Originally posted by Lowejackson

There are a couple of workshops in the UK which will match the original (poor) welding and use original (poor) quality metals in the restoration of vintage Alfa`s.



Not sure how this fits with the Concours spirit or even if it is a good thing but apparently these guys charge a LOT of money.


It`s more than a couple Steven - trust me!



We handle insurance for over 800 dealers, restorers and race preparers of classic & exotic cars and most of them will have the skill to recreate a car exactly as it was built - right down to poor welding & orange peel, although I`m not sure whether anyone`s yet tried to recreate 1970`s British poor workmanship or constant-interruptions-due-to-industrial-action type restoration perfection....! Maybe a business opportunity....



Hourly rates are in fact a lot less than main dealer charges but the the time involved can and does run into hundreds of man hours both in labour and in a lot of cases actually remanufacturing parts no longer available - I`ll never forget a client showing me a gearbox casing he`d made for a Maserati 4CLT along with all of its internals - again recreated from an original part damaged beyond salvage.



This all fascinates me as on the engineering side I don`t have (and never will have) the know-how to do this myself and listening to people who do is an enlightening experience, believe me.