In a message dated 96-06-04 02:22:06 EDT, Joyce Brite writes:

> One idea referred to stands out in my mind, "historic restoration."
> Exactly, what is it?  Is historic restoration the way the factory
> designed and manufactured the item, or the way people actually used it?

  [ snip

> #2 - In 1974, the government wanted to encourage seat belt use, so they
> passed a law requiring that vehicles manufactured that year have a
> device that would not allow the driver to start the vehicle unless the
> seat belt were buckled.  ............  Question: If
> you were restoring a 1974 automobile that had this device, would you
> leave it connected (because that's how the manufacturer built it!) or
> disconnect it?

Absolutely, you would keep it connected.  While it was a pain in the
butt (pun intended) when they were an everyday feature, today on a
restored car they are no particular problem and are one of the unique
features of cars of that era.  The AACA (Antique Automobile Club of
America) recognizes only a few safety related deviations from true
original without the loss of points.  These include laminated safety
glass on cars that did not come with it (generally pre-1930 or
thereabouts), seat belts, tastefully installed in any car, and
automatic turn signals as long as they are removable and/or discretely
installed.

I have always been amazed that restorations of automatic musical
instruments have not been held to similar standards of historical
accuracy.  While recognizing the difficulty of maintaining truly
original materials, nonetheless many instruments are restored missing
features or with features added that were not original to the
instrument.  This seems to be less true of the big orchestrions but many
player pianos, theatre and residence organs, band organs and other
instruments are modified greatly from the original.  Often this is done
in the interest of "improving" the musical performance but at the
expense of historic accuracy.  This is the equivalent of "hot rodding"
an authentic antique automobile.  I personally have mixed feelings about
this but, coming from a background of antique auto restoration, I have
certain misgivings about modifying antique instruments from the
original beyond some compromises due to availability of materials.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Bob Conant