We often hear a lot about stalled restorations, or the stressful race in getting the car ready for the Spring Thaw, so here are some tips to help you get it done on time…

Partner with your parts guy.
In this day and age most of us buy our parts online, but it’s high time we all went back to a local parts source. Through the Spring Thaw I met a VW parts supplier, and he’s really become a partner on this project. He’s seen far more restorations then I have, and often suggests parts or order of assembly that I hadn’t thought of.  And while his business is selling parts, with me he allows returns and works hard to be competitive at price. It’s refreshing to be able to pickup the phone and say “it’s rear brakes time, can you order in the stuff” and not have to click through 18 pages, only to find out when the parts arrive I totally forgot I would need flex lines. How do you find a good parts guy? First, ask around…and then commit. Make a series of orders with him, and show you’re a ‘return’ customer. If he starts to ask about how your project is going, and shows genuine interest…you’ve found one.

Post a build thread.
Stop wasting hours surfing other peoples threads and questions, and instead start a build thread. Every time you get frustrated or burn out, it’s great to go back and witness all the things you’ve succeeded at. Keeping the story going, also helps to keep you going on your project. And the best part? Build threads with regular post counts attract those experts who surf forums regularly. Stuck on a problem, a simple post about it will result in answers being directed right at your project. Lastly, the encouragement from other enthusiasts on your posts is a huge boost after a tonne of work.

Implement “The Harrison rule”
Years ago I was burnt out on a rally car project which had sat for a long time. My buddy Harrison finally snapped me into it, by implementing what became known as “The Harrison Rule”. The rule is simple: Spend a minimum of one hour each day in the garage. You are allowed to work more hours in a day, but you can’t “bank” or miss any hours. Thus, two hours tonight doesn’t mean I can skip tomorrow. During your one hour a day, you don’t even have to touch your project! You might clean the work bench, sweep the floor, I’ve even just sat looking at the car for an hour. After a few nights, however, you get bored and touch the project. You might just turn a few bolts. Soon you find yourself excited to get back in the garage because you can once again seeprogress on the project. Eliminate the TV. the internet surfing, the sitting back on the couch, and suddenly an hour a day becomes available. The Harrison Rule has saved me from more projects then I could count.

Hopefully these ideas keep you from having the perpetual “project” sitting in your garage!

-Dave

Sitting in the CCA garage right now is a bare Volkswagen Beetle pan. So far in the first two months I’ve managed to strip the car down, repair the body, and prep the pan. The last month has been quite a bit slower though, as I’ve accomplished nothing more then mounting the transmission, shift rod and shifter. True, I did manage to squeeze a Porsche 5 speed into the Volkswagen floorpan, but the entire job was nothing but frustration. Two transmission rebuilds, plenty of cutting and welding and then finally 39 hours to setup the shift linkage so I could get all five gears and reverse while using the stock Beetle shifter.

While I have a mountain of things to do ahead of me, the experience has taught me just how insane some of you are each year. There are a few things I just don’t understand about this restoration thing  though. Like….

Where did all the parts go?! 
When I tore the car down, I put every nut, bolt and part into a ziplock bag, labelled it and placed the bag into one of three plastic bins. Now, as I go to rebuild the car, I can never find the bag I need. And why does the “front suspension” bag contain both the left and right side bolts, but the “rear suspension” bag only has 1-side? To make matters even worse, I tore down two other parts cars, labelling the parts as well. Why is it when I can’t find “rear suspension bolts” for my car, none of the parts car bins have them either!?!

Where does all the money go?
Back when I had a running, driving, car, the finances were simple. I needed something, I bought it. If I needed something big, I saved and I bought it. Most importantly, though, once I bought something there was a appreciable difference. Silent bearings, good brakes, new cosmetics. Now I just have boxes of parts, a floorpan…and no money. I’m working, I’m getting paid every two weeks but the car remains just a floorpan and there is no money. I knew restorations were bad, but this is black-hole suction!

