250 GTO Restoration

Very good point. I have often thought that people who intentionally "do things wrong" may have a point. This is a common approach in architecture where you rarely find any documentation about the done changes and repairs, but are left to determine everything by inspecting the property itself. This leads to a problem where "doing things right" is equal to "faking it".

Besides, I have ENORMOUS respect for Mototechique and the owner of the car for being so open about the repairs/restoration. Complete opposite of the normal procedure of "let's just fix it and tell no one there was a problem" -approach. The message is clear: it's like putting a transparent window into the kitchen of a restaurant: "We know our chef is not picking his nose".

Best wishes, Kare

 

Thanks for posting.

Best

 

Kevin,

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Please note I was never intending to criticise the quality of the work your team does ... absolutely brilliant and something that I could not achieve (well atleast without years of training).

Agree totally. It is important IMO now that the car gets used and creates new patina ... but ofcourse that is up to the owner.

This is interesting. You obviously know a lot more than I regarding this subject but I have never read a book that contradicts that Italians made their bodies by hammering alone ... or atleast not using a wheel. Happy to be corrected ... maybe its a myth?

This is very interesting as I discussed with Alwin that his panel work looked so good he must be using a wheel in another thread ... and got shot down by Alwin himself (http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=135162501&postcount=45). I do not want to get futher in to this ...

Very good point. I had never thought of it this way before. I always (would) try to make it look like nobody was there. There are 2 views to this and I respect both.

Hmmm, I'll leave this alone. Personally I think the car should be restored to exactly how Ferrari made it ... bad door gaps/alignment and all. Just my opinion.

I hope you can see by my previous comments why I was surprised to see the wheel used. Now I have read your reply I understand why you have chosen those methods.

Regards
Pete

 

Kevin
Thank you very much for the work you do with this internet-site. Gives great insight on the GTO otherwise only very few lucky men could see. Thanks a lot. Kind regards, Wolfgang

 

Kevin
You sir, are a genius.
To paraphrase a piece of popular culture - "live long and prosper."

 

I've been thinking about my response here and I think I might have contradicted myself .

I know I once believed that a car should be restored to a condition that the manufacturer would like to have made the car, ie. no design changes but made minus poor quality control.

The problem with this attitude is that cars loose originally and become far better than they ever were and in some ways loose some character ...

I do know that I am restoring my Alfa Romeo 1750 to be 'how Alfa Romeo should have made it' ... although I am not redoing the shockingly poor welding, but I am going to paint it properly (instead of just ghosting the internal panels, etc.), and I am not reproducing poor welding where I am repairing/rebuilding the shell ... thus I can see you all saying that is just the same as what Kevin and his team are doing ...

I do though think competition Ferraris like say a 250 LM should retain some of that 'I am a race car and thus performance was all that mattered when I was originally assembled look', not pebble beach panel work.

Anyway this is just my opinion and I, as others have said, just want to say; Kevin thanks for the pictures and I admire the magic your team does with metal ... must be very satisfying

Pete

 

Hi Kare, am pleased to say that you are spot on in your analisys of our working methods in fact I learnd this train of thought from an architect freind whom I worked for some years ago.

Pete, you have got me thinking regarding " Hammer versus English wheel " and here are my thoughts which are based upon personal experience and hearsay, so if anyone has a more informed opinion please chip in and we can all learn.

The English wheel made it's debut at the turn of the last century and I believe was first used to smooth out the dimples made by hammer forming. Over time expertise developed to a point where complete panels would be fabricated with out the use of a hammer, obviously there is a limit to how much shape can be got out of a piece of metal so smaller intricate parts are formed and then welded into position. Wheeling has a smoothing action and works by stretching the metal in fact it should be considered as a continuous hammer blow, the finished panel takes on a polished appearance which is a shame to paint over.

It should be appreciated that at this time England was servicing the needs of it's Empire and that a huge tradition of bespoke coachbuilders sprang up supplying magnificent coachbuilt vehicles to the Maharajas of India etc, ( this was before the Arabs had an idea of what lay beneath their feet).
Together with this coachbuilding industry was our aircraft industy which used " stessed " alloy panels. Now you are not going to fly far in an aircraft which has got " stressed " panels made by hammer forming as by definition flaws are going to be built into the molecular structure.
I know for sure that British Areospace were still wheeling up Alloy skins for the Tornado supersonic fighter until they moved factory aprox 10 years ago.

