11/24/2023 0 Comments Motorcycle red patina paint job![]() ![]() At this point, preserving both the originality and the original condition of this aircraft would be more or less impossible. But preserving an object by modern museum curatorial standards - suspending it in a fixed moment in time, if you will, and keeping it there in perpetuity - is an extremely daunting job from a technical perspective. As we know, that is the standard of the commercial collector car world. If strict originality is not an issue, a machine can be remanufactured on the spot where it sits, essentially. Restoring a machine to new or better, while often expensive, is not incredibly difficult. It's their job to look a hundred or more years into the future (ironic, hmm). This is the challenge facing museum curators with artifacts of the industrial age. If the corrosion is not arrested, there may not be anything remaining in 50 or 100 years but a collapsing pile of junk, and then there won't be anything meaningful left for anyone to appreciate. This airplane is in a badly deteriorating state. This aircraft is historically correct in the sense that it is 90 years old and looks it, but the historical fact is that pilots did not fight WWI in 90 year-old aircraft. On one level it makes sense to us to view an aircraft of this age in this state, plenty of patination, etc. In 1918 this airplane was probably not in pristine condition, but it certainly didn't look like this. I would like to distinguish between "old" and "original." This aircraft definitely appears old but not original. Is this priceless or should it be repainted and refurbished? Just to add to the previous post here is a photo of a German WW1 aircraft in the Brussels war museum in exactly the same condition as it was at the war's end. On the off chance of my winning the lottery tonight, can someone please provide a clear cut guide as to the principles related to the So, is there an element of morality about restoring an old racing car? ![]() Should you actually be allowed to restore it to flying condition, if that means replacing all of the wood work, canvas and control mechanisms? Would you be allowed to touch up a Rembrandt painting if you owned one? Of course there is nothing to stop you from doing what you like if you own such things but morally you are reprehensible. Suppose you can purchase one of the WW1 aircraft from the Belgian museum. Then again there is the issue of what you are going to do with the car. When 2 similar cars come up for auction and one is gleaming and magnificent and the other tatty and worn - well what then? What if the seat of the tatty option is ingrained with sweat from Fangio? Is it worth more? But what if it is also ingrained with sweat from subsequent numerous later and not famous owners and drivers - is the attraction of Fangio's sweat diminished in significance? The temptation to restore it to "as new" appearance would be hard to withstand. Although it may be in original condition what determines what is the value of the original condition.? Is it as it was the day Stirling Moss stepped out of it in 1956? Or is it in the condition that it is in after having been raced for many years in the Historic Racing scene? Surely there would be a sliding scale here of the assessment of the desireability of retention of the patina of the car dependent upon the personal viewpoint of the owner. Is it really a matter of human nature? If I win the lottery tonight and so am able to buy a Maserati 300S and I find one in well worn condition and I have paid some millions of dollars for it, surely the issue becomes a matter of personal judgement. What if the D50 Lancia-Ferrari team cars were discovered still to be in the lean-to behind the Ferrari factory, where they were casually pushed in 1957 and were now available for sale? Would the succesful buyers add value to their acquisitions by "cleaning them up", including repainting them or would their value be enhanced by the retention of their original paintwork with all of its blemishes? If the answer is yes can the same principle be applied to old racing cars? ![]() ![]() At the end of Would something valuable be lost if they were all refurbished and repainted? ![]()
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