. . . And I Thought It Was Clean! (Post # 51)

The Alfatross has been at the Vintage Autocraft Spa for Collector Cars for about four months now getting massaged and pampered as never before. Vintage Autocraft's invoices list the on-going processes:

1. construct a body cart and transfer The Alfatross from its rotisserie.
2. remove the drip rails and clean off the filler
3. soak the hood latch mechanisms and restore functionality
4. install hood and deck lid to check fit
5. remove deck lid skin from frame for repairs, bead blast and epoxy prime frame.
6. clean corrosion from deck lid skin
7. remove door skins, blast frames and skins.  Repair rust on frames.  weld and re-drill door panel attaching screen holes to fit 2.9 mm screws
8. epoxy prime door frames
9. repair door skins 
10. Media blast and repair corrosion damage in left front wheel well by welding and grinding
11. Fabricate and weld small rust repair at base of left rear drip base and quarter window

The Alfatross gets a butt-lift:  One of the problem areas on the body was the trunk.  At some point in the past the trunk area was dinted and the trunk area just didn't match the contours of the body anymore.  This necessitated removing the steel frame from the aluminum skin and bringing everything back into alignment--not an easy job!  

Let's face it, the last 60 years has been pretty hard on all of us--Cars and people alike.  But unlike us people, in the hands of a skilled plastic--I mean body--surgeon like Tim Marinos The Alfatross can be restored to its former beauty and youthful appearance. 

The steel frame around the perimeter of the trunk lid was tweaked.  The way
 to straighten the frame was to remove the aluminum skin.  Ouch!   

The analogy with surgery on humans is apt: As the following images show, once the knife is applied and the skin peeled back it is not a sight for the faint of heart.  It's the sight of rust, not blood, that makes me cringe! 

The Alfatross' skeleton is made of mild steel with little or no corrosion protection applied by Alfa Romeo when it was built in 1955.  So the surgeon's first task is to expose and inspect elements of the skeleton.  Because the aluminum skin is wrapped around the steel skeleton the surgeon does not have the option of physically separating the body from the chassis for a "frame off" restoration.  Another complication is the fact that many of the elements of the skeleton are hollow: round- and square-section tubes that might look fine on the outside, but be hiding dangerous levels of corrosion inside.  

Repairing the corrosion inside the left front wheel well necessitates removal
of  the outer panel to expose the area behind it.

Corrosion inside the left front wheel well is a good example of how insidious this type of corrosion can be.  The exterior corrosion is obvious, but what lies behind it, inside the enclosed space?  You could just repair the exterior surface, but what if the corrosion is more extensive?  We want The Alfatross to last another 60 years, so let's do it right!  All the following images courtesy of Vintage Autocraft.

Here is the same area after "debriding" the corroded panel and affected areas
 hidden behind it--a good example of hidden damage that would have been an
even bigger problem later if only the outer panel had been treated.  

The same area following debridement and welding in replacement panels
with the appropriate contours.

The same area ground down and epoxy coated.  The outer panel still has to
be shaped, welded in, and epoxied.

Another example: The bottom of the radiator bulkhead on the right side
 showing the corroded panel .

The same panel in the radiator bulkhead after cutting out the corroded part
and welding in the replacement.  

It looks like The Alfatross will be at the Vintage Autocraft spa for a while. Tim has identified a lot of other areas on the chassis that need rust repair.  The doors, hood and trunk all have aluminum skins wrapped around steel skeletons--and the potential for corrosion in the hidden spaces between them.  

When all of that is finished the doors, hood, trunk, windows and trim will have to be test fitted to make sure they fit before moving on to the bodywork stage.  Keep those photos and descriptions coming, Tim!

Time for a Switch (Post # 50)

Now that the engine is in Arizona, the body in Tennessee, and the interior in Massachusetts, I can resume work on the various sub-assemblies such as the electrical system and its components.  The Alfatross came with six toggle switches.  Electrical appliances in those days were minimal:

1. Headlights and running lights
2. Dash and interior lights
3. Heater fan
4. Windshield wipers
5. Driving and fog lights
6. Electric fuel pump switch?

The Alfatross' six toggle switches were mounted "upside down"  beneath the dash.

The dashboard layout for one of the Alfatross' brethren shows only four toggle switches, with one of them operating the electric fuel pump.  

