The Relaxation of Restoration

Patience is a virtue, at least that’s what they say. When I was a little kid, I was as impatient as could be, especially when it came to projects. Why won’t this glue dry faster on this model? Why are there so many steps in the instruction booklet? Why do I have to wait so long for my next kit to come in the mail? Do I really have to sit here and watch paint dry? I wanted to finish building, drawing or dreaming up one thing so that I could move on to the next. Everything had to happen fast. Back then, I thought I didn’t have time to waste on this kind of stuff. Little did I know…

That was more than a decade ago. Nowadays, whenever I get that feeling, I have to remind myself that working on any sort of project is meant to be relaxing. It’s an escape from staring at a computer and it’s an excuse to get out of the house. I’m sure you all do the same, but I now enjoy looking at each assembly as a separate project in and of itself. It’s a chance to clean the slate, zero in and do it right.

In the past few months, I’ve been watching a lot more how-to videos online. Although viewing some can be downright painful with their shaky camerawork and soundtracks that sound best muted, it always brightens my day to come across one that’s well made. Today, let’s focus on two of those.

These videos are produced by Rescue & Restore—a YouTube channel dedicated to rehabilitating antique toys. In these cases, the subjects are Nylint roadsters that have seen better days. As much as I love patina, it’s relaxing to see him bring these little hot rods back to life. From what I can tell, the full-fendered roadster is based on a Model T, but the other looks like a hybrid between a Deuce and Rod & Custom’s “The Roadster.” Regardless of their origins, these look like fun builds.

Without further ado, let’s kick off the weekend with some small-scale hot rodding.

—Joey Ukrop

Note: Pardon the embedded ads. That’s just how these videos are.