Editing Assessing restoration jobs

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==Overview==
Automobile restoration is a mega-dollar enterprise. Cars that sold originally for MUCH less than even the least expensive vehicle sold today can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at Barrett-Jackson, Gooding & Company, Kruse, Christie's, RM Auctions, and Sotheby's to name some of the better known auctions. Some [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_expensive_cars_sold_in_auction world records] for auctioned vehicles.

==Survivor vs. restoration==
A car that is totally stock, including paint, engine, chassis, interior, etc. is worth more then one that is rebuilt and/or repainted to look like new. That means if the finish or interior or mechanicals are reasonably good condition it's better to leave it as a "survivor" in many cases than it is to do a less-than-perfect restoration. The value will be exceptional if it's a desirable vehicle and the money saved by NOT doing a restoration will only increase the profit margin of a survivor vehicle.

[http://www.autorestorermagazine.com/ar/ Auto Restorer Magazine.com] along with a host of other venues have featured articles about new muscle cars sold by the performance-orientated dealerships in the late 1960's into the 1970's, like:

;CHEVY
:Baldwin-Motion
:Berger Chevrolet
:Dana Chevrolet
:Fred Gibb Chevrolet
:Nickey Chevrolet
:Yenko Chevrolet

;DODGE
:Grand-Spaulding Dodge

;FORD
:Tasca Ford

;PONTIAC
:Royal Pontiac
These cars have sold for huge amounts, rivaling even some of the classic cars of the thirties and European makes as well.

==TOO perfect?==
Sometimes the mistake is made of restoring a vehicle to a "better than factory" state. There has been much written on how vehicles should be restored; instead of being perfect, they should have the same "flaws" like paint overspray, etc. as the original vehicles had coming straight off the assembly line to the dealership.


[[Category:General hotrodding]]
[[Category:Undeveloped articles]]