The switches themselves are a study in the evolution of automotive electrical engineering. Compared to today's solid-state, "no user serviceable parts inside" electrical switches and appliances these switches are prehistoric art. When I removed them from the dash I was surprised to see that their internal workings were completely exposed.  No attempt was made to shield the contacts from the elements or accidental short-circuiting.  But they are rugged in spite of each switch being made up of no less than 23 individual parts! They were deceptively simple-looking and fairly easy to disassemble (the toggles needed cleaning up and refinishing), but fiendishly difficult to reassemble.  It took hours for Jeff and I to figure out how to reassemble the first one, but only minutes for the rest.

An assembled switch.  All of the toggle switches
are open-sided and unprotected, like this one.
Even after 60 years they work perfectly.

Is it a switch or an example of industrial art?  Counting the
rivets and fasteners, there are at least 23 parts per switch!

Comparing the Alfatross' circuits and appliances with the electrical schematic in the repair manual for 1900C Super Sprints, revealed some important differences. The manual shows that one of the toggle switches activates the "auxiliary heater."  Being a race car with only basic creature comforts, The Alfatross had a simple heater and small electric fan, but no auxiliary heater. So what did that switch operate? I think the switch dedicated to that circuit now controls the driving and fog lights on either side of the central vertical front grill, but I will have to compare it with the actual wiring harness to be sure.  

Electrical schematic for the 1900C Super Sprint, the chassis modified by Zagato.  41 is the heater switch.  38 is the windshield wipers.  54 is the aux heater/driving and fog lights.  8 is the dash and interior lights.  9 is the headlights and running lights.

This list, along with the schematic drawings above, identifies all the electrical appliances in The Alfatross and provides hints to their location.

Another surprise gleaned from the repair manual schematic was the presence of an engine compartment light, "portalampada" on the list and 46 in the schematic. No. 47 is listed as the switch for the light, but it seems to be in the engine compartment rather than on the dash.  Perhaps it was a mercury switch.  The existence of this light was a complete mystery to me until I took the time to closely examine the list and schematic. A large, round hole in the aluminum plate that holds the Alfatross' fuse box to the firewall may have been for this light, but I still don't know exactly what it looked like.  

Can anyone out there in the Blogosphere give me a clue?  

   

The arrow points to what I think is the engine compartment light.  I found this image on the Internet and do not know which 1900 Z it is, but it is the only one I have ever seen that had a light under the hood.  The Alfatross has the same mounting plate on the firewall for the square fuse box to the right of the light, and a hole where the light should be, but no light.

Real? Or Really Real? (Post # 49)

With respect to Historically Important Automobiles there is a lot of talk about "authenticity" and "originality."  These are surprisingly tricky words.  I prefer to consider the concepts involved rather than the words, which don't have precise meanings.   

We're trying to keep The Alfatross original but there are a lot of areas where that is clearly impossible.  I think we can all agree that not having the original spark plugs is not too big a disappointment.  Ditto the tires, headlight bulbs, the oil in the crankcase, the gas in the tank, the air in the tires.  At the other end of the spectrum it wouldn't be asking too much for the car to have original paint, exterior trim, interior, engine, wheels, tool kit, and other similarly fundamental items.

Then there's all the bits and pieces in between that are iffy . . . .  

After almost 60 years most of the rubber grommets, seals, weather stripping, and gaskets have given up the ghost.  Of course you can't find replacements at your local NAPA parts supplier.  After 60 years even most stocks of rubber "new old parts" are no longer usable.  Face it: with the possible exception of weather stripping you're going to have to make your own rubber parts. 

Yes, there are a lot of rubber pars in a car, and a lot of different types of rubber to do very different jobs.  Most of it has a a very limited life span compared to metals and even plastics.

Fortunately, molding and casting are not new skills that I have to acquire.  There's a lot of that in archaeology, particularly with objects found in the sea. In warm, tropical waters iron decays rapidly. As it does so a chemical reaction occurs which causes minerals dissolved in seawater to precipitate on the surface of the object forming an encrustation.  Sometimes relatively small objects literally dissolve inside the encrustation, but not before creating a perfect natural mold.      

All you have to do is break the encrustation apart, clean out the black sludge that is all that is left of the original iron object, dry it, put it back together, and inject the cavity with an epoxy resin.  After letting the epoxy set you carefully clean the encrustation off the epoxy cast to reveal a perfect replica of the original object.  

