paddy
Well-known member
A problem i think that effects every country these days is the cost of labour which dictates the cost of all repairs. For many years the cost of restoration of vintage motorcycles has far exceeded the completed values. To make matters worse what might be viable at the start of a project could well become unviable before its finished. This could be for many reasons but once any object, be it a car or motorcycle or even an antique or painting becomes valuable it becomes collectable. Once its collectable it attracts investors and as soon as it does that the market becomes unstable like any investment from gold to the stock market. Its highly unlikely that there are many Brough Superiors, Ducati 750cc SS or original Crockers being ridden on the road for fun these days. Most of my old customers had collections of motorcycles and didnt even ride. But back to costs. We have a TV programme here called Bangers and Cash ( a play on the classic British dish of Bangers and Mash) Sausages and mashed potato. this is on the lines of your Chasing cars and Jay Leno programs and is centred around an auction house and its sale of old cars and motoring memorabilia. What comes up time and time again is the labour cost to repair/restore a car that could run into 1000 hours plus make nearly all restorations unviable at about £100 an hour. My local garage now charges £115 an hour with tax. If you can do the work yourself you are in with a chance but unless you can spray a showroom finish, do chrome plating and leather upholstery etc you are pretty sunk 
When i was a kid if the TV broke down you called out the TV repair man, these days it cost more to call him out than a new TV
Anyway what i am getting to is....if you dont repair old things, they will disappear forever. There will be no old cars, motorcycles , aircraft and so on. I will be starting my wing nut wings Airco DH9 soon. There is only one flying original left in the world and its powered buy the only surviving 230 hp Siddeley Puma engine. the costs of maintaining this engine and rebuilding the aircraft were way more than their market value but people do it because if you dont there will be none of these things for future generations.
My much smaller problem now is my recently purchased WW1 pilots dash board watch. Its in the horologists now for assessment but the likelihood is the cost of repair will be many times its value. I am awaiting an estimate. My conundrum is , its 110 years old , do i restore or let it spiral down to eventually become "used for parts" ? Do I have a responsibility to preserve it ? Is that part of ownership ? If i took it outside and hit it with a hammer would that be any worse than assigning it to the back of a draw to be thrown out when my relatives pick over what's left after i have gone. ?
The presenter of the Bangers and cash program was asked, why do you do it ( restore cars) He say we dont do it for the money, there isn't any, we do it for future generations and hope they will do the same.
so now i wait for the estimate to repair a simple watch. Its not even a very good watch, it doesnt even have a makers name. Mechanically is less than basic. But it is historically significant. Restoration will be in the region of £600. Its resale value ? half that and of course there is the initial purchase price as well .. Lets wait and see what the report from the watchmaker says......
Incidentally i absolutely fell in love with his watchmakers lathe with its variable speed foot peddle from a sewing machine
When i was a kid if the TV broke down you called out the TV repair man, these days it cost more to call him out than a new TV
Anyway what i am getting to is....if you dont repair old things, they will disappear forever. There will be no old cars, motorcycles , aircraft and so on. I will be starting my wing nut wings Airco DH9 soon. There is only one flying original left in the world and its powered buy the only surviving 230 hp Siddeley Puma engine. the costs of maintaining this engine and rebuilding the aircraft were way more than their market value but people do it because if you dont there will be none of these things for future generations.
My much smaller problem now is my recently purchased WW1 pilots dash board watch. Its in the horologists now for assessment but the likelihood is the cost of repair will be many times its value. I am awaiting an estimate. My conundrum is , its 110 years old , do i restore or let it spiral down to eventually become "used for parts" ? Do I have a responsibility to preserve it ? Is that part of ownership ? If i took it outside and hit it with a hammer would that be any worse than assigning it to the back of a draw to be thrown out when my relatives pick over what's left after i have gone. ?
The presenter of the Bangers and cash program was asked, why do you do it ( restore cars) He say we dont do it for the money, there isn't any, we do it for future generations and hope they will do the same.
so now i wait for the estimate to repair a simple watch. Its not even a very good watch, it doesnt even have a makers name. Mechanically is less than basic. But it is historically significant. Restoration will be in the region of £600. Its resale value ? half that and of course there is the initial purchase price as well .. Lets wait and see what the report from the watchmaker says......
Incidentally i absolutely fell in love with his watchmakers lathe with its variable speed foot peddle from a sewing machine
