There has always been, and always will be, friction between those who would
keep their older cars as original as possible, those who would modify them
and those who would over restore them. I happen to dislike the whole
competitive car show scene, which tends towards rewarding trailer queens and
the over restored, hyper real, cars, the ones that are "so good" you can't
drive them. In my local Mopar club, which is primarily muscle cars, it is
the norm to take your Barracuda or what ever and heavily modify it with "go
fast" stuff. The results are not always useful, in terms of having a
running car, but that does not seem to be the point. It "looks good" and
"sounds good" and who cares about 3 MPG and a chronic tendency to overheat
since the cars are shiny toys made to look good sitting still. Often such
owners have a 'show' car and a 'go' car, the latter being much closer to its
original condition and much more useful in cruises and just tooling around.
I notice most seem to prefer their go car to the show car, as the latter is,
by definition, labor intensive.
Imperials tend not to be over restored, as far as I can tell from this list.
I would say we are lucky that they do not seem to suffer the fate of so many
Cadillacs, many of which get flashed up beyond the point of absurdity. Of
course there always were many more Cadillacs than Imperials and they always
have had the odor of vulgarity about them. Lincolns have largely escaped
that fate as well. It remains to be seen what happens to the like of Lexus
et al.
The dichotomy in this group is between those who strive and struggle for
originality and those who make modifications. One thing that rarely rears
its head is necessity. An exception would be Budd brakes on the 67 & 68
cars. This system is seemingly made of unobtanium, and the folks with these
cars face a real dilemma in how to approach keeping their rides on the road
safely. Thanks to the internet, I have found that it has been possible to
get just about everything original for my 1958. A few years ago I went
fairly mad trying to find an original carburetor for mine, but I was
determined to do so and was able to track one down eventually.
Some people have changes forced upon them in certain countries where the
laws state all cars must have certain modern equipment on them in order to
be legal. Fortunately this is not the case in the USA, so far. Others have
decided they want more modern mechanicals for their own peace of mind.
Converting these old cars is not easy, but I'd find it hard to criticize
someone who substituted front disc brakes for the drums they came with.
Nothing increases the life span of a car and maintains that of its occupants
like excellent brakes. As these cars get older it is going to be
increasingly difficult to find original equipment for them and I think there
is going to be a tendency towards the question of what is the best way to
modify them so that the original appearance is maintained as much as
possible.
As someone who has struggled to maintain originality, it seems
incomprehensible to me that someone would remove perfectly good running
gear, such as the original transmission, and replace it with one from a
different manufacturer. Others have pointed out that there will be
virtually no improvement in performance in any significant respect, either
performance or economy, and it would be easier and less expensive simply to
invest the money in optimizing the original transmission, since this is
really quite simple for both the skilled amateur or professional.
However, I don't know what I would do if my transmission had become
completely fried or was completely missing. There are some intrepid people
out there who buy basket case examples of these cars that lack original
running gear and I stand back in awe at such fortitude. These folks have a
lot of lassitude when it comes to refurbishing the car, since what they have
is often trashed almost to the point of credulity. But, to take a good,
well equipped, nicely running car and begin making arbitrary alterations is
just beyond my comprehension.
Hugh
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