26-03-2018, 10:00 AM
I have looked again at the photos of this car, this time with freshly cleaned glasses. Yes, there are a couple of problem areas with the paintwork, but it appears to be well over 90% intact. Compare this to an incredibly original Morris I owned that had been badly stored for 50 years and retained less than 50% original paint finish, the rest being red-brown surface rust. It was always my intention to give it a full respray, but when my daughter, Sally, insisted she had the car for her wedding transport and with only very limited time for preparation, I went for the oily rag look - and I am glad I did! It happened to save me a large amount of time, effort and cash and it was very much admired by all, especially Sally. I was asked to do several other weddings afterwards, and now the car has found a new, very appreciative owner in France.
The original rexine on the Opal will be a challenge to conserve, but, believe me, there are things you can do to preserve it as an example of how it was done originally, and still have the car as usable transport. Much better to do this than the apparently preferred option of many "restorers" of using super-stretchy over-stuffed vinyl - often in out of character garish colours.
If the new owner is reading this then may I congratulate him/her on their purchase. If he/she gets in touch with me then I would be very happy to pass on some of my techniques and experiences of conservation. I have owned 4 very original oily rag cars, unfortunately none of them being Sevens. If anyone has one for sale then please let me know, I would be interested in purchase. Sevens, for a number of reasons, have suffered the vandalism of the good-intentioned "restorer" probably far more than any other pre-war car.
Like Ian says, once you have made the decision to restore a car, that's it, there's no undoing the restoration, you can't unrestore a car.
Maybe the apparently high price paid for DAT 166 indicates that there is now, at long last, a change in attitude in the conservation/restoration debate.
The original rexine on the Opal will be a challenge to conserve, but, believe me, there are things you can do to preserve it as an example of how it was done originally, and still have the car as usable transport. Much better to do this than the apparently preferred option of many "restorers" of using super-stretchy over-stuffed vinyl - often in out of character garish colours.
If the new owner is reading this then may I congratulate him/her on their purchase. If he/she gets in touch with me then I would be very happy to pass on some of my techniques and experiences of conservation. I have owned 4 very original oily rag cars, unfortunately none of them being Sevens. If anyone has one for sale then please let me know, I would be interested in purchase. Sevens, for a number of reasons, have suffered the vandalism of the good-intentioned "restorer" probably far more than any other pre-war car.
Like Ian says, once you have made the decision to restore a car, that's it, there's no undoing the restoration, you can't unrestore a car.
Maybe the apparently high price paid for DAT 166 indicates that there is now, at long last, a change in attitude in the conservation/restoration debate.