29/07/2020
Recently The Wheatcroft Collection published an update on their phenomenal Tiger 1 restoration project (two Tigers being restored in parallel). https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=3322792244612899&id=2348619585363508
Consequently there was much discussion in the comments section about 'originality' of the vehicles. Therefore I thought it may be useful to post here part of our last publication (Panther Project Vol 2: Engine and Turret), that covered this exact discussion. It may help clarify for those not familiar with vehicle restoration, the ethos behind TWC work, and the lengths they go to in order ensure each vehicle is faithfully restored.
Here is the article.
"During a recent discussion with Brian and Alan Rutter, the collections restorers, we were all stunned to realised that the work on the Panther had been in progress for nearly seventeen years. While there have been periods of downtime on the project, the main reason is the ethos at the collection: It does not matter how long it takes, as long as it’s done right. This ethos drives the entire process from the minute the vehicle first arrives. Every single component is stripped down to the last nut and bolt, and evaluated as to whether it can be restored back to original working condition. Where it cannot be used an availability hierarchy comes into play: first prize will be an ‘as new’ unused wartime spare, second will be a useable item from a different vehicle, or used stock, and a last resort is to manufacture a new item from scratch. On some occasions, none of these options are available, as there is no template from which to even manufacture a missing item – in this case the collection has often waited years for such items to be discovered and acquired.
It was while thinking about this that I remembered Theseus's paradox - a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. (The paradox is most notably recorded by Plutarch in Life of Theseus from the late first century. Plutarch asked whether a ship – the Theseus - that had been restored by replacing every single wooden part remained the same ship.)
When looking at a project such as the Panther where do you draw the philosophical line as to when it is no longer the original vehicle? The day it leaves the factory, after its first repairs in the field, its first or second new turret after combat damage? And does this affect decisions on what to restore/replace on the vehicle?
Considering this, as the finished vehicle has to be in perfect running order, this also means that some critical components are better replaced from the outset (torsion bars, track links, perishable pipes and gaskets etc). As there is no way of knowing what wear and abuse such items have been through, taking a chance they will hold up after restoration makes no sense. A good example of this are the engine valves – having one of these fail and cause catastrophic damage in one of the few running Maybach HL230 P30 left in the world is not worth the risk.
Again, this takes us back to the paradox above – is replacing seventy year old valves diluting the ‘originality’ of the vehicle? Both ourselves and collection agree that it does not – had the vehicle been in constant service for the last seventy years, virtually every component would have been replaced multiple times from spares, scavenged parts, or newly manufactured - in much the same way as the collection is carrying out the restoration.
What is beyond doubt is that every effort has been made to use as much original content as possible, to restore to the same condition as the day it left the factory."
For myself the above has always been exemplified by the restoration to full running order of the Maybach engines that will go into the Tigers. For instance this Maybach HL230 P30 Panther engine started life as a 60yr old block of rust.....
