accessible to the rest of us! Meanwhile, unverifiable claims that go unchallenged and repeated often enough become "fact".

Mea Culpa

I, too, am guilty of inadequate recording and it has come back to haunt me more than once. When I took the engine out in 1981 I removed the carbs, generator, starter, and other external bits and pieces thinking that I would restore them over the next few weeks as time and resources permitted. I didn't take any photos or make sketches or notes. Surely I would remember exactly where they came from and how they went together. And I probably did--for the first several decades, but 30 years later I had a rude awakening.

I wrote it down so I wouldn't HAVE to remember!

In a recent post I mentioned that the starter I supplied to the engine builder did not fit, even though it is the "right" Magneti Marelli unit of Italian manufacture specified in the manual and the one that was on the car when I bought it in 1969. I had no explanation for these problems, and no records to consult.

Eventually, memory did come to the rescue when I remembered the broken starter I found in the trunk when I bought the car 46 years ago. It was a German Bosch unit, with a very heavy cast iron nose cone. From appearances and intuition it was not the "right" thing at all--except that it was the original starter, as verified by the brushed-on silver paint matching the silver used to paint over the original black of the engine bay!

It makes me wonder what judges at concours d'elegance rely on. Not only do they not have authoritative sources to consult for each and every different car they are supposed to judge, but they have only a few minutes to look over any particular entry. How do you decide what's "right" and what's "wrong"? That's a question I ask myself every day when working on The Alfatross.

The Digital Revolution to Our Rescue

I prefer to communicate with vendors and experts using e-mail, but I notice that many of them would rather talk on the phone. Problem is, once the call is over there isn't any record of what was discussed or decided. Nothing written down, no paper trail, no way to prove it ever happened.

After pestering contractors for photos and updates on the progress they are making with my project, sometimes I hear things like "I'm too busy working to write stuff down or take pictures! Things like that take a lot of time and interrupt the work. Anyway, I'm a mechanic (or body man or painter or . . . ), not a writer or photographer!"

Maybe that used to be true, but communication has never been easier, faster, cheaper--or more important--than it is today. Digital images are just as easy to compile and send as words are. E-mail messages with images and even links to Web sites and videos are instantaneous and free. What more could you ask for? 

The restorer who takes the time to acquire those skills and add them to his repertoire will be better able to help his clients understand the skills and procedures it takes to do the job and why the process takes so long. And the best part is it automatically creates a record of the decision-making and restoration processes, which may not seem important at the moment, but will be absolutely critical at some point in the future.