Why doesn’t this fit!?!
Seriously, did an evil elf sneak in here with a hammer? Parts that came off the car were cleaned up, restored and painted…you’d think they’d fit. None of that seems to fit without grinding, drilling, modifying or dancing an ancient ritual found on the internet. I suppose, in hindsight, I should have just built a stock restoration…maybe then things would go together?

(this one is for Warwick) When will the mess stop?!
I think its about once a week that I announce I’m finally done with the grinding, cutting, drilling, welding and spilling. “Don’t worry Warwick,” I tell him, “it’s all clean bolt-together stuff now.” Um, I started in September…it’s the end of November. I mean, it has to stop before the car is driving, right?

-Dave

P.S. Stop in tomorrow to see my four tips for making it through a major restoration…

When Malcolm Barber, CEO of Bonhams, first caught sight of what was to be his 1903 Peerless Model F (16HP, Twin Cylinder, Rear Entrance Tonneau) just over twenty years ago, he thought he had found something unusual. He found the car in a Hawaiian collection, and discovered it had previously been part of the Denver Colorado Transport Museum collection, but as to who had originally owned the car and the story of its past remained a mystery.

Nearly twenty years later Malcolm received a call out of the blue from the Silver Times newspaper in Lake City, Colorado in collaboration with the Horseless Carriage Club of America who told him that his 1903 Peerless had been the Hinsdale County’s first motorcar and invited him to attend a summer tour organised by the Club. The aim being to reunite the Peerless with the family who bought it originally.

The car was shipped from London to New Jersey by container, couriered from New Jersey to Denver and then driven by Malcolm from Gunnison (west of Denver) to Lake City, a mining town 9,000ft high in the Rockies. So, 108 years after its first drive, the car still made it up the steep, precarious roads to the town. Waiting for the car to arrive was the 102yr old granddaughter of the original owner, the mining engineer at the Lucky Strike mine, who had not seen the car since 1952, when the family sold it. She said she always remembered the car and was astonished to see it again.

As the Peerless was a local celebrity at the time, numerous postcards taken in 1903 were sold in the local shop. Thomas Beam bought the Peerless for a pricey $2,300. They were considered one the three ‘P’s of American manufacturing: the Peerless, Packard and Pierce Arrow, the US’s best early motorcar manufacturers.

Still going strong, the Peerless, now back in the UK, will be making its 20th run from London to Brighton on November 7th. Malcolm comments: “When you have had a lifelong love affairs with cars, to own one of the great originals like this is an enormous privilege. You realise you are driving automotive history and that the car is never going to be yours, you are merely its keeper for a time. Taking it back to the scenes in which it first saw the road in the breathtaking settings of Colorado, that has to be one of the highlights of my life.”

By Nigel Matthews

When Porsche introduced the Cayenne SUV in 2002, a number of Porsche purists and even automotive journalists felt that the company was making a big mistake entering the luxury high-street SUV market.

If they had done their homework, they would have known that this was not Porsche’s first four-wheeler capable of tackling muddy fields. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche built three prototype-tractors in 1934.

The success of these well-built and typically Porsche “over-engineered” machines led to the production of a range of tractors fitted with one- to-four-cylinder engines.

The one-cylinder model was called the Junior, the two-cylinder the Standard, the three-cylinder the Super and the four-cylinder the Master.

There was a model suited to every farmer’s needs. Porsche partnered with the tractor manufacturer Allgaier Brothers; they built 35,000 Porsche tractors until Mannesmann (now owned by Vodafone in a $185 billion US takeover in 2000) took control of building the Porsche tractor in 1956. Mannesmann continued production until 1963 at which time a total of 125,000 units had been built.

A Porsche "Coffee Train" tractor's smooth lines were not for aerodynamics, but to prevent damage to the coffee plants. Photo: PorscheTractors.com

Approximately 1,000 made their way to North America. One beautifully restored, 1959 one-cylinder, 82-cc. Junior, producing 14 h.p, was offered for sale at RM Auctions annual Monterey event. The estimated sale price was $16,000 to $20,000 US. The hammer fell at $28,600 and included the 10-per-cent buyer’s premium.

The new owner has a magnificent example in a condition better than the day it came off the production line. The air-cooled diesel engines were cooled by a fan-duct system that was driven by the crankshaft-driven generator.

