By Tim Suddard
Oct 20, 2014
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| From the Nov. 2013 issue
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A big segment of the sports car-collecting hobby is moving toward keeping things perfectly stock. It’s becoming unfashionable to change an original paint color or even eliminate hubcaps in favor of aftermarket wheels.
Sure, the resto-mod craze is raging in the American muscle segment of the market. In our world, there are pockets of protest from the Outlaw Porsche 356 and Porsche RS groups.
The attitudes of Tiger owners are changing, however. These enthusiasts used to be the first ones to flare fenders and add monster motors to their cars. The fact that Tigers weren’t worth much and were rather unimpressive in stock form probably led to a lot of these modifications. Another factor: American hotrodders were attracted to the cars’ light weight, cheap prices and American V8 engines.
Now that prices are rising for cars like Tigers and Porsches, things are different. It’s now considered sacrilegious to modify them.
Times may have changed, but I’m not sure I have changed much. I’m trying to get into concours restoration and am going that route with our Mini Cooper. I have no intention of modifying the 1965 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE B coupe that I just bought either.
That said, I recently acquired a 2.8-liter engine for the 1966 Mercedes sedan I’ve been writing about on these pages. I asked the guys at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center what they thought of the swap. As staunch supporters of originality, they pooh-poohed the idea–big time.
I didn’t listen to them. For $600, I picked up the 2.8-liter, single-overhead-cam engine from a 1970 Euro coupe. I’d heard from some friends that the swap wouldn’t be that hard, and I guess I wanted to see if I could do it.
I am a strong subscriber to the theory that if you buy the car, you can do whatever you want with it. Though I cringe when I see a Sunbeam Tiger with big flares and sidepipes, I understand that it’s every enthusiast’s right to modify his own car as he pleases.
Of course, I prefer a more subtle touch of the artist’s brush. I like to perfect what the factory started. Quite honestly, when it comes to modifying old cars, two bits of reality are at play.
First, most old cars aren’t that good. They were designed in a different era, without the aid of computers. We talk about the good old days, but a lot of the old cars we play with lack the quality of the cars those same companies make today. If my old Mustang were made as well as the new Ford Fusion I drove the other day, I would have the best car in the world in that Mustang. Sadly, the Mustang rattles a bit more and the ergonomics are not nearly as good.
Second, there are just so many more ways to fix and improve old cars today. From message boards telling me how to swap the 2.8-liter into my Mercedes to Wilwood brake kits for my Mustang, there are so many solutions available that it’d be a damned shame not to take advantage of some of them.
So when it comes to modifications, what is okay and what is not okay? Well, that depends on what you’re doing with your car, what you’re willing to spend, and whether you ever want to be able to sell that car again. It also depends on what you’re starting with.
In the case of my Shelby Mustang, what I did was probably ill advised. That is a very rare car, and I just had to mess with it. But I didn’t start with a clean, original car. I started with a worn-out rat that was missing much of its original engine. Under these circumstances, the cheapest and quickest way to go was to use a crate engine. As you’ll read in the next issue, I also fixed the handling and the power steering. The car now drives so much better and is twice as fast as an original Shelby Mustang.
I now have it the way I want it and have no plans on selling it. I’ve wanted one of these cars since I sold my first one in 1982, and finally I’ve found the car of my dreams.
As for the Mercedes, the reality is that it’s essentially not a very valuable car. I found it in terrible condition, and against my own good advice I decided to restore it. I’ve already modified it with a disc-brake rear end, a limited-slip differential and a color change, so why not add a little more motor? The newer engine has seven main bearings instead of five, so it’s a lot smoother and stronger. And if you’ve ever driven one of these cars, you’ve probably asked yourself why Mercedes spent all that time and energy on safety, handling and comfort and none on putting some ponies under the hood.
So out comes the old engine and in goes the new engine. It will look exactly the same but theoretically give the car much more power.
Modification is a double-edged sword. You can quickly go too far and ruin a car, making it edgy, rough-riding or just unbalanced.
I don’t think anyone would argue against my swapping one of HVDA’s five-speed conversion kits into my Triumph TR6. Even at auction, where originality is paramount, this mod would be considered a plus. Switching from a black vinyl interior to tan leather wouldn’t cause many purists to raise an eyebrow either: Tan was an original interior color, and it’s much cooler than black in the Florida sun. Plus, everyone likes leather.
