£38,000 Chummy

[Ian Williams]

I believe Tony Griffiths point is spot on, the whole point of a restoration is to replicate the original factory finishes, otherwise you are building a special or even a hot rod. Yes yes I can hear the cacophony of cries of oh but I want to make my car usable on modern roads, well perhaps one or two sensible and discrete mods have a place, but bling and non original finishes do nothing for usability. Cars like this completely mis-represent what an Austin seven ever was when new, it is not a new problem in the old car world and seems to happen to anything which starts to get a high price tag. We as a whole movement become much poorer when investors and money moves in, at least it would appear that some quarters have turned a corner and moved toward conservation.

Mike I believe RK EU4339 is a good example of a car discovered with strong evidence of a black painted bronze FZ carb