If you’re looking to restore or repair your collector car, it would sure be nice if the project came with an instruction manual. Sure, there are plenty of Haynes manuals and Bentley books to guide you through the travails of the mechanicals, but what about the rest of the car- the body, soft-bits and trim? Do you have any idea how to restore plated plastic pieces? Well, fortunately the Motorbooks Workshop tome, How to Restore Your Collector Car has been the the go-to book for amateur restorers and maintainers for over a decade.
In that first edition, Tom Brownell detailed everything from finding the right car to entering the finished product in a show. Chapters broke down each step of the restoration process, focusing on such common sense, but often overlooked aspects as proper disaseembly- do you keep a supply of zip-lock bags of various sizes and a sharpie in the garage?
For this 2nd edition, automotive writer Jason Scott updates Brownell’s original with info on more recent cars, as well techniques and products that have been developed over the past decade. Also, a slew of color photos – detailing the whats and hows – have been added.
Will How to Restore Your Collector Car turn you into an award-winning automotive restoration expert? Probably not, but if terms such as dollies, magnaflux and hog rings mean nothing to you, this should be required reading before you try and tackle any kind of restoration project.
How to Restore Your Collector Car 2nd Edition
Author: Tom Brownell (2nd Edition Additions: Jason Scott)
Format: Softbound
Pages: 288
ISBN-13: 9780760335413
Catalog ID: 145823
Price: $29.99
Available from Motorbooks.com
How to Restore Your Collector Car 2 Edition was provided by the publisher for the purposes of review.
Speed Reads- How to Restore Your Collector Car 2nd Edition
About
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So what's the contest to give away the free copy of the book? Sounds worthwhile, but maybe not worth $30.
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Let's start by repairing this belt buckle scratch on the driver's front fender, shall we?
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I wonder if the days of books like this are numbered. For many cars all one has to do is to find an owner's club or forum and hit the "How-To" section to see what they need to do to fix just about anything, complete with instructions particular to their make and model. More often than not, when a project is going down in my garage it's a laptop sitting open on the toolbench, and not a shop manual or restoration guide.
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I love the Books. They are a good reference but will never, ever cover everything. Learn by doing is the only way to get the techniques down correct.
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In a similar vein, I own this book:
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Ask me how often I've actually skimmed through it. If it contained the entirety of knowledge from the SOHC4 Forums, then it wouldn't be buried in an oily box deep within a dark corner of my garage. Also, if I had actually consulted its Buyer's Guide before I bought the motorcycle, I probably wouldn't even have a project to start with. Lots of good advice that I've since ignored.
Still, it's a fun read. And if I ever need to remove the exhaust collars off a BMW slash/5 (apparently it's a giant PITA without BMW's ultra-expensive special factory tool), then Zimmerman's my man. -
Pffft…I know what those things are:
Dollies: Those humanoid things little girls play with.
Magnaflux: Flowing lava
Hog rings: Wheels on a Harley. -
Sound good. Its also my favorite topic.That’s great andthanks for the fine sharring.
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