Okay guys. What's your call on our '65 Skylark? Owned since 2004. One family owned, original paint, with one quarter painted years ago from what must have been damage. Very hard to see it. Now has 81,000 miles. Complete new brakes and lines, updated to '67 dual master (Have original). Replaced timing chain, water pump, alternator, fuel pump and radiator recored. No repaint under hood. There was a split in the driver seat that kept getting longer. I had it repaired. Most do not notice. Rest of interior is original. Glass is all factory. Lets hear your opinions. I don't call it a real survivor because of the seat and brake conversion. Both were necessary because the seat would be ruined and I will not drive with a single master if I have a choice. Give me an afternoon and that could be switched.
A truly original car that was more then about 10 years old would be more of a curiosity then a car. Some years ago I was attending a Corvette show when a trailer appeared and a truly original '53 Corvette was unloaded. It really was original - right down to the tires and belts. It could not be started or driven for just that reason. To me the car was useless and perhaps a little silly.
That's a Time Capsule.... As for you Smokey I would definitely call that a Survivor Car, or a Legend/Legacy car. And I dig Original cars like these. At shows, personally I Walk By all these cars that are altered much at all. I think its 10x harder to bring a car back to the Showroom than it does to bolt a bunch of O'Reilly's crap on it. A car that has been Mod-ded had better have been with a ton of thought, good choices and a bunch of money to get my attention.
Subjective term, means different things to different people. Most commonly applied to cars that were used in everyday transportation at one point, so they show the normal wear, and have had tires, fluids and common replacement parts installed and had body repairs as required due to collisions.. but the car has never been "restored". Some folks go farther, and limit the term to ultra low mileage cars that still wear all the original parts, often times including the tires. I tend to lean toward the second definition, with the first category being a "well preserved original" in my mind. But like I said, if you want to call your car a "survivor" and it has not been restored, then no one can really tell you differently. JW