These "artifacts" from a ship that sank in the Turks & Caicos Islands about 500 years ago are actually resin casts made from cavities inside natural molds of calcareous deposits that formed around the original artifacts.  The detail preserved in these natural molds is astonishing.

Here's where the real vs. really real dilemma pops up.  Are those epoxy casts not "real"?  The original object is a black, stinking paste. You could pour it into a jar and save it because it's "really real", but why?  Compare the "really real" jar of sludge with the epoxy cast.  The cast is so perfect that it often includes the first layer of rust that formed on the object when it fell into the sea.  It is far more faithful and authentic to the original object than other iron objects from the same site that dissolve inside their encrustations--but it isn't "real" according to the dictionary.  

The rocks on top of Sapodilla Hill in the Turks & Caicos Islands are covered with inscriptions featuring names, dates, ships, flags, and even buildings dating back as far as 1767.  We made molds and casts of many of them.to preserve the information they contain.   One of these rocks is the original.  The other is a cast.  Which is which?  

We do the same thing on land sites to record ancient inscriptions in stone. We make RTV rubber molds of the inscriptions in the field, then cast them in plaster reinforced with a polymer resin.  The casts are then more durable than the original stone.  We discovered that if you spray them with a thin water-based color coat and let it settle, details emerge that were never visible before.  But the inscription casts are not "real"--they are better than real!  

Back to The Alfatross and its rubber parts.  So molding and casting is no big deal--but there's a catch. Synthetic rubber parts come in all sorts of different compounds: hard, soft, oil-resistant, photo-sensitive, elastic, stiff, foamy, solid--you name it, the variety is endless. So one compound does not fit all.  
The compound has to match the job's requirements.

And that's not the only complication.  The original parts usually can't serve and the "positive" from which you can make a "negative" mold for the casting of the final part because after 60 years they are wrinkled, cracked, swollen, shrunken, or otherwise no longer faithful to the original part.  So you have to make a replica positive that you then use to make the negative mold from which you can a rubber positive.  It's a long, tedious process that's worth while when you are making multiple replica parts, but very inefficient for just one!

What happens to original parts over time and exposure to solvents and the environment.  All these parts are the same.  Only the second from right retains its shape and dimensions.

So I have a lot to learn, and it's going to take another post or several to explain what I've learned so far though a series of experiments.  One thing is clear already: if you can find a reliable source for decent rubber parts, BUY THEM!  Don't try to make them yourself unless there is no alternative! 

Tool Time (Post # 48)

I remember the days when cars came with tool kits.  These days a lot of them don't even have a spare tire anymore.  If (when) you develop a problem with a modern car you hook it up to a computer.  We're not drivers anymore.  We're operators of self-propelled computer systems.

At least they still look like cars . . . .

The Alfatross was made when breakdowns and tune-ups were expected, not considered lamentable evidence of poor design or craftsmanship.  Making your own repairs were welcome opportunities to bond with your vehicle on a nice Saturday afternoon.  Your tool kit was an essential part of your vehicle and as such it was treated with respect.  It  included special tools specific to your vehicle: wrenches for adjusting the valves, removing and installing spark plugs, and appropriate tools for draining the oil pan and fuel tank.

The normal tool kit supplied with every Alfa 1900 according to the 136 page owner's manual.  The Alfatross' kit  may not have contained No. 10, the lug wrench, or No. 13, the hubcap lever because it came with wire wheels.   The little hammer is a mystery.  It's too small for knock-off hubs.What was it supposed to be used for?  

Miraculously, most of the Alfatross' tool kit somehow survived,  Here I have to admit that during the many decades I had the car but was not doing anything with it, I found some of these tools quite useful.  The open-end wrenches, the side-cutter pliers, the tubular socket wrench were all pressed into service at one time or another on other vehicles.  I know it sounds like sacrilege now, but from 1965 until 1990, The Alfatross was just another used car.  Who cared about its tool kit?

The tool roll and jack bags are long gone,  but I have all the original tools except the screwdriver, feeler gauge, little hammer, and  the rod for twisting the tubular socket wrench.  

