RESTORATION FOR NOVICES PART 1 THE RIGHT PROJECT?

This series is aimed primarily at the novice who is thinking of taking on a full restoration for the first time, but hopefully it will also be of interest to more experienced DIYers. Indeed, anybody who has tackled a restoration of their own can contribute to the series – we would welcome your additional thoughts each issue, and running those in the Letters pages or in subsequent instalments of this series can only help to build up a more complete picture of what is involved. And that is our goal – we can’t hope to cover all bases in features such as this, but by highlighting potential pitfalls we can hopefully help newbies to make informed choices. After all, it is always sad to see cars advertised for sale as unfinished projects, usually for a fraction of the money that has been invested. That may be great for the purchaser, but behind every such sale is a disillusioned enthusiast, one who may well have decided that classic cars are not worth the time or the effort after all.

I should add here that I am not setting myself up as the font of all knowledge. I have made most of the mistakes that will be highlighted in this series, and no doubt I will make many of them again, even if I should know better. A case in point, and something we shall return to later, is the advice to always buy the best car you can afford. I still find it hard to resist a project being offered at a ‘bargain’ price of hundreds rather than thousands of pounds, even though I know in my heart of hearts that it will cost more to put right in the long