Mileometer

[RAY]

Hi All,
I would be interested to know at what point members have reset there mileometers back to zero, presuming they have.
Is it only when they have had or done a nut and bolt restoration or maybe after a major refurbishment, including engine and gearbox and rear axel rebuild.
Is it the done thing to do this at all, have you just logged the milage at the point when work was completed and let the odometer carry on.
Keep safe out there.
Ray

[Peter]

Hi Ray,

I did a nut and bolt restoration of the complete car, no part untouched, and at that moment I have reset there mileometer back to zero, the car is as new!
For the record I have picture of car and mileometer from before the restoration.

^Peter

[Shvegel]

I am finishing a complete nut and bolt restoration and I am leaving mine as is.  It is a low mileage car with and only the cylinder head has been rebuilt. For me the picture of the top of a stock bore piston verifies it's low mileage.

[louie2]

I had car restored by Gus in Houston. I have docs going back to 1980's for miles did not change miles showing on speedometer.

[Cees Klumper]

My odometer was 'reset' when the PO swapped out the US speedo for a European one, to pass the import technical inspection. I bought the car with 3,600 kms showing and no records, so it's anyone's guess what the true distance covered is. Now it sits at approx 76,000 kms.
I would not reset the odometer at any point, including after a comprehensive restoration. It kind of denies the history of the car.

[RAY]

Thanks for the replies, a useful insight to what members do and there reasoning.

Stay safe

[MikeSimon]

Buying and selling vintage/classic cars a lot, I recommend to keep the original mileage. Keep a good record of the restauration and document at what mileage it was done, but let the original mileage remain. If you ever decide to sell the car, a potential buyer is most likely interested in the total mileage of the car. If it shows a reset odometer, it always leaves the scent of something fishy...just saying.

[Cees Klumper]

The only issue is that our odometers only go to 99,999 and it's unlikely for a car this age to not have topped that at least once (or twice? Three times?). So barring having complete service history, the odometer is far from a sure indicator of actual mileage.
I remember growing up in the sixties that most cars were not expected to cover as many as 100,000 kms (60,000 miles) over their lifetimes, which is a logical explanation for 5-digit odometers.

[Fred Verboon]

Dear Cees, do you still have your mileometer? I would be very happy to buy it from you and convert it to a KM version.

Kind regards
Fred

Fredverboon@gmail.com

[Cees Klumper]

Hi Fred - no, the previous owner did the swap, I did not receive the old speedometer. Probably these come up on Marktplaats or Ebay from time to time, I would look for one there? Succes,

[johnk]

I am just competing my rotisserie restoration and I am leaving the odometer as is. In my case I think it helps to show that the car only had 80,000 miles on it when restored. You may touch or even refurbish every part but you don’t replace them no matter how extensive the restoration

[stickandrudderman]

If the car has documented mileage history I would leave it alone.
If it's had a nut and bolt restoration and there's no history, I would zero it.

[Jordan]

If the car has documented mileage history I would leave it alone.

So true.  Unless there is a documented history, the odometer really means nothing.  As with other cars of the era, it is not that difficult to swap out a speedometer (it takes about 15 minutes for an early 911).  My car has had 3 speedometers in its 54 years.  Fortunately I have a history of the mileage so I know that the odometer is not even remotely close to the actual mileage.  So as Colin states, unless you have the documented mileage history it doesn't really matter what you do except maybe make note of what it is when you do a complete restoration.