3631 Clearview Drive, Corinth, Texas 76205
Late one evening after coming in from looking over my old Maytag
out in the shed, I was trying to decide how far to go with the
restoration. I started to think about how lucky I am to have old
engines around to work on. We, as a generation of engine
enthusiasts, are here at the perfect time: we can still find
engines that are fresh from the farm. Some are rusted, some stuck,
some run. In the future, it won’t be like that because we, as a
group, are buying them all up. And that’s good, because we are
saving them for the future but, as we buy these engines and restore
them, let’s think about the collectors twenty years from now.
Will they only be able to buy restored engines, all painted up and
ready to run?
Let’s leave something for them. They should be entitled to
do a little sandblasting and hunting down parts. Who knows, in
thirty years they may have better restoration techniques than we do
now, just like we have better ways to make parts and repairs than
the generations before us did. That’s why I don’t think
every engine should be restored to its original mint condition. For
instance, if you have an engine that’s all rusted up and stuck,
yeah, I think it’s a good idea to do a total restore.
That’s the best part of this hobby. There’s nothing like
seeing the before and after of an old engine you rebuilt running
strong. Every collector should experience that.
But if, on the other hand, you have an engine with good
compression and it runs strong, maybe you should just clean it up
really good and take good care of it. Take it to shows and let
people see its characteristics, like where someone in the past
fixed a bracket or made a repair. And if a spectator asks you why
it’s not restored, you tell them that you’re saving it for
the future.
