The Philosophy of ‘Heightened Reality’ in Car Restoration
What’s heightening reality? It’s when Tony Curtis plays Harry Houdini in a biographical movie. Or Tom Cruise playing Major Klaus von Stauffenberg (Hitler’s would-be assassin); or Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in ‘Aviator’, again both in bio-pics. In other words, a real person played by an actor, more handsome or beautiful than the original.
Hey, virtually every Hollywood (and EVERY Bollywood) movie is ‘Heightened Reality’. You wouldn’t watch it if it looked like your own life, now would you?
Heightened Reality is giving you more of what you already have. A matt finish can become satin; a satin finish gloss. (But a matt finish should not jump to a gloss.) Unpainted alloys can be polished then sealed with a clear, gloss urethane finish. They won’t oxidise, are easier to clean, and look more attractive.
With such detailing, use this rule of thumb: If the factory wanted to do it, but chickened out because it would cost a couple of cents extra per part, you can do it yourself.
But it’s sometimes a fine line. A car underside finished all in gloss black is not Heightened Reality. It’s just a bit gauche. So is chroming every mechanical part. What belongs on a hot rod built for show not go, does not belong on your car.
The context can also change what’s reality and what’s Heightened Reality.
A few years ago, my wife and I toured New Zealand and stopped by a small car museum in the North Island. The curator told us the story of a black Ford Model T on display there. I had noticed the paint runs on the rear of the Tudor sedan body. The curator explained that the car had been restored by an old man who knew Model Ts as a boy. He had it taken to a local panel beater’s for the spray painting. When the car was finished, the old owner inspected the work. He asked the painter to do the work again.
There hadn’t been anything wrong with the paint finish. But that was the point – it was too good. The owner had received Heightened Reality when he actually didn’t want it.
You see, the Model Ts that the owner remembered were all mass produced at a cracking pace. The men in the paint shop had to cover the bodies with their spray guns and move on to the next unit. There were always some imperfections in the paint finish, and this included runs of overspray.
So the old bloke got his authentic, imperfect Model T in the end, complete with runs in the paint finish. That’s dedication – not to Heightened Reality but to Hyper-Reality. And that’s a discourse for another time.
