As a museum curator, may I offer up some basic principles that we try to
follow in museums when doing conservation and restoration?
If possible, make the repairs or changes REVERSIBLE. I know this is not
always practical but...think of a shattered vase. If one uses permanent glue
to reassemble it, and then realizes that one has a piece to fit into the
middle ... one has a REAL problem, or if one has made a mistake and glued a
piece in upside down. So in MVs try to use bolts rather than welding for any
"add-ons" or "upgrades" rather than a welding torch.
Here is another principle - this one from the Canada Aviation Museum at
Rockcliffe, Ottawa, Ontario which has many rare military aircraft such as
the Me-163B-1a Komet.
"Parts should be preserved rather than restored, restored rather than
replaced, and replaced only when essential."
(p. 230 Canada's National Aviation Museum - Its History and Collections by
K. M. Molson.)
Lets say you have General Patton's jeep. If you can preserve the vehicle as
found - great. Preserving the upholstery on the seats that would be better
than restoring them, and even that would be better than replacing them.
After all, this is THE seat that the General sat upon! Imagine if I were to
display that jeep and say the THIS is General Patton's jeep now restored,
though we had to replace the body tub with a perfect John Geesink replica,
the tires are correct but made in South America, the canvas is all new
reproduction made by a well respected firm in the MV hobby, the engine was
seized and cracked so an NOS engine was found, the glass was delaminating so
it is now new safety glass, the instruments and lights are all NOS, the
wiring loom is a replica made by a reputable company. The radiator was
recored. His big horns were stolen so we found the same model on an old
truck in a junk-yard. The data plates were faded and damaged, and one was
missing so we used perfect replicas and restamped the original numbers. Of
course we had to repaint all of it. Oh sure, the frame is the original, but
how much else is? Is it a Coca Cola jeep? i.e. Is it the still the REAL
thing? (referring to an old Coca Cola ad).
With a military vehicle, if you put in an "improved" fitting (brakes, fuel
pump, turn signals etc.), it should ideally be bolted in using original bolt
holes, and any parts that are removed, are tagged and kept. Holes can be
filled, but you should keep a record if you have to drill new holes to fit a
Wireless Set No. 19 or a machinegun mount into your jeep for example so that
the record will show that this was an add-on done after its military
service.
The most common example is perhaps the paint and markings on historic
military vehicles (HMV) (including trailers made by Ben Hur in reference to
a previous message). If one removes the paint and markings, the information
is gone. One cannot then come back later and match your paint to an unfaded
example in a sheltered spot. You cannot confirm if the USA registration
number painted on it now is the ORIGINAL or just one that someone put on
years ago in an earlier restoration. On my 1944 MB, I found many layers of
military paint (NO civilian paint layers). I kept paint chips and feather
sanded the paint and then painted over top. The original markings are still
there, under my paint. I was not trying to make mine factory new. If I had
been going factory new look, then I would have photographed, measured and
traced the markings - and their exact locations, before Redi-stripping or
sandblasting - even if I did not plan to use those markings.
Another museum principle is DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT! The Canadian War
Museum had Field Marshall Alexander's Canadian built Ford C11ADF station
wagon restored for them This is the one he used in North Africa (he was
Monty's boss), Sicily and Italy, and Canada. When the CWM had it restored,
the painter apparently put the WRONG War Department number on the hood
(bonnet to our UK friends). Many years later, the error remained
uncorrected. Recently I have heard many horror stories of people dismantling
vehicles such as Ford GPAs and then selling the 'parts pile' puzzle. Tag and
bag it as you go, take photos, draw sketches. You will NOT remember how it
goes together in a year or two, or three . "Did that wire go over or under
the bracket at this point? Where does this wire go to? Keep assemblies
together until you are ready to rebuild them. I still shudder when I think
back on an 1952 M38CDN Ford jeep I found - dismantled, with buckets of bolts
and little parts, and no tags.
Another tip - try not to throw any parts away until AFTER you have finished
the project. An exception of course could be known new parts ... but read
on! I just acquired a 1943 (?) Ford GPA amphibious jeep (USA 7012118). It
has a post-war Dodge station wagon roof grafted on top. I plan to remove
this, but as I was looking at it the other day, it looks like the previous
owner (now deceased), had moved the spare tire carrier from the rear deck of
the GPA to the side of the new roof. I'm glad I did not rush in and discard
that roof yet! Photos of it at my web site
http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/gpa.htm
Cheers!
Colin Macgregor Stevens
MVPA Member 954 (since 1977)
Editor: "Maple Leaf Up!" newsletter & Webmaster
of Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
(Established 1977)
Pitt Meadows (East of Vancouver but not beyond Hope)
British Columbia, CANADA
Owner of:
1944 Willys MB jeep (ex-Norway)
1942 BSA airborne bicycle
1943 Ford GPA amphibious jeep (unrestored, modified for world travel by
Lionel Forge in the late 1950s-1960s)
Personal web site: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net
E-mail: colin@pacdat.net
Club web site: http://www.westerncommand.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Newton" <jnewton@laurel.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2001 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] I think I'm going to be sick!
>We all know that there are some pretty disgusting pictures on the internet,
but
>this was one of the worst.
>He might call it restored. I'd call it destroyed.
Practically speaking, would that vehicle be able to be restored back
to original condition? I mean, it is one of the VERY first models.
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.
--Jim "Ike" Newton
o 1984 Military CUCV Suburban 6.2 Liter Turbo-Diesel Engine 3/4 Ton Cargo Capacity, 4WD
o 1971 M35A2 Military Troop/Cargo Truck "Deuce and a Half" 478 Cubic Inch Turbo-Diesel Multi-Fuel Engine Air Shift Front Axle 2 1/2 Ton Cargo Capacity, 6WD
See them at: http://www.CUCV.net
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 07 2001 - 09:34:12 PDT