I don't know what happened to the original tool bag or the one just for the jack and lug nut wrench.  They were not with the car when I bought it.  For all I know the tools associated with steel wheels and lug nuts were never included with the car because it wore Borrani wire wheels.  But the leather straps that held the tool kit were still there, withered and crusty, still screwed down to the top of the rear axle hump in the trunk.

One of the two leather straps that held the tool bag in place on top of the rear axle hump in the trunk.  

One of the previous owners, Paul Turner, inscribed his name on some of the tools.  If you Google Paul Turner you will get "about 60, 200,000" results. Before I start scrolling through 60 million results, I'd like to narrow the search down a little.  According to Pat Braden,  he "found" the car for Paul Turner who became owner number 4 in about 1960.  Turner lived in the Chicago area and was an Alfa Romeo Owners Club member.  Braden had the right of first refusal so when Turner was ready to sell, Braden bought it in about 1962, becoming owner number 5. 

That's all I know about owner number 4--other than he coveted the tools enough to scratch his name into them!  I tried tracing Paul through the AROC, but was told by the current  membership officer that old club member records were discarded years ago.  If Turner had lived in Lizard Lick North Carolina, I suppose it might be worth while to have a go at cold-calling all the Turners in town (how many could there be?),   But Chicago?  No way.   

You can just make out the name "Turner" on this valve adjuster tool.

Paul Turner's name is clearly visible on this open-end wrench,.  I don't know if he is still alive somewhere, but  the few minutes or seconds he spared to engrave his name on these tools firmly establish his claim to previous ownership of The Alfatross.  

If the original tools had not survived I probably would not have known that a tool kit came with it originally.  Or I might have assumed that normal Alfa 1900s may have had tool kits but Zagato would not have bothered to include them with the chassis that they re-bodied.  But now I feel I should find the three missing tools to complete the set.  Then there is locating a proper tool roll and jack bag . . . where does it all end?  

Tempus Fugit--whether you're having fun or not! (Post # 47)

With my initial overly-optimistic goal of substantially finishing The Alfatross by the end of 2013 now clearly unachievable, it's time for an honest progress evaluation.  On the whole, I am pleased with the progress made in 2013.  I learned a lot and made some very important connections.  The Santa Fe Concorso in September was a turning point, raising my awareness of what car collecting, restoration, and judging are all about and causing me to re-evaluate my previous decisions.

One area I neglected this year was research into the Alfatross' history. Establishing a race history for the car (if any) is important, and seems likely because it was built to race.  The Sanremo badge on the dash is still a mystery.  I know that there has been a Sanremo rally every year since 1997, but did they also exist in the 1950s?  I have written to the organizers of the modern rally, but so far I am none the wiser.  

The Sanremo badge on the Alfatross' dashboard.  Is it evidence of
competition history, or just a decoration?

Even more important is locating former owners Carl Joseph Michels, Will Henderson, and Paul Turner, the second, third, and fourth owners, respectively.  Did any of them race the car in the US?  This is a real challenge. You wouldn't believe how many Will Henderson and Paul Turner entries there are on the Internet--almost 64 million for Henderson!  I need more to go on than just a name.  

The following is a year-end review for the three main restoration tasks that I have entrusted to specialist restorers: the mechanicals and engine, the chassis and body, and the interior trim and upholstery.

The Mechanicals and Engine

The wheels, brakes, suspension, differential, drive shafts, u-joints and transmission were easy to restore and are now just waiting re-installation. But the engine is another story.  At this point the Alfatross' engine has spent almost 10 years in various restorer's shops and still seems to be a long way from finished.  

In my perception of the overall restoration process, I always considered paint, body, and interior to be the most difficult, time-consuming, and expensive elements requiring the most skill and experience.  In contrast, the engine is just . . . an engine . . . and a simple one at that.  Frankly, communication with the engine builders has been sporadic and terse, at least from my perspective.  They have not accomplished nearly as much as I expected of them.  It is probably my biggest disappointment this year.  That said, I will give them credit for their attention to engineering details.  They know what they're doing.  I am reluctant to second guess them, but there is not doubt my engine has spent more time on their back burner than it should.

Damage to the hemispherical combustion chamber of cylinder no, 3.  

Heavy wear on  this cab lobe will require building up and re-profiling.