In Europe manufacturers seem to have gone for power hammers and " Eckold Piccolo " power stretching / shrinking machines, why I don't know but I suspect speed.
.
I think that due to economy of scale,and the size of the USA market added to their ( pioneering let's get in done " ) attitude America skipped the wheel and opted for pressed panels. Also an army of unionised skilled craftsmen would have ben unacceptable to Detroit.


It should be noted that the Germans and French had a healthy respect for the English Wheel, watching a recent documentary showing the production of the V1 and V2 rockets used during WW2 on London I spotted an English Wheel in the background of the workshops in Peenemunde. Likewise the French grudgingly used the " English Wheel " to shape the copper plates which cloath the Statue of Liberty.

What's all this got to do with conserving a 250 GTO I hear you say??
Well basically England had an economy and the necessary industries to develop and support what has became accepted here as the superior method of shaping metal.

Your thoughts and input are welcome, Cheers Kevin.

 

On the patina point, note that the website mentions that the car received a bare-metal respray in the 1980s. In my view, since the original paint was already long gone, there's no harm in another paint job.

 

Correct, thank you, kindest regards Kevin.

 

Kevin ,

Did you get my e-mail regarding pics ?

Tim

www.fluidimages.co.uk

 

Hi Tim, I have sent your request to our client and an awaiting response.
Good luck, kindest regards Kevin.

 

Kevin ,

Many thanks !

 

Maybe a little off-topic, but I wanted to share this: together with a couple of friends I used to frequently visit England in the nineties to go to historic car events, FOC-UK meets and visiting restoration shops all over England. In fact we once visited more than 30 different shops!

One visit that I most remember was to Kevin O'Rourke's Mototechnique. We hadn't announced ourselves beforehand but nevertheless we got a very warm welcome by Kevin himself. It was almost like we were old friends of him. He showed us around the shop and took all the time we needed. Kevin, many thanks again for such a nice experience!

Ciao, Peter

 

I sat in this car 2 years ago and might be prepared to sell the jeans i was wearing at the time. this car was heavily modified in the 60's and changed again in the 80's.I was told by a metal shaping guy who was old enough to know that the Italians came over here to learn how to use the wheel in the 60's.

 

also:
I have an Edwards wheeling machine,
My wife is Italian (parentage),
I asked her to give it a go.
She was rubbish.

So im not sure

 

Graham,

Given that pretty much everybody else regards this car as a very original and unmolested Gto it may be that you sat in a different one

 

No it was this one, and the reason i know is because it was in Mr Pilkingtons house while I was talking to him. So jeans are still forsale.Car was modified in 65' by Graber a swiss coachbuilder to road going trim where it gained front bumpers no lower driving lights and vw rear lamps.interior was fully trimmed with wind up windows. Mr Pilkington had it restored back to orriginal config but kept the interior in the 80's.

 

Yes trim was obviously not original ... hope it is trashed

As for other modifications, they sound very minor so maybe heavily modified is a bit tough ... from the sounds of it no real panel work required.

I imagine most have had new noses, etc. over the years ... so maybe still one of the most original? (although I always thought there were a handful of these cars that had never been restored, ie. current owner since the 60's ... so other than racing 'work' still as they finished their last race).
Pete

 

Hasnt he had more that one GTO?

 

No free jeans .......but loads of new up - dated photos detailing the continued progress of this significant conservation project on www.mototechnique.com Enjoy, kindest regards to all Kev.

 

Morning Kev - Nice photos

 

Hi Team, thought you'd like to know that I have just updated our web site www.mototechnique.com with some very tasty new photos showing our progress on the 250 GTO conservation, check out the new 9th page and updated 10th page, Cheers and kindest regards to all, Kev.

 

Thank You for your remarks and photos. I have enjoyed them over here in the Colonies! Please keep posting them...your web site is absolutely outstanding!--Bob

 

250 GTO Conservation, NEW page added......metalwork conservation now finshed Car moves onto paintshop, follow our painting process on www.mototechnique.com Cheers to all and thanks to our many visitors particulary the overseas visitors from Austrailia, New Zealand and the USA who popped into witness proceedings, Kindest regards, Kev.

 

Kevin: Thank you so much for sharing the photos. It is obvious that you guys love what you do. Absolutely amazing! What a project to be involved with.....