Dator Finishing Touch Opinions Please

[harleysportster]

Put the Cross Country suspension back in it and ride it.

[robtan88]

So what does a guy do to a sled that looks like this????????
You could always tie a pull rope on the front of it. Drag it up a big hill, sit on it and ride it down!! Repeat process as required ...Rob.

[ICCSF 108]

Chuck, in my opinion ( which I know doesn't mean much here ) after you first build the 340/S liquid, then do your wonders to the 78 CC & it'll look like a masterpiece of craftsmanship again..

Keep up the good work


Kenny

[80spitfire]

Put the Cross Country suspension back in it and ride it.

I agree!

-Brian

[I500]

Sorry but I have to pretty much disagree with everybody here. If a sled just has a number and a little bit of pinstripping on the sled and your thinking its special. Hang the hood a the wall. Put another hood on the sled and create your own memories and history with your new sled. By putting little stuff like that back on your saving somebody else's history. Now if it was really decked out like Taskys and you want a Trailer Queen than keep it original. There I said it.... That beat up sled I posted was a actually Jon Carlson,s sled

[AirborneX4Special]

X2.
If restoring, then restore it to original. If it's good enough to leave it alone, then clean it up and leave it alone. Any machine with race credentials is worth keeping "as is" if it's not a P.O.S.

[80spitfire]

I definitely understand where both of you guys are coming from. As much as I would've loved to have left the sled original, it just plain wasn't possible because there wasn't even close to enough of the sled left to do that; if anyone disagrees with that I suggest looking at the before pictures in my resto thread and I think you'll agree. Would have been cool also to put the original hood back on it as is, but sadly the hood is just way too shot to put back on as is because all the vents on the left side are all broken in half, one is missing even, and there is also a quite a few more condition problems so the hood barely holds together now; could be fixed, but then it isn't original anymore. The original will make great wall art as is though and I'm very satisfied with that. As far as restoring the sled itself to original, one has to ask themselves what truly is original to the particular sled in question. Say I wanted to restore my Dator to 100% bone stock as it came off the assembly line in 1976. Does that mean I should rip off the clutch ducting, the aluminum belt guard, the lite suspension and the lite hood? None of those parts were on the sled when it came off the line in 76. All of them were added during the 77 race season. All the lite parts on the sled were what lead me to want to restore the sled to a updated 77 Dator. My sled is certainly not a 100% correct stock 76 Liquidator, but it is a lot closer to being correct for a updated 77 one which some may argue is a little less common of a find. I decided to redo the striping and numbering on the hood because it was one of the few things left of the sleds history and I wanted to try and preserve it somehow. I realize it's not stock and some people may dislike that I'm doing it, but I'm perfectly ok with that because when it comes down to it's my sled and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. I've worked too hard on this sled to watch it go down the road just for some extra cash. I definitely do wish the sled was more decked out like Tasky's, I mean heck, that thing is wayyy cool looking! Unfortunately though all I got was striping and numbers, but at least it's something and I think that something is enough worth preserving. I may not know yet exactly who #87 was, but maybe someday I will be lucky enough to figure out who it was...

-Brian

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Brian, when I restore a sled for myself I never ask anyone an opinion on how to do it. Once you do ask, expect a variety of opinions but the bottom line is that it's YOUR sled and you make it the way YOU want it. When restoring a sled for a customer, then it's the customer that decides what they want regardless of how I feel.

DA

[Deerenuts]

Well said DA! I second that. When I restore tractors for a customer they get what they want, when I do one for my self I get what I want. And everyone knows the old saying about opinions......

[80spitfire]

Brian, when I restore a sled for myself I never ask anyone an opinion on how to do it. Once you do ask, expect a variety of opinions but the bottom line is that it's YOUR sled and you make it the way YOU want it. When restoring a sled for a customer, then it's the customer that decides what they want regardless of how I feel.

DA

I totally agree with you Don and thank you for your input.

-Brian

[I500]

Yep.... never ask for an opinion. Working on restoring the first Dator I ever bought, and doing it my way. Hopefully have it done by Waconia.

[80spitfire]

Yep.... never ask for an opinion. Working on restoring the first Dator I ever bought, and doing it my way. Hopefully have it done by Waconia.

Cool! Hopefully the sleds will be there together then!