What's been accomplished:

The engine is at Standard Machine, Phoenix AZ.  Disassembly revealed a number of obvious problem areas that require attention in addition to all the normal procedures required during an engine rebuild:

• damage to the hemispherical combustion chamber for cylinder number 3,
• heavy wear on several cam lobes,
• evidence of poor lubrication on one of the main bearings
• valve seats recessed into the head by previous valve work
• valve edges ground too thin
• wear in the cylinder walls and damage to one piston    

The block, head, crank, and major components of the engine were tested and inspected for "fatal flaws," but none were found. Pistons, rods, valves, valve springs, guides, main studs and timing chains have been purchased and the cams and crank are slated for machining and friction-reduction coatings.  Flow-bench testing produced data on how well the engine breathes.

My hope is that with all this preliminary work done the reassembly of the engine can proceed quickly.  Rebuilding the carburetors, refinishing the visible surfaces, test running the engine and tuning it still remain.

Flow bench testing the carbs, intake manifold, and cylinder head.  

Lessons learned: 

• With the engine I made the "How hard can it be?" mistake.  Yes, it is a simple, small-displacement 4-cylinder engine, but no, that doesn't mean just any mechanic or machinist can sort it out.  It can be a challenge to restore--not because it is technically difficult or because parts are hard to find, but because it is perceived as part of an historically important automobile and therefore every decision has to be agonized over. Consequently, progress is slow, deliberate and expensive.
• . . . But  the good news is that a lot of parts are readily available due to a resurgence in interest in Alfa 1900s and the efficiency of the Internet.
• In retrospect, I could have saved a lot of time and money if I had thoroughly researched the subject of 1900 engines to learn who the real experts are and which shops have produced the kind of final product I am looking for at a reasonable price and in a timely manner. 

The Chassis and Body

Perhaps because the Zagato body is what makes The Alfatross both rare and valuable, it has been the most critical element in the restoration.  The chassis and body are currently at Vintage Autocraft in Lebanon, TN, undergoing rust repair of the steel chassis, re-attachment of doors, windows, trim, hood and boot lids to check for fit, surface preparation and painting.  Tim Marinos is supervising all the work.  He estimates the time required at 1,000 hours.

The Alfatross is off its rotisserie and on a cart at Vintage Autocraft .

The steel chassis needs rust repair in several places such as
here at the bottom of the left front wheel well.

What's been accomplished: 

Plans supplied by Jean-Marc Freslon enabled us to build a rotisserie to make stripping the chassis and body down to bare metal using a combination of chemical and mechanical techniques both easier and more thorough. Hundreds of photos were taken to document the process.  

Even though The Alfatross was largely complete and original when I acquired it, part of my "due diligence" has been to look very carefully at other 1900 Zagatos that are thought to be original to see how they compare. After all, The Alfatross had 6 owners before me and at least one repaint.   So research has been a big part of the effort, particularly with respect to body paint color, colors and finishes under the hood, in the trunk, and on the undercarriage.

Lessons learned:  

• Money spent on equipment can save a tremendous amount of time.
•  . . . But you need a lot of equipment just to prepare the chassis and body for patching and painting.  So far I spent more than $10,000 on a new compressor and associated filters, hoses, electrical installation, etc. Luckily, I was able to borrow a $3,000 industrial soda blaster and blasting cabinet from son Dave. Even with recycling, the cost of various blasting media was more than $2,000.  
• Soda blasting is very effective and safe on aluminum, but for removing undercoating and rust from steel you need aluminum oxide, glass beads, or sand.
• . . . But blasting is a lot more involved than the literature led me to believe. It requires a lot of finesse, experimentation, equipment modification, and fiddling with the controls.
• Achieving the correct final finishes and colors is paramount for a car like The Alfatross and requires the skill, experience, and technical knowledge of a seasoned professional familiar with the current concepts of "correct" restoration practices.  

The Interior

I have to admit that I underestimated what it would take to restore the interior.  Like the engine, the interior is spartan.  There is no fine wood inlay in the dash, no plush carpeting, no two-tone leather upholstery.  The materials are all functional vinyl in two shades of blue and four different textures.  The Alfatross was lacking its original carpeting when I bought it, so that will have to be reproduced by copying the surviving original carpeting in Joe Hayes car, *01915* (formerly the Ed Leerdam car). 

