What is over restored? For me it is going beyond the original finish the car was sold with. Quite a few Isettas and Messerschmitts therefore fall into that category. However a car carrying loads of original or faithfully replicated extras is a case of taste not over restoration. Do you like bling, if you like?
Is it bad to over restore a car? No, not really, as that is what the owner wanted and hopefully he is happy with it. The only problem is when those cars become the yardstick by which the rest are judged since we loose originality to the altar of shiny. Case in point - where are the many 1955-57 standard Messerschmitts? Your not telling me they did not sell at least as many as the Export (De Lux). Nope, most have been 'over restored' into a model FMR never made. Neither standard nor Export (De Lux) and often not actually with correctly dated instrumentation. Oh dear!
Original Messerschmitts are actually very thin on the ground and the majority are wrong thanks to 'over restoration' and its effects combined with a lack of information from perhaps the car with the strongest Club backing other than Bonds. Yet Bond Owners seem to be far more aware of their car's original features for all the lower financial status. Or maybe that is the problem with over restoration, it is actually about money.
Unfortunately some in the MOC have forgotten why Mick Leeson's 7000 mile KR200 was purchased by that club. It was to serve as a resource for those restoring a late type Messerschmitt to study so they could get their restoration correct. It was a purchase for the future members benefit. It was not bought to make money, as I understand it. If that is what is to be the future then I humbly submit that the institution has gone from a club to a business. It would be particularly damaging if the club sold the car abroad. I think the topic has created some serious internal debate within the MOC and so it should. The result could be very important to all Schmitters and point the direction in which the cars are headed. Selling it points in a direction I do not want to go. However it is probably realistic! Personally I think low milage and original cars are the most valuable and that is why I have collected them over restored pretty cars. What to do if I want to preserve their status as Mick did. Nigh on impossible actually since museums, clubs and all seem to be at the whim of mind or trustee policy changes. Perhaps these cars are better in a shed where some individual loves them than at the whim of democratic based vandalism. Please accept this is not an attack on the MOC but an illustrations of the problems associated with how to keep original vehicles. They are terribly important to the enthusiast.
