Miles Collier, writing in the August 2022 issue of Sports Car Market spoke to his belief that “the restoration of a car either produces an archetype that embodies the standard characteristics of that vehicle or a portrait that serves as an evocation of someone or something, that attempts to capture the essence of that someone or something.”

Collier states, “The restoration process always transforms, even destroys the past, if only by severing the car’s most important relationship, its connection to the selfsame and irrecoverable past.” He believes that the end result, no matter how meticulous and faithful the effort, will achieve no more than an approximation of the automobile’s lost reality.

His point is that the evidence of human stories engraved in the material fabric of the car makes it an emotional and powerful historical artifact that honors the car’s relationship to time and use.

His words made me reflect on the 1961 Corvette I have owned since 1967 and retained as original until a restoration necessitated by a fire in 2017.

The following looks at the restoration effort of my Corvette in the light of Miles Collier’s beliefs.

To provide a sense of the Corvette’s accrued life, times and use that translated into my, then, unrestored Corvette’s rich patina, I will begin with a piece I wrote for Hemmings to celebrate my 50^th year of ownership.

 Applying Miles Collier’s archetype versus portrait conventions in assessing the restoration of my 1961 Corvette

Summer 1967 witnessed the Beatles joining Sergeant Pepper’s Band and marching off the touring circuit for good at the same time that 100,000 hippies descended on San Francisco for the “Summer of Love.” It may have been ’67 but I would experience it like Route 66.

Still a teenager, my summer of ‘67 was to be an American Graffiti experience rich with Jersey Shore adventures and cruising main streets across Bergen County and beyond.

My sophomore year at Newark College of Engineering, now NJIT, was in the books and the bill for first semester of my junior year fast approached. Tuition for the next semester loomed as the princely sum of $220.

With my sister Dorothy in 1967

Having just sold my 1959 MGA for $325, I was working hard at two jobs because I wanted to buy a Corvette as well as pay for school.

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What matters? As a culture what objects should we, as Americans, care about enough to protect? What should be recognized as a defining element of our culture’s evolution worthy of recognition and preservation? In 1966 by an act of Congress, the Federal Government established the National Register of Historic Places. This act authorized creation of an official list of historic places in America worthy of documentation and preservation. Today, the list includes almost 100,000 properties  comprised of buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects, but no automobiles.

No automobiles!!! What single object has played a greater role in the evolution of American culture than the automobile?

This glaring oversight received remedy in 2013 with creation of the National Historic Vehicle Register (NHVR)through the collaboration of the U.S. Department of Interior, the Heritage Documentation Programs, the Library of Congress and the Historic Vehicle Association (Recently renamed the Hagerty Drivers Foundation, HDF). Tasked with the recognition and documentation of the most historically significant automobiles, motorcycles, trucks and commercial vehicles in America’s past, the NHVR faces a daunting task. As of today 32 vehicles have been honored with recognition.

Let’s take a look at what makes them so special.

Judged the 32 most historically significant cars in America. Do you agree?

How to pick the vehicles that matter most? Right off the bat inclusion does not necessarily require the vehicle to be the best of its breed.

NHVR has established four defining criteria that affords eligibility to the register. A vehicle only has to meet one of the criteria to be considered eligible for entry.

Criteria

1.The vehicle must be associated with a meaningful trend in American automotive history or culture or a significant event or events.

2. The vehicle is associated with the life or lives of a person or persons who played a significant role in American history or culture.

3. The vehicle must achieve distinction based on design, engineering, craftsmanship or aesthetic value.

4. A vehicle of a particular type that was the first one produced, the last one produced, is a rare or the sole example or is among the most well-preserved or authentically restored surviving examples.

These four criteria go a long way in making sense of what could otherwise be a list possessing considerable mystery. It certainly can provide clarity in explaining why your pristine 1967 427 Corvette is doubtful to make the cut but a […]