What's been accomplished: 

Tim Marinos encouraged me to contact Derrick Dunbar at Paul Russel and Company for an evaluation of the condition of The Alfatross' upholstery.  I sent him copies of all the photos and research material I accumulated as well as the driver's seat and samples of the different types of upholstery used in the Alfatross' interior.  In a subsequent conversation we agreed that the original fabrics could not be restored to a state commensurate with the rest of the car, so the best option is going to be to re-trim most of the interior using new vinyl similar or identical to the original.  We are hoping that the original headliner can be re-used after cleaning.  Tomorrow I am shipping the rest of the interior components--the seats, door panels, rear window shelf, headliner and other elements--to him.  After a bad experience using FedEx Ground to ship the first items to Derrick, I spent the holidays building crates for this next shipment which will travel strapped down to a pallet!

Based on evaluation of the material I have already sent him and experience re-trimming other similar interiors from the same period, Derrick estimates it will take on the order of 336 hours to complete and install.

Derrick Dunbar, trim master at Paul Russell and Company.  Sports Car International, May 2006.

Shippers beware!  This box containing the driver's seat
arrived ripped and battered at Paul Russell via Federal
Express in this condition.  Fortunately, the  packing  inside
the  box around the seat protected it from damage.  

For additional security, I decided to box all the upholstered interior  panels and seats and send them together on a pallet to Paul Russel and Company in Massachusetts for re-trimming.    

Lessons learned:

• It is difficult to resist the temptation to "over-restore" a spartan interior like the Alfatross'.  
• Pack anything you have to send out with the certain knowledge that it will be handled roughly by the shippers.
• There is a big difference between a good trim shop and one that is good and has experience in the nuances of preserving authenticity and originality.
• Separating paint and body work from interior work means that your car will have to be shuttled from one shop to the next, adding time and expense to the overall restoration process. 

So much for 2013.  Today is the first day of 2014 and time for a new Completion Date goal:  September 1, 2014.  How hard can it be?  All it takes is time and money . . . .

All It Takes Is Time and Money (Post # 46)

More than 11 months ago I wrote in the second post to this blog: 

In December 2012, I was contacted by two different parties within days of each other who wanted to buy my car.  Both  needed a Zagato-bodied Alfa Romeo 1900 to add to their collections and both had been looking for such a car for more than a year.  It slowly dawned on me that I had the car, the workshop, the time, and now buyers.  Could 2013 be the year I free myself at last of the Alfatross?  That revelation was the genesis of this blog.  Starting January 1, 2013,  I am going to do my best to finish the restoration this year and document my 44 years of its ownership over the next 52 weeks.

People with experience in automotive restoration told me that the goal of restoring a car as old and rare as The Alfatross in one year was wildly optimistic--and they were right!

And this wasn't even the Alfatross' first rodeo . . . .

The Alfatross some time in the early 60s when it belonged to its fifth owner, Pat Braden.  Alfa Romeo All-alloy Twin Cam Companion 1954-1994.

There are many potential pitfalls in any restoration project, most of them triggered by the lack of time or money or both.  Pat Braden, Alfa enthusiast and author of seven books on Alfas, Ferraris, and Weber carburetors, put it this way in Alfa Romeo All-alloy Twin Cam Companion 1954-1994:

An overestimation of one's skills has ruined more cars--very valuable cars--than any other single cause.  The surest way to destroy a car is to present it to a starry-eyed new owner who sees himself, only several weeks hence, standing with a 100-point car while all sorts of nubile females throw themselves on him and/or his car.  It happened to my 1900 Zagato.

He goes on to recount how he sold his 1900C SS Zagato to a law student and enthusiast who decided on a "total" restoration, and laments that "like so many candidates for restoration, it remained apart for many years and changes hands several times."   The picture he paints is undoubtedly intended as a cautionary tale rather than a carefully-researched account, and as such his advice is well-grounded in experience.  But the subject car is none other than The Alfatross!  I am its only "subsequent owner," and it was never apart for many years.  The law student was my cousin, Bo Bricklemyer, and if you are so inclined you can read more about it in the January 19th, 2013 post.     

The Braden 1900 Zagato some time in the early '60s (seen with a BMW 328, 6C Alfa Romeo and a Frazer-Nash).   Alfa Romeo All-alloy Twin Cam Companion 1954-1994.