If you have ever worked on a type one Beetle or a Porsche 356, this will sound very familiar.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is a huge Porsche collector and attended the 59th annual Pebble Beach Concours, bringing two Porsche racing cars; he achieved a second-in-class win with his 1970 Porsche 908/03 race car. The (slightly slower) one-cylinder Porsche model 108 Junior would make a nice addition to his or any other serious Porsche collection.

By Nigel Matthews

The Russian car Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod — translated from Russian, “Gorky Automobile Plant,” or simply known as a GAZ — was a product of a joint venture between Ford and the Soviet Union which became the largest auto plant in Europe.

The first model off the line was based on Ford’s new Model A, and was called the GAZ-A. The Canadian equivalent likely would have been the GAZ-EH.

The first GAZ I encountered was in 2006 at a Barrett-Jackson auction. It was a 1974 Gaz-13 “Chaika” Limousine used by a Kremlin official. That car surprisingly sold for $43,200 at this all-American show.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a photo of a smaller version cross my desk and wondered how this car, which looked almost brand-new, ended up in Canada. What was the story?

The only way to find out was to call the owner, Mikhail Molchanov. He told me he had owned the 1959 GAZ-Volga in Russia for many years. He left it behind when he immigrated to Canada but planned to have it shipped at a later date.

He purchased two other Volgas to provide a sufficient supply of parts so the car could be restored in Russia, which took three years. When completed, it was shipped to B.C.

This second-generation model has a different grille, with horizontal bars and a large star in the centre. The story goes that one of the Russian generals disapproved of the first-generation grille.

So the designer thought that, if he placed a big star in the centre, the general could hardly disapprove of that and they got away with it. The third-generation cars had the leaping deer removed from the hood, because it was not very pedestrian-friendly. Not many cars are.

If you see this magnificent car — which looks like a cross between a Studebaker and a Ford — on the streets or at a car show somewhere in British Columbia, take a good look at it, because I doubt you will ever see another one in Canada.

Nigel Matthews is the sales and marketing executive for Hagerty Canada

By Nigel Matthews with Philip Powell

For the first time in the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance’s 60-year history a white car won the best of show award in 2010.

A 1933 Delage took the honour at the prestigious Carmel, California, event and to be perfectly honest, I did not think the white colour scheme was going to pull it off. However, the car looked stunning and simply glistened all day on the 18th Fairway with a non-stop crowd milling around it.

A car that was born in the depression and restored in the recent recession, the Delage D8S certainly gives a new meaning to the phrase elegance.

In January of this year, at the request of Jim Patterson of Louisville, Kentucky (not to be confused with Jim Pattison of B.C.) I flew to Blenheim, Ontario to the RM Restoration workshops to view and document his one-off 1933 Delage D8S de Villars Roadster.

Patterson had purchased the car at the RM auction in Monterey during August of 2007 for $3.74 million dollars. The car was very nice and had undergone a recent restoration but it was not up to the exacting standards of the Patterson collection, which consists of numerous curvaceous French automobiles, filled with outstanding examples from Bugatti and Delahaye, as well as Delage.

Intrigued by the restoration process, Patterson thoroughly researches each vehicle’s history, and then ensures that the restoration is correct in every detail. In this instance, the vehicle’s provenance is both distinguished and brief, beginning with first owner Aurelio Lerroux, the son of Alejandro Lerroux, then Prime Minister of Spain. The second owner was a Sr. Rico, friend of Aurelio Lerroux and the brother of the mayor of Madrid.

The car then passed to the Gran Hotel Velasquez in Madrid where, oddly, it served as VIP transportation for several years. Later, it was put into storage, hidden from curious eyes for some 40 years, having had just three owners. For sheer glamour, few could have matched the 1933 Delage D8S Roadster, which was the star of the 1934 Paris Auto Salon, it then went to the Delage showroom on the Champs d’Elysees where it was advertised for over 100,000 francs, an exorbitant price in those years.

