Restoring a Classic One Auto Part at a Time

The classic automobile from the 1950s era is a car that can still turn heads when it has been restored to cherry condition. Despite the fact that these cars are solid and heavy duty which makes them gas guzzlers and don't have the modern-day safety features like airbags or in some cases even seatbelts, they are unique and rare which makes them a sought after commodity that can hold its value even in today's market.

Unlike the modern-day car which can be found on any classified ad or car lot, these classic automobiles can only be obtained through extensive searches and in some cases building them from the ground up yourself. Most of these automobile bodies managed to survive even when everything else on them didn't. The majority of these cars come from farmers' fields where they were parked and left to decay back into the earth or parked inside a barn or outbuilding and long forgotten about.

To the car collector, coming across the rusted out skeletal remains of a 1955 Chevy is akin to most of us coming across the winning lottery ticket. While the non-collector may just see a pile of rust with no glass, doors that are missing and seats that have seen better days, the classic car collector sees the vital core component to a creation that only they can envision completed. Finding auto parts to restore a classic can require an extensive scavenger hunt in itself, involving a multitude of inner state searches through car junkyards to try to find the vital auto parts needed to finish out the job.

Most of the auto parts that are missing from these classics can include the cosmetic aspects that are vital to keeping the car in the original like new condition, such as the doors, handles or even the seats. Sometimes the seats are still in the car but they are down to rusted springs and stuffing that has become home to many a field mouse. And any collector knows that in order for a classic car to hold its value and be restored properly, it's vital to maintain as much of the original car as possible. This is why many collectors are willing to go on those long distance scavenger hunts for the needed auto parts which can also part of the thrill of rebuilding a classic.

It can take years and a lot of money, not to mention almost all of your free time, to rebuild a rusty skeleton into a cherry condition classic that turns heads every time you drive it. However it is well worth the expense and time to keep these one-of-a-kind automobiles on the road in a day and age of cookie-cutter cars. And for most collectors that is what it comes down to. It can't be your everyday driver, but it sure is fun to drive a classic automobile and know that you are as unique as the car you have put together from scavenged and salvaged auto parts to recreate a classic.