Hi Jim,
>I believe that we as HMV owners are charged with the duty to be
>CURATORS of our vehicles and think hard before performing any
>alteration of the vehicle.
I agree. Some of us, like myself, buy MVs for functional as well as
sentimental reasons. My new found philosophy is that if you do a major
alteration, it should be on a more-or-less "common" MV. And when you do
the work you should try and free up as many original parts as you can for
other owners who less fortunate. Two personal examples:
I have 7 Weasels in various conditions, most of which have REALLY gone by
(30+ years outside in the woods doesn't leave much!). Out of the 7, 3-4
have some hope of restoration to one degree or another. But one of them
has very little of the original tub left. All rotted out. So I am
making a logging machine out of it *HOWEVER* I am taking every
conceivable part, including some quite rare ones, off of it to use as
spares or to resell to someone else doing a restoration. The only parts
that will remain are ones which are more common than dirt (suspension
stuff mostly). The tracks are not original equipment either. I am even
taking off things that are VERY useful, like the engine cover and
windshield, and replacing them with something home made. Since these
parts are often missing on other wise decent vehicles, I am not going to
"waste" them when a couple of pieces of heavy sheet metal and some basic
welding can functionally substitute for the originals.
I also just bought a MULE to serve as a much more useful (and "cool") ATV
around some remote land. I am making buckboard siding for the back, but
this will not so much as scratch the original vehicle (I'm using the
rails and existing holes only). In fact, I am putting down plywood and
truckbed lining on the deck to prevent it from getting any more bunged up
than it was when I bought it. When I wanted to get a seat cover I paid a
little bit more and bought a repro from New Life Resources instead of
taking a NOS cover off the market, even though it was cheaper. So if I
ever sell this baby (not a chance!) it will be in better shape than when
I got it since I am stripping it down and repainting it to original specs
while not making a single permanent alteration on it.
Oh, and if any of my MVs get "sick", I don't cheap out on the repairs.
That is the price I am willing to pay for owning a piece of history.
These vehicles might be functional for me, most of the time, but I treat
'em like gold. I would never get a good night's sleep otherwise.
Steve
P.S. I recovered, at some expense, a M43 from certain destruction. I
didn't realy want it, but I couldn't bear to see it get towed to a scrap
heap. Now I am going to restore it to original condition! OD is a
disease after all :-)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 07 2001 - 09:34:12 PDT