That the car was a prototype is confirmed by the Coachbuilder concept drawings, which are still with the car. Clearly, Carrosserie deVillars seized a one-time opportunity to showcase their daring concept on the new D8S chassis -the most exclusive and powerful Delage had to offer. The result is a masterpiece, the finest work presented by two of the most innovative French companies of that era. Fortunately, the car’s designers were given an outstanding platform on which to apply their artistry.

The D8S was a marked improvement of Louis Delage’s D8 masterpiece, with a lightened and lowered chassis, a shorter 130″ wheelbase, and an upgrade of the D8′s in-line, 4-litre pushrod overhead valve straight eight to 145 bhp @ 4500 rpm, enough to make it quicker than a blown Bentley of the period.

During the early stages of development, the engineering team was also designing a new military aircraft engine. Deciding to link the two, Delage asked his staff to produce a cylinder head with specially made short springs located next to the valves to help prevent breakage. Even the D8S carburetor was an aviation type, surrounded by heated oil to avoid icing. Interestingly the coil and distributor are from Delco-Remy rather than French supplier Marchal. The brakes are cable-operated although, unusually for the period, they’re vacuum assisted. All of these unique engineering features remain as originally installed and have now been restored to as new condition by the skilled RM craftsmen.

One of the design objectives was to make the hood as long as possible, allowing nothing to interfere visually with the unbroken sweep from radiator to windshield. Typical cowl vents would have marred the effect and so vents were slotted in under the hood, opening into the cowl area to supply fresh air to the cockpit.

A foolproof system assured that the vents aligned with the hood opening mechanism to prevent damage. As a further example of attention to detail, the jack is mounted securely to the steering box. A handy wrench is attached to the fuel pump. Even the headlamps are a work of art, with diffuser lines worked into the silver-plated bowls.

However, it seems likely that they succeeded in designing a car equally impressive with the top up as well as down. Inevitably not everything is what it seems in a restoration of this kind. For example, when Don McLelland, the Project Manager first examined a photo from the Paris show it became apparent that the body chrome mouldings were originally concave in shape. Yet the current mouldings were convex. As the crew disassembled the car, they noted that the structural wood below the surface of the steel skin actually had cut-outs and grooves placed by the coach-builder to fit concave mouldings. RM removed several fill-in wood pieces and repaired the steel door skins to allow sufficient room, then accurately reworked the mouldings.

Patterson’s Delage D8S has now been returned to its original white colour scheme though the finish is extraordinary, even for a renowned classic.

Writing this story and having it published in my name prior to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance presented a problem. I judge at the event and had to distance myself from any conflict of interest, despite not judging that particular class or having a best of show vote, it was simply the right thing to do. Philip Powell and I worked on this project and article and I’m happy to bring this to you today.

Philip Powell is the host of Marque1.com and Nigel Matthews is the sales and marketing executive for Hagerty Canada

By Nigel Matthews

If you think the Dove looks like the Triumph equivalent of an MGB GT you would be absolutely correct, except it predated the latter by two years.

The Dove name derived from L.F. Dove and Co. of Wimbledon, a large Triumph dealership in London whose owner came up with the idea of building the car.

The exact number built is a mystery. But it is widely believed that Dove commissioned coachbuilder Thomas Harrington of West Sussex — the same people who built the Harrington Alpines — to build 100 examples.

Triumph Dove GTR4 - Flickr Photo: Rally Pix

Starting with a Triumph TR4, the craftsmen at Harrington removed the trunk lid, rear bulkhead, tonneau panel and gas tank. With these panels removed, Harrington fitted a full-length roof, rear hatch door, and end panel made out of fibreglass.

The fuel tank was moved into the spare wheel well with a filler neck and cap located in the end panel to the left of the licence plate.

The high roofline and relocated rear bulkhead and fuel tank made room for two rear seats that could seat two small children in relative comfort. With room for a weekend’s worth of luggage in a compartment below the rear hatch lid, the Dove had the makings of a practical family sports car.

The Triumph Italia, built in Italy by Vignale, is the only other Triumph from the ’60s that comes to mind as being this rare. Triumph Italia was built as a left-hand drive car and the chance of an Italia sighting in North America would be that much greater than spotting a right-hand drive Dove.

