Stumbled across this 250GTO restoration

True. But maybe he is just being honest and expressing his opinion of the restoration.

I for one would like to know who does what and what quality of work they aspire to.

No different then consumer reports and reviews of someones products and services.

 

Lets get this straight.......My remarks are neither petty nor personal to Kevin who I have known and respected for many years. However unlike the vast majority of you....if not all...I have seen the car up close and stand by my opinions. Modern paint methods and applications do not work on vintage cars. The GTO was designed as a racecar and in period would have had a minimal paint covering. The car looks wrong... but I fully acknowledge it takes two to restore a car....the artisan and the owner.....the latter who so often give their ill informed input to the finished product.

Not an axe grinding agenda but my honest observation and I wouldn't care if my grandmother owned the car, if I saw something that was wrong I would say so. I dont see the point of pretence and misdescription.

 

I travel to the UK periodically and have visited Mototechnique a number of times, merely as an enthusiast to have a shufty at what they're working on, as I am fortunate to also do here at a couple of specialists here in New England and in the paradise of Southern California. As has been pointed out by a number of folks on this board, a visit to MT reveals a proper workshop, staffed by deeply knowledgable and capable blokes doing superlative work, quietly operating right at the top of the trade without artifice or hubris. They produce consistent, superlative quality work, presumably to the satisfaction of their clients, as evidenced by much repeat business and the ability to take on difficult work other shops shun. Should Kevin have forcibly persuaded the GTO owner to let him re-do his car over tree stumps, with a coat of mud all over to hide the hammer marks, followed by a coat of scuffed acrylic lacquer in order to properly recreate the factory process? Maybe that is the question, one that only the guy who owns the GTO and commissioned the work can really answer. As mentioned previously, the way this thread was brought about in the first place was somewhat odious and smacks of negative intentions, no matter how much the players do protest. John.

 

Eve all, I've seen the car in restoration & a few times @ events, i bumped into it by accident whilst refueling in theoule sur mer (SoF) the owner took much delight in showing me the car throughout, & mentioned, apon picking the GTO up from Rosso kevs, it was driven to the South of France, driven...... Not trailered.
The car looked great, sounded fantastic, the whole street came to a standstill, it was a real joy to see it being used so lightheartedly.
To fulfil such a bold body off restoration, with work shop doors wide open for all to critique, I'm sure our opinions will be heard for many years to come,
Mototechnique work to recognised standards & that's why they were chosen to carry out this restoration & make a trip like mentioned above possible, I'm sure, given the right budget & blindfolds, they could also achieve the delivered standards of yesteryear,
I herald clever people & pat Rosso Kev on the back,
I raise a beer to you all, wish you a great weekend & let's stay positive, nudge the grudge, & enjoy some fudge x

 

For this kind of drama one usually needs to go to P&R or F1.

 

As long as they spell Rosso Kev correctly I'm cool Darren C ;~} here's a photo of one we straightened earlier ........... and believe me it took more than a tree stump and a shoe heel !!!! I dedicate this photo to all those naysayers who think we are better at modern typos ;~} xxxxx Rosso Kev. ps, yes that's a Ford Gt40 in the background.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Spare it no worry Darren C,

 

Is the argument here that the restoration was done poorly skill wise or done well but still incorrectly as per the way the car was originally built by Ferrari?

To me these are two very different considerations. A car may be finished masterfully with great skill but still will not be what it was versus just a poor job overall.

In my opinion if you should get the fuses right then it's probably a little more important to finish the body in the way it was originally constructed.

 

SN?

Post fix images?

 

Hi fellow enthusiasts, Rosso Kev's got an interesting morning ahead, I'm off to visit sunny Sussex with my son Robert aka Rorkie the trimmer and Baptiste to meet up with fellow member's of the International Guild of Specialist Engineers, check out http://tigose.com/, we have a meeting at the premises of CKL home of historic jaguars Home ............ it promises to be a fascinating experience; I'll keep you all posted, tataa, Rosso Kev.

 

These are old cars and don't belong on a lawn or private garages like beauty queens!
No matter how rare they are.

I am sure the restoration was done in the best possible way. And the discussion can continue for weeks. The owner was very happy with the work, and it was restored to look perfect. The work was done with great skill and I applaude the craftsman!

But they shouldn't be perfect!
Unfortunately, only a handfull of cars are kept in a driveable (mostly)unrestored condition.
No matter what they encountered in life, like us mortals, scars and lumps are a part of their personality. Please keep them without botox and facelifts!

Most prestigious evenst and Concours d'elegances are not about cars, its about showing how perfect a car can be!
Its human nature.... showing off but it has nothing to do with respect for the car, its maker, driver or the results that were achieved.
No matter how much money is thrown in, or how perfect the work was... why would you make it better then it ever was...


As i stated before, my greatest memory of a GTO is seeing it roaring by!
Statues are for museums, cars are to be driven and used.
I saw the Ralph Lauren GTO in Paris... its was turned into a sculpture.. It looked sad..


