Restore it or not?

Every antique car restorer dreams of finding an old, unrestored car that has been in storage for decades, with an owner wanting to sell it for a bargain price.   This was a more common occurrence over 70 years ago, but the days of finding unrestored very old cars is long gone.  Most of the cars worth restoring have already been restored.  Many older Model T restorations are now in need of a "refresh" to bring them to like new condition again.  This was the case with the 1915 Model T runabout that I restored a few years ago.  It had likely been restored in the 1950's, based on the materials used (like lead body filler) and the age of the top and upholstery. It still needed A LOT of work to re-restore, but I was able to pick up the car for a reasonable price and was very happy with how it turned out.

However, there still are some unrestored Model Ts out there.  Maybe not in a barn, but they have always been used and protected from the elements.  An example of which was recently on display at a antique parts swap meet in California, shown below.

An unrestored 1912 Model T in California

Many purists would consider restoring such a car to be sacrilege, because it is only "original" once.  However, this can be a slippery slope.  What is "original"?  Often parts have been replaced over the years with ones from later Model Ts (Ford was great at making parts from later Model Ts compatible with earlier year cars).  If the engine or rear axle is rebuilt or had other major mechanical work done, is it no longer "original"?  

Some people like the look of a "barn find" Model T and enjoy making them mechanically sound while maintaining the "distressed" appearance of the unrestored body.  I think that is great, and each Model T caretaker should decide for themselves how they restore or maintain the car while it is in their possession.  

For me, there was no question whether I planned on doing a complete restoration on this car.  The car was sort of in no man's land along the restoration spectrum when I got it; it was not completely original nor completely restored.  It had been repainted in 1949 with an OK paint job, that was not correct in color for the car.  The upholstery is the original leather, but is very brittle.  The 100+ year old aftermarket top was as brittle as the Dead Sea scrolls and just crumbled when the top was put down for transporting it to Kansas.  Mechanically, the car was also in poor shape and had not been licensed in 18 years.  However, it has "great bones" and restoring it, while taking a lot of work, should be pretty straight forward.  So let the restoration begin!

Last picture taken before the restoration begins!