I corresponded with Braden as early as 1973.  He was extremely helpful and wrote down everything he could remember about the car, including the names of the two previous owners, Will Henderson and Paul Turner.  In his last e-mail message to me days before he died in 2002 (the same year the book these quotes were taken from was published) he wrote:

It's nice to know where my old Zagato went.  It was my absolute all-time favorite Alfa, and I've owned 6C and 8C pre-war Alfas.

Maybe he was thinking of The Alfatross and I when he wrote the concluding paragraph in his chapter on automotive restoration: 

Very few people are capable of "total" restorations, emotionally, physically, or financially.  The tragedy--for many valuable Alfa Romeos--is that many people image that they are capable of completing such a project themselves. 

Having fallen into every pit imaginable and still managing to extricate The Alfatross, I consider myself amply qualified to elaborate on this theme.  I may not always have done right by my car, but I got the most important part right: I kept it.  The Alfatross had 6 owners during its first 14 years, but only one for the last 44.  If would-be restorers were to ask my advice I would admonish them to:   

1. Keep It.  However you managed to acquire your car, hold on to it!  Store it properly until you are well and truly prepared to take it to the next level.  This will likely require some sacrifice.  There were many occasions when The Alfatross and I came close to being separated. A worthless car that didn't run and placed a burden on my meager finances, it was during this time that it became known as The Alfatross.  Between 1969 and 1993 I moved and relocated it at least 9 times.  In 1991 I began to notice that something had changed.  Now it was starting to appreciate in value. People began making offers to buy it.  I was tempted to sell to Martin Swig, a well-known collector and enthusiast who came to see the car and offered to buy it on the spot.  But somehow I couldn't quite part with it. Now, of course, I'm glad I kept it all those years, but a positive outcome was never certain.
2. Keep It Together.  It's easy to lose parts.  Casual disassembly over a long period is to be avoided. Keep it in one piece. Keep all documentation, related paperwork and photographs together.  Keep a log of everything you do and spend related to the car.  Don't trust your memory.  It is important to remember the archaeologist's mantra: If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen!
3. Research It.  Learn everything you can about the car's story, who the marque specialists are, what level of restoration is most appropriate, and what it is likely to cost.  Don't wait until you are finally ready to work on the car.  People die, records are lost or destroyed, part sources are depleted.  Don't wait 40 years like I did to try to get in touch with the original owner only to learn that he recently passed away.  This part of the restoration doesn't cost much or tie you up for weeks on end--and it's fun!

I intended to dive right into an end-of-the-year overall update on progress made restoring The Alfatross in 2013, but that will have to wait for the next post.  Obviously, the project will fail to meet the original goal of being substantially completed by December 31st, but I am satisfied--well, mostly satisfied--with the progress made so far.  All it takes is time and money!

Re-What? (Post # 45)

"Authenticity" and  "originality" are such a disarmingly simple words.  The English language contains a number of different terms with similar, but distinct, meanings having to do with the concept of saving, or improving, or copying something that existed previously.  Words like Restoration, Replication, Reproduction, Reconstruction, Re-fabrication, Remanufacture, Replacement, and Rebuild allow a lot of wiggle-room for interpretation.  The terms can apply on a micro scale to a single object like a nail, or on a macro scale to an assembly of thousands of objects, such as a entire ship or car.

Archaeology

As marine archaeologists we encounter the "re" words all the time when people try to "replicate" things that existed in the past.   Consider "The Ship of Theseus Paradox":  Two thousand years ago the the Greek writer Plutarch used a ship to raise the question of what's real, and what's REALLY real--and we've been scratching our heads over this conundrum ever since.

A "replica" of an ancient Greek merchant ship based on the remains of a ship that wrecked about 2,500 years ago.  Wooden Shipbuilding and the Interpretation of Shipwrecks.

I'm sure the readers of this blog are abundantly familiar with the ancient Greek mythological hero Theseus who saves Athenian boys and girls from being sacrificed to the Minotaur, a half-human, half-bull monster. Plutarch tells us what happens next:

"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demitrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same and the other contending that it was not the same."

So people who have been collecting old things have been asking themselves what is real and what is REALLY real for at least 2,000 years.  One of the goals of maritime archaeology is to figure out what ancient ships looked like and how they performed.  We use methods very similar to those used by the most rigorous car restorers.  If you want to find out about something that existed in the past--the Spanish caravel of the 16th century in this example--you have five avenues of research to follow for accurate information:

Avenue of Research #1: Artistic (or photographic) representations, like this very detailed drawing of three ships off Dover, England, in the early 1500s.

