Now this olelongrooffan has shared with my fellow Hoons that I love most everything automotive. My head turns on a regular basis on my travels around looking at pretty much everything I can see from my perch piloting my longerroof or my, new to me, xBox. Additionally, I have the opportunity to attend quite a few car shows and events around these here parts. Further, the bulk of my favorites on this latest laptop I daily drive are automotive related. autoextremist, Hemmings, The Old Motor, The View Through the Windshield, seeing some cool stuff with Jesse, and many, many more. I also enjoy hanging in the carport when the opportunity presents itself. It seems that on more than a few of them, one of the topics that arises is the term “original” versus the term “stock.” Now while I certainly do not consider myself an automotive expert, as I am sure most of my fellow Hoons will agree, this olelongrooffan certainly does have an opinion about the use of these two terms and their application to our automotive passion. And if my fellow Hoons are interested in some ramblings from this olelongrooffan on this subject, feel free to make the jump at your convenience.
A few weeks ago, I spent a couple hours on Florida’s Highway 9 and traveled up north to the Space Coast to catch the Beach Blast 19 car show. It is held on the grounds of a beachside hotel and one of my early posts here in the Hooniverse was about the Beach Blast 16 show. (Man I am sure glad I have quasi learned how to format images here in the Hooniverse.)
Anyway, while this olelongrooffan was wandering around, some pretty cool stuff was spotted. But it was the sighting of a trio of Tri-5 Chevrolets that really prompted me to thinking about this subject. The fact the first car I remember my maternal grandfather, Man, owning was a ’56 Belair kind of factored into my thoughts on this subject. As well as my Uncle Frank’s multitude of convertibles. And while Tri-5 Chevy’s don’t really trip my trigger, this bit of ramblings isn’t about Tri-5 but provenance in general.
As noted in one of the above images, this is Uncle Fritz’s 56 Belair purchased new in 1956 and maintained by him and now by his nephew Bill. It contains all of the original bits and pieces with the possible exception of some replacement parts to keep this old sweetie in proper running order. No frame off restoration here, just a highly maintained and loved vehicle by the caretakers of it.
To this olelongrooffan, this is an original automobile. Even though it appears to have had seat belts installed at some point for safety reasons, this addition is acceptable.
Even the glass stop light viewer on the dashboard is a cool option on this classic old hard top sedan.
And that wood box in the immaculate trunk of this tri-5 is filled with receipts dating back to the day Fritz purchased this car. That is original and certainly has the correct provenance to be called original.
Parked next to Fritz’s sedan was another 56 Belair, this one a two door post. On the placard on the grille of this one it is decribed as having a “frame off” restoration and it was claimed to be in “original” condition. Now my fellow Hoons, that statement is what prompted this olelongrooffan to, again, consider “stock” versus”original.”
Even though this blue post has been restored to stock from the factory condition, in my mind, it is no longer original. To me, original is defined by Fritz’s sedan. No major rework has been done to it, it has just been maintained in its original condition.
While this post looks fantastic and I am confident its owner is justifiably proud to be its owner, this olelongrooffan much prefers Uncle Fritz’s version of original.
After all, they are only original once.
And this one? I walked right on by it.
Images Copyright Hooniverse 2012/longrooffan
![http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HXP2Z5GXFO8/SK-IT8IGNuI/AAAAAAAADfU/1KBVom-oWMU/s1600/longroofs+037.jpg>width="600"](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HXP2Z5GXFO8/SK-IT8IGNuI/AAAAAAAADfU/1KBVom-oWMU/s1600/longroofs+037.jpg>width="600"){kind=link}
Leave a Reply