I will never own one of these icons, but thats not the point, just treat them with the respect they deserve!

just my 2 cents

 

Where can I buy the original hammer and tree stump that Luigi used to form the aluminium?

Or maybe I can transplant his arm on my body and drink his favourite wine to beat the panels excactly like he done...

It goes further: most screws aren´t tightened with the original screwdrivers they used in the factory.

This is in my opinion too much... I still prefer to drive these cars and do the maintaince and repair to the best standart i can do. Ferrari has done the same back in the days.

 

Hi fellow enthusiasts' .......... well our trip to CKL Developments Home proved to exceed expectations.
It was great to see a magnificent workshop and to bump into old work colleagues, friends and fellow members of The International Guild of Specialist Engineers, who are representing and promoting the interests of specialist engineers and the owners of classic cars and all forms of historic motorised transportation.
Our next stage will be the re-establishing of our old apprenticeship schemes to ensure our skills are handed onto the next generation; I'll keep you posted .......... Rosso Kev.

 

You are absolutely right.

Along with the english wheel usage they should of fitted some nice electric windows, perhaps a sat nav and some LED lights if chasing the best/modern standards is the goal.

 

Good to see you're on your usual mischevious good form Kev !

Tough crowd here - chin up. A man of your skill set shouldn't have to explain his work to anyone.

Best, Tim

 

Should have said: best standart to achieve original function and look.

 

Where were you filling up as the nearest petrol station is in La Napoule ?

 

Ha ha, very good, white diesel !!

 

While we are all welcome to our own opinions on anything and everything, let me get a scope on the dynamic of some threads. We have someone with direct experience of owning, restoring or driving a 250 GTO who is willing to give his time to express opinions or just tell stories about his interactions with one of THE great F - cars. But oh wait some other posters feel that the restoration could have been done better and say so with some sense of self that speaks volumes. If the client decided to keep all of the Graber mods or not is surely up to the client, he is writing the cheques and full credit to him, if he decided to paint it pearly white and fit mag wheels again all credit to him. So I welcome Rosso Kev and will be interested to read what he has to say about classic cars, I would also call on my brethren to show a little respect, since I am sure Kev has better things to do than sit and listen to someone say some quite petty comments.


Keep up the good work Kev

 

Dear Timmmmmmmmmmy, please call me Rosso Kev ;~} your's and Tim's intelligent observations must be rewarded, check out my attached photo ............ any enthusiasts care to count the hammer marks versus imaginary wheeling marks ( these details need to be recorded ......... The Narcissism of small differences'. " Sigmund Freud ) cheers and kindest regards cognoscenti, Rosso Kev.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I find these almost threads nonesensical....

Since NONE of us can see UNDER the color coat, HOW the hell does ANy of the arguments mean anything?

Really...welding a hammered clip to a rolled nose piece repair?

Simple pont of FACT: a wheeled car allows for MORE PRECISE panel fab, which means more consistent curveature lines and seams, thus, LESS FILLER, which means less frequent and fewer checks(CRACKS) in the color coats...right?

I just recently inspected a pals 750 Monza after stripping...the car LOOKED great prior to stripping-EXCEPTING for the huge and numerous cracks which were being attributed by all the "experts: as "patina"-see above, please...

excrement of the male bovine!

once stripped, the PILES of filler, fiberblass, and detritus, was-well... I haven't seen a scene like this since the 1970s, frankly.... all TRCs, Mondials, TRs, and the like...

The bodies are-typically in old RACING CARS-TERRIBLY CROOKED from use, shunts, parking lots, bar parking lots, and...yes kids, just plain crude and imprecise hand manufacture...

Have you ever seen thge door jambs in 9007?
If Ferrari could make their bodies and save the weight of all the filler-you can be CERTAIN that the old man wouldve been using wheels to make the bodies...
Looked another way, mlost readers are not old enough to remember how ROUGH these cars were in reality in the era when raced...
THEY LOOK NOTHING-NOTHING- today, like they did in the late 1950s-to mid/late 1960s...NOTHING...
ever seen pictures of early P-cars after a race?
the totally sandblasted noses and the incredible loss of paint/color?
Bet you missed one thing: NO PRIMER...why add the weight? and you think they would've wasted weight on seam filling?
Are you serious?

Street cars have lead-AND LOADS OF IT-because these cars HAVE to be SOLD to a paying audience, which is far more particular, in reality, than through the prism of car collector lust 50 years after the fact....it harkens my opening chirping that:

Beauty is ONLY skin deep
But SKIN is ALL we see...

the romanticism of hand built racing cars is difficult enough without the polluting of the arguement as to "the proper way to hammer a panel...whats next, the corrct way to turn a wrench?"
Puhleeeez....

 

I always position the car so I am facing toward Modena when I apply the wrench to the nut or bolt.

 

The first truly brilliant quote in the entire thread........... Hell I am all for originality and if the car isnt too far gone nor been hacked about with, go for it. BUT there is a certain point where so few cars are actually in that state when you get them and you cant make it original again. I mean Madonna will never be a virgin again will she........ Thanks for the laugh DWR