Avenue of Research #2: Written records and descriptions,
like this list of equipment on board Columbus' ship
La Nina in 1498.  National Geographic Magazine.

Avenue of Research #3: Archaeological evidence (actual remains of original examples), like this main mast step of an early 16th- century shipwreck in the Bahamas.  KC Smith.

Avenue of Research #4: Examination of traditional methods of manufacture that still survive, like these shipwrights in Bahia, Brazil, shaping hull planks by hand.  Ships of Discovery.

Avenue of Research #5: Recreation of the subject using all four of the research avenues above to test and refine its performance, such as this seaworthy recreation of Columbus' caravel, Santa Clara.  Ships of Discovery.

Carchaeology

I mention this parallel between archaeology and carchaeology not only to reassure readers that "I get it" when it comes to those seemingly simple words "authentic" and "original," but also that I am aware of the enormous gaps between words like "replica" and "reproduction," words that most people blithely use interchangeably.  

The passion for collector cars is at an all-time high.  The prices some cars obtain can be stratospheric, but there are rules for assigning values . . . well, more like guidelines, really.  One of the rules is that "original and authentic" cars are the most highly valued.  But that's not always true.  Consider the case of Tom Merkel's "Car Garden," a work in progress since 1973 that now includes at least 1,200 cars, give or take a few hundred.

Part of the 1,200-car Merkel collection.  Midnight in the Garden of Eldorados and E-types. Car and Driver.

When adding to his collection, Tom doesn't look for anything in particular, just old, used-up, motor vehicles of any type in any condition.  He doesn't restore the cars in his collection and he doesn't sell them.  That's not the point.  I don't understand the point, either, so I'll let him explain:

"The massive 20th-century time-capsule monument project, the Lost Highway [part of the Car Garden], came about by happenstance . . . .  The work in progress is basically the 20th-century equivalent of the Chinese clay soldiers.  The cars are as if they were pages from hundreds of family albums.  The vehicles from police impound often still have their owner's belongings in them.  Eighty percent of the old rides were on 'death row' and were bought for scrap.  To me they were three-, four, and  five-thousand pound sculptures a person could buy for 200 bucks in the 1980's."

But for all the Car Garden's rich authenticity and originality, it just continues to get older--not more appreciated, more widely recognized, or more valuable. Evidently, it isn't enough just to be original.  There has to be more to it.  If cars are like shipwrecks, the "more to it" is the richness, detail, and depth of their story.

Now take a look at  the other side of the coin--the side where authenticity and originality translate into millions of dollars.  In Dave Kinney's "Insider" column in the November issue of  Octane magazine I ran across this tidbit having to do with the confusion that often arises when trying to establish "originality" for race cars that are sometimes crashed, rebuilt, recommissioned, modified, re-bodied, crashed again, scrapped, rediscovered, and restored:

"The back-story of this 1955 Jaguar D-type: buy one car claiming to have this car's serial number then, to alleviate the problem of another car having the same serial number, buy that as well.  Take all the original bits from both and put them back into the car.  Stamp each important bit and panel of the copy with the word 'replica' in hidden areas.  Sell it on at a replica price, then present the  real thing here.  It [chassis number XKD 530] achieved $3,905,000 (RM Auctions, Monterey, California, 16 August 2013."

1955 Jaguar D-type chassis XKD 530 . . . or one of them . . . .

At some point the definition of and quest for originality, whether it be an ancient ship or an historically significant automobile, becomes more of a philosophical issue than a practical one.  The Alfatross is an exercise in achieving a balance between preserving the soul of a machine, while returning its appearance to the way it looked in 1955, and improving its mechanical functions when possible to extend its life.  So which "re-" is that?  It seems to me that several distinct processes are involved.  The engine is being rebuilt.  Parts of the upholstery will be replicated while other parts will be restored.  Various rubber parts have been reproduced. A few original parts such as the thermostat that operates the shutter in front of the radiator will be simply replaced with new old stock.

So, like the Ship of Theseus, it can be argued that The Alfatross  is original--or that it is not--depending on which side of Plutarch's paradox you prefer.