I am aware of only a couple of Doves in the U.S. and perhaps a maximum of 10 in Europe. Triumph thought that the stylish Italia posed a great threat to their sales market, so the solution was to stop the supply of rolling chassis to Vignale. History often has a habit of repeating itself. The Rootes Group (Sunbeam Alpine), which had a long relationship with Harrington, forced them to stop making the Triumph Dove.

Our friend and fellow automotive journalist/enthusiast/cheerleader, Bill Lockwood, lives near a little slice of classic car heaven – Restoration & Performance Motorcars (rpmvt.com) in Vergennes, Vermont. He recently sent over some of his photographs of the gorgeous Ferrari 212 being restored there. Not only is the car a work of art, but their workshop itself is a fine example of where classic cars should live.

This early Ferrari 212 racecar 0086E won the Giro d’Sicilia and burned to the ground soon after. As the only 212 with this body type, it has been restored to exacting specifications by RPM. A Swiss agent working for Ferrari’s Heritage Group has certified it authentic – after some rather bizarre but period-correct modifications.

For instance, the 212 had some additional vents installed near the rear of the car closer to the end of its racing lifespan. Because these modifications were done to the car in the past, they had to be recreated now, even though the earlier version of the car was more aesthetically pleasing.

If you are wondering what a one of kind Ferrari is worth in this kind of condition, you probably aren’t in the buying demographic. It should fetch between $4.5 and $5 million at global auction.

These are pics of the car, just prior to receiving some finishing touches, like the leather straps to hold the hood down, etc.

The 212 will be tested at a racetrack in early March, in preparation for the trip to Italy to race the 2010 Mille Miglia that will take place from Wednesday, May the 5th (optional), to Sunday, May the 9th.

To see more about the 212 and other Ferrari Restorations, see the FerrariCraft blog at ferraricraft.com

1925 Bugatti Brescia on the bed of Lake Maggiore, Switzerland (Photo courtesy Bonhams)

Over the course of the past few months, one car in particular has become one of the most celebrated of all Bugattis, having lain submerged beneath the waters of Lake Maggiore in Switzerland for more than 70 years. The whereabouts of the sunken Bugatti had been known to the local scuba club for many years but in February 2008 a tragedy occurred that would eventually lead to its retrieval. On the 1st of that month, Damiano Tamagni was attacked by three youths and beaten so severely that he later died from his injuries. Damiano and his father Maurizio were both members of the scuba club in Ascona and it was decided to raise the Bugatti and use the funds from its sale to further the work of a charity set up in Damiano’s name, ‘Fondazione Damiano Tamagi’, which seeks to address the issue of juvenile violence.

Bugatti Brescia begins its ascent from the lake bed (Photo Bonhams)

But how did the Bugatti come to be in Lake Maggiore in the first place? Subsequent research has uncovered much of its history. On 11th April 1925, chassis number ’2461′ was registered in Nancy, France in the name of Georges Paiva, with the number ’8843 N 5′. A small brass plate found on the car after its removal from the lake bears the name ‘Georges Nielly, 48 Rue Nollet, Paris’ but the registration plate is only partly legible, the last digits being ‘RE 1′. This registration was issued in Paris between May and June 1930, which perhaps indicates that Georges Nielly bought the car earlier in 1930 at Nancy and had it registered in Paris in his name. These French registration plates have remained on the Bugatti ever since.

Bugatti sees daylight for first time in 70 years (Photo Bonhams)

The Bugatti chassis number plate is missing, as is the enamel Bugatti radiator badge. Apart from that, all the relevant numbers are to be found in their usual places. The chassis number ’2461′ is on the round boss, located on the right front engine bearer (on the side of the exhaust manifold and steering-box) while the engine number ’879′ is visible on the little round boss, located on top in the middle of the cam box, as well as at the front face of the lower crankcase, next to the water pump.

