Do I repair or replace?

[Campbell Tellman]

Hey All,
I have a 1916 Touring car that came to me very complete. Everything was included. I removed the fenders, running boards and splash shields while I redid the bucket. I wonder if I am better to find someone that will refurbish the body parts or to order new ones. Will the new parts fit as well as the original? Are there businesses that will take the originals and refurbish them?
Thanks,
Campbell Tellman
Beaufort, NC

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Hey All,
I have a 1916 Touring car that came to me very complete. Everything was included. I removed the fenders, running boards and splash shields while I redid the bucket. I wonder if I am better to find someone that will refurbish the body parts or to order new ones. Will the new parts fit as well as the original? Are there businesses that will take the originals and refurbish them?
Thanks,
Campbell Tellman
Beaufort, NC

Depends on the condition of the "body parts". Can you post some pictures?

[jiminbartow]

I have always tried to repair and restore original Ford parts (no matter how bad their condition) over buying new parts. New parts are not Ford made factory parts. I believe the challenge is to repair the original Ford parts that were designed, manufactured and fitted to the car by the hands of Ford assembly line workers at the factory at the time the car was assembled. This, in an attempt to keep all the original Ford parts on the car that have traveled the many miles driven to all the places by all the different owners and stayed together through all the important historical events of the 20th century. It’s like the difference between an original masterpiece and a copy. The two look the same, but they’re not. Jim Patrick

[TXGOAT2]

Pictures of what you have would be helpful.

[YellowTRacer]

The true hobbyist repairs/restores without regard to cost. After all that's what this hobby is/was......restoration. Or completely original condition if you choose. We've strayed way off of that path over the years. Everything today is based on value. "The car's not worth putting that kind of money into it" Unfortunately the hobby has turned into a financial thing. "What's it gonna be worth when I'm done". Who cares!!! This is a hobby! I understand that some people don't really have the money to pour into their car and there's nothing wrong with that. Fix it up as best as you can, that's fine. Restore it every piece of it if you can't afford to have the work done by someone else, but restore it, or leave it alone whichever your preference.
It's cheaper to buy new fenders than to have the original ones restored, and the new ones are beautiful, but not restored. If you love the car, put all the money in the world into it, and enjoy your hobby. End of short soap box.

Ed aka #4

[babychadwick]

Working on this new to me Buick I have been confronted with "this is where you need to go to get the parts". Not having money (I have time) to toss away it feels great to restore what is original and put back into service rather than just throw money at it thru replacement. Well said Ed.

[Susanne]

To me, part of the joy of this hobby is taking something that is well abused/neglected/damaged or otherwise a "rusty hulk" and transforming it (through sweat of the brow, applied and newly learned skills, and judicious use of that rare stuff called money) to take something someone else may have given up on and making it beautiful and/or functional again. I hate to parrot Ed (no, actually, I don't, as he was one of my original inspirations in this hobby all those years ago) but anyone can throw the "parts cannon" at something but it won't be the original parts that a bunch of guys (and gals) assembled from raw materials back when your car was new and carried their owners thousands (or more) miles and changed their lives...

The only way I would replace is if something were TRULY unobtanium. That you have original sheet metal (that fits your body of your car, more on this in a sec) means, at least to me, it's worth saving. There is another caevat to this... There were a LOT of body builders for Ford back then, and I found out the hard way that these bodies were actually built to their own specs. For example (mine), I had a Fisher bodied August '15 Touring ("Angel"). The right rear door ended up damaged somewhere along the line (I don;t know if Dad got it like that, or the door was damaged when he had it repainted, or ??) but it was replaced at some time. The internal wood bracing did NOT match the rest of the car... Hmmm... Also the interface with the body - angles and gaps - were different. It closed and latched, but you could tell it wasn't right.

(That's why if you needed body parts you supplied the body number so Ford sould send you the CORRECT parts from the CORRECT supplier if possible)

I have a similar problem now - my cirrent garage mate in my '21 Harley. It was over it's life ridden VERY hard and put away bent. There are blatant (and ugly) stick welds on the frame and forks, where someone put it back together to ride (or race?) another day. These are issues I'll have to deal with eventually (now sooner than later) and while some may require new tubes, things like the forks will have to be ground out, rebroken, sleeved, and tig welded (new skill, and new fun tools) to make right. True, they didn;t have TIG welding in 1921, but hopefully I can use this new fangled 21st century technology to bring these earlier 20h century parts back to life. Because while I could always get a set of (expensive as heck) repop forks (some guy makes them over here) they're not the ones that rolled out of Milwaukee and have the bike it's mobility and history.

Yeah, maybe I'm funny like that... Maybe I'm just a bit of a conservative or purist or something... but to me, knowing someone a century ago actually touched and handled and built these things is important, and for me it's important, both to honor the bike (or car) and the guy who built it a century ago.

I ould go on and on, but my soap box is likewise somewhat empty (and I sitll have to do laundry - ha ha ha ) but yeah... bottom line - Fix what you can, because once it's gone, well, pardner, it's gone, and once its been sent to the scrapper, it's gone forever. Not just the part, but the work that someone put into it originally to feed, house, and clothe their family.. (OK, I'm an old softie about stuff like that!)

My 2¢ (OK< over here, it's .02€ ha ha ha) (and yes, thanks, Ed!)
Susanne

[Wayne Sheldon]

I have many times said that I would rather have a wrinkled original part than a flawless copy!
For me, there is a kind of satisfaction as I bring original sheet metal back from the brink. For my 1915 runabout, I brought back two full sets of fenders from the scrap piles others had put them into. (Long story why two full sets.) They are far from perfect. But if you could have seen them before, and then see them now? You wouldn't believe they were the same fenders!