odometer when restoring an old car

I wouldn't touch it .. declaring the actual mileage and showing the mileage when you finished it and of course all the work in pictures would be the way the go

If I was to buy something that is what I would want to see ..my two cents

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Remember that carfax will flag a major change in mileage as well ..

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If it a total restoration is done to include a complete engine/trans overhaul and as you say every nut and bolt, then it is basically a new car that should start at zero. These days it seems most collectors pay up for things like original paint and patina, and with that originality including actual miles would be important. I restored an older vette, and the original speedo had broken so I had to replace it with a new one, I kept the old one and gave it to the new owner.

 

Roll it back to Zero and disclose it. Nut and bolt resto on an exempt on a 31 year old car, make it feel new. Save the old speedo. Who cares about a CARFAX when you are dealing with an 80’s car!?!?

Anyone who believes it is original mileage (0-10,000) is a moron. You probably won’t put 10k on it in 10 years?

I have a 1986 Porsche with under 30k miles - documented with receipts, inspection reports and notes by the original owner and people still do not believe the miles and the condition supports its mileage. When you are a car person, you know these things and can judge the entirety of the car and owner. When you a wannabe internet warrior who buys stuff cause you can, but you can’t do (build), then you are the problem. Not the guy wanting to look down at is odo and enjoy his journey and not the 6 plus digits that got erased with all new parts.

Flame away


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I bought a 100pt 65 XKE in 99. The mileage was 83K.

I think people's views have changed from then. I would buy a 100pt restored car with zero miles on the odo, but I would like to see all pics and a document stating the mileage at the resto.

Some things can't or won't be replaced, but are restored (ie: chassis metal) so if someone wants a car which had 30K on it vs 180K they can make that decision. Not saying the car with original 30k is better, but we all know how some people buy cars.

Hope you enjoy the car after its finished, that's the more important factor.

 

AFAIK, in most of the (western) world societies changing odometer reading without disclosing and having government certified authority/entity to record/verify the change is basically illegal, not to mention unethical.
This of course hasn’t stopped many doing it.

 

Sorry, my reply was intended more in general, not to imply something specific to you.

Every Country, State or jurisdiction has their own laws/regulations/rules about these things, but AFAIK, one can legally change the odometer reading for variety of reasons, including if the old one broke, can’t be repaired and therefor needs to be replace with a new (reading Zeros) or another used one with different reading, which both should be recorded, preferably by a State official (DMV, State Police, etc) or someone authorized by State (brake & light inspector, speedometer shop, etc).

As for the “restoration” side of your question, having personally performed multiple 5+ year, $300K-$500K level, a.k.a. “Complete/Full” restorations in the past 3+ decades, I’ve never attempted to roll back the odometer for two reasons.
First, unethical.
Second, not accurate since the basic car and all of its rebuilt/reconditioned/refurbished/restored components, whether the body, frame, speedometer/odometer, door latch return spring, etc still have been subjected to “180,000”(?) miles, not to mention years or decades of life & use.
In other words, IMO, zeroing the odometer during restoration or for the sake of novelty basically equals to fraud.
But as I said earlier, lots of people do it though.

Only time zero odometer reading would make make sense is if the subject vehicle is fully assembled from all brand new (a.k.a. NOS) parts, including every nut, bolt, clip, rivet, body panel, frame, trim, etc., which in most post-war production cars equates to far more than hundred thousand individual bits and pieces.
OTOH, a car assembled from all (spare) parts wouldn’t have factory assigned VIN and therefor couldn’t be considered authentic, original or real anyway. Catch-22