The gearbox bears the number ’964′ at the back as well as the usual place on the cover. The rear axle has no number, which is normal for a Bugatti Brescia, but the ratio is stamped on the central casing and reads ’12 x 45′. The radiator is made by Chausson, as indicated on a plate just above the cranking handle, while the two rear spring carriers still bear the little brass plates with ‘EB, Bugatti, Molsheim (Alsace)’ on them. Contrary to the factory data, which mentions a Solex carburettor, the actual carburettor on the car is a bronze Zenith, correct for this type of Bugatti. The two magnetos (twin ignition) are made by SEV and mounted in the middle of the dashboard as usual for this type of car.

Bugatti cockpit showing remaining magnetos and gauges (Click for larger)

There are indications that the body may have been modified or replaced, the first one being, probably, a simple racing body lacking electrics and mudguards. The valances below the bonnet are in two pieces, where normally they would be in one piece, while the mudguards are slightly flared at the rear, which is unusual for 1925. All this possibly indicates a modified or new body made at the end of the 1920s.

So far, it has not been possible to determine with certainty the identity of the Bugatti’s owner in Ascona. However, the most likely candidate is Marco (Max) Schmuklerski, a Zurich-born architect of Polish descent. He is known to have stayed in Ascona from 17th July 1933 until 25th August 1936 when he left and returned to Zurich. At Ascona he designed, among other buildings, the ‘Casa Bellaria’ an apartment block that has only recently been demolished. If Marco Schmuklerski studied architecture at the famous Beaux Arts school in Paris, it is possible that he bought the Bugatti from Georges Nielly and brought it back to Switzerland, but without paying any import duties. It is also possible that he acquired the car from a French tourist (or client) at Ascona. Whatever the case, the Bugatti has always been driven in Switzerland with its last French plates and import duties have never been paid. Nor has the car ever been registered with Swiss plates.

Bugatti Brescia 'lake find' up for auction (Click for larger image)

The story going around Ascona is that Marco Schmuklerski left in 1936, leaving behind the Bugatti, which was stored in the yard of a local building contractor, Barra. Its owner at this time is not known, but the local customs officers knew of the car’s existence and insisted on payment of the import duties owed. At that point these duties may have amounted to more than the value of the Bugatti, which was 11 years old and well used. In the case of non-payment of the duties, the car had to be destroyed and the simplest way to do so was to tip it into the nearby lake. To facilitate its recovery the Bugatti was attached to a heavy chain, but when this finally corroded away the car fell to the lakebed at a depth of 53 metres.

Bugatti Brescia up for auction at Retromobile (Click for larger)

It remained there, undiscovered, until 18th August 1967 when diver Ugo Pillon located the mythical Bugatti, which was lying on its left side, partly buried in the mud. Pillon had been searching for it for some time and after its rediscovery the car became a popular target members of the local sub aqua club. On 12th July 2009, after a 73-year sojourn in Lake Maggiore, the Bugatti was finally rescued from the lake by Jens Boerlin and his comrades from Ascona’s scuba club. Local dignitaries and members of the Bugatti Club Suisse were in attendance, and the Bugatti was transferred by crane onto a trailer for inspection by the sizeable crowd of onlookers. Its long immersion in the lake had resulted in extensive deterioration, ferrous components being badly affected, particularly on the car’s exposed right-hand side. Other materials like wood, aluminium, brass, rubber, etc have survived in much better condition. It would, of course, be possible to restore the car, but it has been estimated that only some 20% of the original is reusable. Alternatively, a faithful replica could be created, using ’2461′ as a pattern, for approximately the same cost as a full restoration. Arguably, it would be more appropriate to preserve the Brescia in its current state for static display, but that is for the fortunate new owner to decide.

Full Auction Listing on Bonhams.com

UPDATE (January 25, 2010): At auction for charity, the “lake find” Bugatti sold for a stunning €260,500! From Bonhams’ press release: “The Bugatti Type 22 that had lain submerged 53 metres below the surface of Lake Maggiore for over 70 years had attracted much pre-sale publicity. A number of telephone bidders sparred against those in the room. The winning bidder – a European collector representing the Peter Mullin Collection in California – will show the car in its present condition in his museum, whereas the underbidder – an American – had intended to restore the car.”