Resetting Mileage after full Restoration

[Fungus]

I thought this could be an interesting thread, as i'm sure there are strong and valid arguments for and against the idea.

Say, for example, a 200k miles car has had a full nut and bolt restoration with absolutely no element of the original car left untouched- do you think it's acceptable to set the mileage to zero? If not, surely the mileage would not actually reflect on the mechanical condition of the car in any way? Except maybe the affect of stresses put through the shell over the years/miles.

I personally don't have a problem with this, as the car will effectively be brand new, with no wear and tear on any parts.

At the other end of the scale is the idea of taking a car, resetting it's mileage and doing nothing else; obviously the idea of increasing a cars value by falsifying it's mileage illegal, dishonest and a generally awful thing to do (assuming the operation was performed with the intention of selling the car).

So, in your opinion, at what point is it acceptable to reset a car's mileage? It's been done plenty of times on 'restorations', but I believe that for a car to truly be 'zero miles' every wear-prone part would need to be new (bearings and seals inside the gearbox, full engine rebuild, all new suspension perishables etc).

So what's your view on the matter?

Threads need pictures, so here's a 4.3-miles IROC-z and the highest mileage car in the world- 3,040,000-miles(ish) Volvo P1800

[Woofwoof]

If we take your 200k mile example and presume that the car is twenty or thirty years old and was totally rebuilt (presuming it would be a modern classic/Youngtimer of some sort), I'd have no issue with whatever mileage was shown as recorded. A car like that would be purchased solely on condition rather than mileage.

[Woofwoof]

Just add, when you think about it, why would somebody be keen to zero the mileage anyway, as it's all about condition along with supporting documentation, photos, etc.

[Deleted]

High mileage on a mint car is a badge of honour to me, it proves that someone has either taken really good care of the car all along, or used time and money to restore it

[jikovron]

I think its definitely a sign of either a decently cared for car or a quality restoration job if its truly mint but also of high mileage, most of todays anachronism cars have a 6 digit milometer anyway so 200k would look like 0miles to start with

Either way if a car has done mileage ,,then the shell, suspension, engine and many more parts that would be reused have gone through a portion of expansion cycles, material fatigue and repaired corrosion damage of which refurbishing with paint will never reverse to factory showroom order anyway

the car in my avatar went round the clock twice and felt as if it could be reliant upon as if it could do 200'000, then surely it could do it again!

[waveman1500]

There's nothing wrong with resetting the odometer, as long as you record the old reading and present the documentation to the next buyer of the car. That proves that you're not trying to cover anything up.
It's exactly the same as putting in a new odometer/dash.

[lewis]

As others have said, why bother? Wear the original miles with pride and people will probably be more impressed if it truly looks new.

[RetroWarwicK]

mileage is part of cars history. unless the speedo has broken and been repaired or replaced with a good 2nd handunit or NOS unit, then anything else is clocking in my books

[steveo3002]

i wouldnt bother myself , theres not going be many cases where everything is 0 miles anyway

would look more fishy to me than a high miles speedo and a box full of receipts and photos to show what a great resto it is

[flatapex]

Well my opinion is clouded by the fact I am also a retro console collector.

A car is bought to be used, enjoyed, and form part of memories, if it eventually needs a restoration then that deserves to be a really nice, in depth restoration.

I would much rather someone said 'its done 150k on its old engine and i took everything out and restored it' rather than 'look 0 miles'

[DWDarkWheels]

Apr 20, 2015 14:36:55 GMT RetroWarwicK said:

mileage is part of cars history. unless the speedo has broken and been repaired or replaced with a good 2nd handunit or NOS unit.

I'm with this. Wear the mileage with pride.

[taurus]

I'm also inclined the keep the mileage shown as original. It just makes the provenance of the car more interesting.

[chris y]

I agree with everyone else, and to me you cant undo the miles, they are part of the history.

I think the only circumstances where a zero mileage is right thing are either a brand new dash fitted because the old one is broken or not in good condition or when a car is built that has so many new parts that it gets a new registration (kit or radically modified etc), then the mileage reflects the fact that its recognised as a new vehicle at the time it is registered.

Intentionally zeroing is missing the point, its not a condition meter, to be reset when the car is brought back to original condition, its how far the car has moved, you cant undo that and I would never want to.

[vulgalour]

The mileage should never be considered as a bad thing. There are two high(ish) mileage cars in our household, one is a 20 year old Corsa B on 100,000 miles and the other a Xantia estate on 104,000. Neither look like they've done the miles they have but I wouldn't feel right turning the clock back on them to the mileage they look like they've done. It's far more gratifying to tell someone the car they're admiring has done double, quadruple or even more times the mileage then they thought at all possible than to tell them it's done 6 miles while they're picking fault with the condition.

The only clock that should be reset in a car is the one that keeps the time, the odometer is a badge of honour as has been rightly pointed out above.

[retroade]

In even the most thorough resto there will be components of the vehicle that are original and will have been subjected to the original miles. A repaired item is not as good as a new item in most cases, the shell being the prime example.

If you flip that on its head say you did use a new shell etc and replaced every component, it would then be a 0 miler but it would also be a new vehicle and should be on a new registration / V5.

So as I see it a car should declare its true mileage. If I'm buying a 30 plus year old car I don't expect it to have covered 0 miles!

[chris y]

Vulgalour has hit the nail on the head.

To reset it to zero would be setting it to what the condition of the car would suggest it might have done.

That is exactly we are all firmly against when someone such as an unscrupulous dealer clocks a car to the mileage it looks like it might have done so as to increase the value.

[Deleted]

If the car is fully rebuilt along with a newly rebuilt engine then 0000 miles is true to that engine, I have restored cars and reset then to 00000 to reflect this.

[Deleted]

Apr 22, 2015 17:37:02 GMT chris y said:

Vulgalour has hit the nail on the head.

To reset it to zero would be setting it to what the condition of the car would suggest it might have done.

That is exactly we are all firmly against when someone such as an unscrupulous dealer clocks a car to the mileage it looks like it might have done so as to increase the value.

How is setting a odometer to zero when the car has been fully restored and documented as such the same as someone
who clocks a car to hide the fact its done a high mileage to sell it on for profit?
Resetting mileage after a FULL engine rebuild using new parts and declaring the fact is legal, clocking is not legal.

[AtomicRooster]

I think mileage is semi irrelevant on classic cars. Yes it matters to a degree but most the time nobody seems to be able to tell if its been round the clock because everyone seems to lose the history. I've owned high milers which were great and genuine low (sub 100k) milers which were utter utter turds. Its all down to how its been looked after. Maintenance is king.

[Woofwoof]

Apr 22, 2015 20:13:32 GMT @1300dolly said:

If the car is fully rebuilt along with a newly rebuilt engine then 0000 miles is true to that engine, I have restored cars and reset then to 00000 to reflect this.

I couldn't disagree more.


Anyway why would you want to zero the mileage?