What to agree with a restoration workshop before you hand over your classic

Before the first bolt comes out, settle five things in writing. One, the level of work you are asking for: preservation, conservation or full restoration. Two, the scope and how it is priced, fixed price or by the hour. Three, who photographs and logs every part as the car comes apart. Four, where the original parts go once they are replaced, ideally back to you in a box. Five, what paperwork comes back with the car. Those five points decide what the car is worth later, and what class it can be judged in.

Decide the level of work first

FIVA's Charter of Turin came into force on 29 January 2013 and draws a line between three things: preservation of a vehicle in original condition, restoration that repairs or reconstructs while protecting as much original material as possible, and modification that makes a car look factory-new without historical accuracy. The Charter does not endorse the third. Its two standing instructions to an owner are simple. Keep as much original material as you can, and document all work undertaken.

This matters in India, not only in Europe. At the 21 Gun Salute Concours d'Elegance in Delhi, cars are split into classes that include a Preservation class, and Autocar India reported they were judged to ICJAG standards by a 35-member jury led by chief judge Christian Kramer, with 24 chief class judges from Pebble Beach. A tired, original, unmolested car has a class of its own. Stripping it to bare metal cannot be undone.

Porsche puts the same decision at the start of its own process. Its description of a factory restoration has the owner choosing early between retaining patina and a full rebuild, after the car is assessed and the archive is searched using the VIN.

Get the estimate, the parts log and your old parts back

Porsche's sequence is worth copying as a checklist. Consultation, condition assessment from images, archive research on the chassis number, an initial cost calculation before anything is dismantled, then a detailed inspection once the car is in many thousands of pieces, and only then a final contract with specifications. Aston Martin Works describes the same discipline on its restoration page: the car is completely dismantled and every individual component is logged and assessed, and it offers a fixed price restoration so that, in its words, there are no surprises.

None of the workshops on this beat publish rate cards, and Indian restorers quote per project. So the written estimate, broken into stages with payments against each stage, is the only number you will get. Ask for photographs of the car as received, numbered and labelled boxes, and the removed parts returned, even the rusted ones. A build file of invoices and images is what a judge and the next buyer will read.

Allow years, not months

Porsche says a full factory restoration takes around three years, with about 1,000 hours of work on the bodywork alone, and the Stuttgart operation hands its quality seal to up to ten cars a year. Indian timelines are not far off. Wagenwerkz in Mumbai records that an Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint, off the road and neglected for 42 years, was ready in 22 months, on a model for which parts are hard to find and accurate information harder still.

That is the honest shape of the job. Much of the time goes into finding parts and information, not turning spanners. So ask who will do the metalwork, whether trim and plating are in-house or sent out, how often you may inspect the car, and what happens to the project if the lead fabricator leaves.

Sources

• How to restore a classic Porsche, Porsche
• Transfer of knowledge in Porsche Classic Factory Restoration, Porsche Newsroom
• FIVA Charter of Turin Officially In Force, Sports Car Digest
• 21 Gun Salute International Vintage Car Rally and Concours d'Elegance feature, Autocar India
• Restoration, Aston Martin Works
• WagenWerkz End to End Car Solutions