hi autoxcuda...
well first off, i should not have said or inferred that worman was the best in the country for mopar restorations. being a retired sleazy attorney i spent a career "never" using "absolute" terms about "almost" "everything." so that was my mistake. while one can say a "few" things about "some" stuff in absolute terms - like "the sun WILL come up tomorrow" - it's always dangerous and "almost always" inaccurate to use absolute terms in reference to "someone's skills" being "the best there is." i should have talked in more reasonable terms.
as to the various levels of restorations, i do understand the nuances you are referring to regarding "100%" or "100 point" cars. i often watch the show "Chasing Classic Cars" with "Wayne Carnini." i went to college in boston and "wayne" is a common "version" of a "car guy" that you find in New England. he deals primarily with very high end collector cars and collectors - usually foreign cars - and is often at "very high end" car shows. i suspect you may have attended the Pebble Beach "Concours" auto event that he often attends. rarely does wayne ever talk in terms of a special car he is featuring being driven on a regular basis. more often, he talks in terms of a car he is selling being a great additional to "a collection" or a "collector grade"
there is clearly a "collector grade" mopar crowd, whether they are looking for the "1 of 3" model or the "lowest miliage survivor on the planet" or a car that has undergone a "museum quality" restoration. i think i can confidently say that "these" people and "these cars" would not be associated with mark worman. i think these are the "correct harmonic ballancer for a 1969 426 Hemi" examples you've noted.
in the final analysis, i think whether or not to send a car to worman to restore has to do with what the owner is expecting. the last couple of "hemi car" owners i saw on the show would frankly, make me nervous to do a car for. there body language and generally demeano struck me as similar to a few potential clients that i refused to represent because in the first 5 minutes of talking with them, all i got was "any problem i have with you is going to result in me suing your ***." i found out early in my legal practice that those kind of people need to be avoided at all costs. as to the "success" worman seems to be having, i get the impression that there are "millionaire" mopar collectors out there that are now calling worman to restore a "million dollar" car they own with the expectation that they are going to get the "museum quality" or "Pebble Beach concours level" car back. as i noted preveously, i don't think worman is producing that level of restoration.
now, with all this said, is what worman is doing worth the cost he is charging? i have no idea as i don't know what he is getting for one of his "complete" restorations. with today's paint, material and average labor rates, it costs at least $35k to do a "pretty good" complete restoration. that level of repair DOES NOT include removing every single part down to the bare body shell and then starting from that point and adding all "restored original" or "NOS" parts. what worman is doing with tearing every car apart HAS to be in the $75-$100k range. so you're a millionaire with a "1 of 2" Hemi car. at the last mecum or barrett-jackson auction, a similar car sold in the $500k-$700k range. are you going to take that car to mark worman to restore thinking that giving him $100k will result in a car likely to bring "over a million" at the next national auction? from watching the show, that appears to me what a few of the owners may have done.
you are correct in your summary: there are a very small number of "concours restorers" in the country that really only build "100 point" cars. i agree, "Graveyard Carz" is probably not in that category. i think mark worman IS building "very nice" and actually "beautiful" cars. i would LOVE to have a car he has built. it remains with every customer that goes to him to determine if he has produced what they "wanted" and what they "thought" they would get - and if what they "paid" for the work he did, was a good value to them.
ps. from your mention of the Van Nuys car show and all the other "car restorers", i figured you live in california. the "politics" out there are nutty but your state IS the "car capital of the world."