But would it also be okay that I switched to the optional wire wheels? That may fly, but the purists–at least the ones who knew what they were looking at–could get weak in the knees if they noticed the upgraded front anti-roll bar, the later TR6 dual exhaust, and the twin SUs that replaced the very crappy Strombergs.
Of course, we’re heading down a slippery slope here, and along the way we’d probably notice that aftermarket console and the great leather-wrapped Moss Motors steering wheel.
Taste is personal. If you want to paint your BMW 507 jet jet-black with pink stripes, go ahead, but plan on keeping it forever. I would suggest modifying in more subtle ways and keeping in mind that most of us aren’t engineers–it’s easy to go too far. Most of all, I recommend getting out and enjoying your car, whether it’s stock or modified. I know I will, especially when I get that bigger engine installed.
I just bought a '73 Spifire - It already had the 'Spit/Six' conversion done, including the O/D trans and the better rear suspension, so I considered that a plus in my decision to buy it. Unless you're trying to get rich flipping cars ;-), have fun with them. IMHO.
Modify the sucker! As long as the owner does not exceed his skill-set in design or actual work, it's his to play with. IMHO anyone that buys a car with resale value in mind deserves everything that happens...
The word is not "modifications" but should be termed "improvements". Let's not forget that back in the day you could buy performance parts over the counter at most dealerships and improving your car was actually encouraged. British Leyland is a good example. I hotted up my Mk.III Spitfire on the street before converting it to a race car, all initially with over the counter parts from the dealership using the official factory competition manual.
I'm all for improving stock classics, but absolutely insist that any mods should be period correct. IMHO an improved period correct classic car is a much better car than stock and often more desireable. I'd much rather have a fatted out 1960's 1275 Cooper S than a box stock one. If you're talking about a classic Rolls Royce, then not so much. So it depends on the car. Some cars - mini's, 240Z's, Tigers, etc just are begging to be improved.
I agree about Sunbeam Tigers. Back in the day when I was into them the owners we're a lot of hot rodder types. Nowadays they're much more anal.
All three of my TR8's have been improved BTW.
I believe that we are privileged custodians of these cars. I am a staunch supporter of keeping cars 100% original as the day they came from the factory! Hot Rodders are evil!
Oh, wait...I could not even keep a straight face long enough to type the above!
NOHOME wrote: I believe that we are privileged custodians of these cars. I am a staunch supporter of keeping cars 100% original as the day they came from the factory! Hot Rodders are evil! Oh, wait...I could not even keep a straight face long enough to type the above!
I just read something that works well here. "Agree to disagree."
I'm sure there are many cases where a company came up short in realizing the designers' concept due to financial and/or manufacturing constraints. I make my living primarily by building engines and doing other performance mods to old Volvos, and the P1800 series definitely falls into that category. There are a number of straightforward mods that completely transform the car that Volvo could have done at the factory, but didn't. I think I'm just finishing the job for them.
when they're done right, they're upgrades for sure.
i make reversible improvements and keep the original parts in case the next guy wants to return it to stock. EFI, overdrive, disc brakes, big bars, wider wheels with stickier tires. what's the point of having a car that's a turd to drive?
Yes it is up to the owner but, the car also tends to sway which way to go by it's nature. There is room for both originality and modification/upgrade in the same garage and maybe even in the same car. Owners who prefer to modify or preserve or restore usually purchase examples that are suitable to their purpose.
I am mostly in the modify them camp, (rare cars being the exception). One of the reasons I contemplate selling my Merak is that there is precious little you can do to tweak it. All you can do is make it the best Merak as it was supposed to be. you can not make it stop much better, handle much better, or accelerate much faster without re engineering it. Now take a lot of other makes, Alfa's, to Volvo's and there are aftermarket suspensions, and engine parts, there is a big online knowledge base of what works, there is room to make it slightly unique, make it handle, stop, and go with many of todays cars.
In my mind, it depends on what you started with. If you start with a complete car then straying to far from original would be a no-no. Only minor mods that would make it more usable and all easily undone. If you started with a hulk then fair game. Anything you want to do. Possible exception to this would be an extremely rare high dollar car but if you had one of those it wouldn't cross your mind anyway.
Examples: I got my 70 Opel GT as a complete all original car. I pretty much kept it that way. Only mods are mostly hidden, easily undone and made it more reliable and better to drive. Pertronix, Weber, 14" BMW BBS Basketweaves and European Opel GT brake master cylinder. My 63 MG Midget I bought for $50 and is mainly a restorable body only. No seats, interior or engine. Open for anything I want to do. Granted, neither of these are valuable cars but you get the point.
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