The Preservation Dilemma Of Car Collecting

To preserve or not to preserve, this is the question many car collectors face. While this has long been a dilemma, with recent skyrocketing prices of barn finds at major auctions, this hot topic still permeates many automotive conversations. What does the car collector do?

To Restore

• So far gone it barely looks like a car, many modifications to original or not rare
• Showcase a presentable and/or useful car
• Highlight the artistry, design and engineering of times long gone
• Practicality wins over originality, one wants a drivable car

Not to Restore

• “It’ll only be original once” (originality trumps practicality)
• Appreciation of the patina, the artistry, design and engineering of the old days
• A rare specimen where restoring would damage the integrity of the car

The 1956 Maserati A6G 2000 Frua Coupe shown above was part of the historic Baillon collection barn find auction, which brought $2.2 million at a 2015 auction and later on the lawn in the Postwar Preservation Class at Pebble Beach.

Preservation can be a tough call, as the same arguments can be made for both. Over restored, better-than-new cars which were once the pride of the collector car community are slowly falling out of favor. I say slowly because let’s be frank, an unrestored car has yet to win at Pebble Beach or Villa d’Este. Political correctness aside, pretty always wins. Pockmarked, dingy body panels with moth-eaten interiors do not fall under the definition of elegance.

However, big shows such as Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance currently offer preservation classes, and people do swoon over these un-molested examples of vintage automotive creations. “Restoring cars is not an evil thing — when they need it,” Sandra Button, Chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, said in an interview. Though, she added, “I hear from collectors all the time who say, ‘I restored my car 15 years ago, and I wouldn’t do it now.’”

If we’re talking a Ford Model A, where hundreds were made of any given model, a ‘barn find’ makes for a great restoration project if you love and want to enjoy the car, not the opportunity to achieve a massive monetary windfall at auction. A rare Ferrari or one-off coach built Bugatti might could go either way, preservation becomes the preference of the owner depending on the condition of the car. Is there enjoyment in owning a rickety un-driveable hunk of once beautiful automotive splendor? By now most agree one restores for their own enjoyment and the monies spent doing so is rarely recoverable, and in many cases not a winning investment.

But, this all depends on the car, a race car, once raced never remained originally intact, crashed or wrecked, they’ve all been fixed. We arrive at the question what was truly “original” which has also numerous answers. Restored racers go for crazy money.

Valid arguments exist on both sides of the dilemma but in the end we have a question without a definitive answer. The beauty of the collector car hobby is there is a car for everyone. Whether you wish to preserve a car or restore a car the answer lies in the driver’s seat.