Re: [CR]When is a restoration not a restoration?

(Example: Production Builders:Tonard)

Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2007 10:01:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Donald Gillies <gillies@cs.ubc.ca>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR]When is a restoration not a restoration?

Let's use a thought experiment to illustrate my point. Let's say Brian Baylis discovers an unpainted MASI from 1974, a time period when he was working at MASI. Brian decides to paint the bike for the first time, using original decals from his "private reserve" (please don't bug Brian about his "private reserve" as this is a thought experiment and I've never heard him talk about a "private reserve".) Anyway, is this finally-painted frameset a restoration ??

If it _is_ a restoration, then you have to tell me how much time must elapse between when the bike is brazed and when it is painted. Are you saying that frames go "stale" after a certain number of days, weeks, or months, so they are not "fresh" any more, and "if they aren't painted while fresh then are restorations" ?? That sounds like bunk to me.

If is _is not_ a restoration, then what really is the difference between a frame that brian finds unpainted, and a frame that is chemically stripped of the paint that Brian put onto it in 1974 ??

I imagine that the MASI guys screwed up some paint jobs, some of them badly enough that they had to strip them and repaint them (either immediately, in the shop, or after just a few months of customer usage, maybe pinhole rust came through the paint in Seattle). Then are these twice-painted frames "restorations" or "originals" ?? If they are originals, what is the time period when the frame goes "stale" (again, this sounds like bunk to me), If they are "restorations", who's to say, even if they are first owners, whether a frameset has been once-painted or twice-painted ?? Again, this sounds like bunk to me. In theory, any and every person could be riding a restoration, as a restoration would be identical to an original.

Or are you saying that Brian has be on Faliero's payroll for the paint to be original ?? Oh, now you're really getting ridiculous, aren't you ??

I believe that a frame (a) made by the artisan, (b) painted by the artisan, and (c) built to the artisan's original specifications (period, geometry, tubing, etc.), is an original, period. I think that stance respects the art of the frame builder more than any other stance.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA