Getting That Vintage Muscle Car Restored? Three Areas You Want To Keep Original

Your pride and joy has been sitting in the garage for decades. It may run, or not. But you have visions of doing a little cruising on Canada's back roads. If you want to keep your car all original you'll want to find a shop that does vehicle restoration work. Usually these shops handle both the mechanical and auto body work. This type of vehicle restoration is beyond most DIY types, unless you have the right tools and plenty of experience working on cars.

Three Primary Restoration Areas

Restoring your muscle car means tackling three different areas. The order in which they are done isn't as important as the quality of the work. Many restoration body shops prefer to get the vehicle running nicely before hitting the paint booth, but that is a personal preference.

Engine and Drive Train

Even though some of the carburetors, exhaust systems and cold air intake add-ons can give your engine more horsepower, if you want to keep your car stock, don't install them. Classic muscle cars retain their value better if they are restored with stock or original parts. This is where the skill and connections of a restoration body shop come into play.

They can contact specialty parts brokers to track down parts. These companies reach out to salvage yards and to firms that handle OEM parts, which stands for original equipment manufacturer. The OEM specialists know which types of spark plugs, batteries, even the engine block heads that were used when your vehicle rolled off the assembly line. In the world of classic cars, using an OEM part is preferable to an aftermarket replacement.

Go For An Original Interior

You may be tempted to have leather seating and/or diamond tuck upholstery. But, if you want to retain the value of your muscle car you might consider going original. If your car has vinyl upholstery, as many did in that era, try and restore the seats rather than replace them.  A good upholstery shop can re-stuff and repair the original seats to make them comfortable and eye appealing.

If you must replace the interior and want a more modern look, at least choose fabrics and other materials that are similar to your car's original look. If the seats are missing or beyond hope of repair, your restoration specialist can look for OEM seats. Then you can decide to go original or deviate with a more modern look.

The same goes for instrumentation. Muscle cars tended to have simple dashes with the usual speedometer, odometer, car controls and a radio. Some also had tachometers. But, you won't find digital clocks, CD players, back-up cameras or GPS maps. Install them if you wish, but understand they take away from the value and authenticity of your muscle car.

The Exterior Paint Job Should Be Impressive

It's the paint job on a muscle car that get's you noticed, so don't skimp on the body work.  Your car's surface should be as smooth as glass before the primer goes on. Restoration auto body technicians try to stay away from the auto body putty that's used to smooth out dents and dings on collision repairs. Using the material in small amounts in half-hidden places is fine, but it's best to beat out a quarter panel or replace it rather than have the entire thing covered in putty. One test that collectors do is run a magnet over a car's body work. That magnet will stick to steel, but falls right off the putty.

You also want to stick to an original paint colour from your car's era. Even if you are using the same colour that's on your car, you'll want to make sure you have the right colour code. Each manufacturer puts a colour code on the vehicle's identification plate. A restoration auto body technician knows how to track down this code, even if that plate is missing.  Your technician will use that code to correctly mix the exact shade of paint used in that era.

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