Restomod vs Restoration: How Each Is Judged, Valued and Insured

Every serious classic car project eventually hits the same fork. Do you put it back exactly the way it was, or do you build the car the factory would have built with today's parts? Both are legitimate. They are judged by different people, cost money in different places, appeal to different buyers and need to be insured differently. Choosing without understanding those differences is how good cars end up as expensive compromises.

What each one means

A restoration returns a car to the way it left the factory, or as close as the evidence allows. The goal is correctness: the right parts, finishes, markings and assembly details for that car's build date and options. The standard is the original car, not an idealized version of it.

A restomod keeps the classic body and identity and updates the hardware. That can mean a modern engine, suspension, brakes, tires and electronics. At the mild end it means comfort and safety items such as air conditioning, power steering, better seatbelts and power brakes. At the far end it means a new chassis under old sheet metal.

Between those poles is a wide middle ground: restored cars with discreet, reversible upgrades, and restomods that keep the factory engine family and appearance. Where your car lands on that spectrum determines most of what follows.

How restorations are judged

The National Corvette Restorers Society's Flight judging is one of the clearest examples of an originality standard. NCRS measures a car against how it left the factory and uses a deduct system. Every car starts at 4,500 points, and judges subtract for anything incorrect or deteriorated across operations, exterior, interior, mechanical and chassis. Any car can earn a top award regardless of how many others are judged that day, and both restored and unrestored cars compete. NCRS makes a point of saying that an original car in less than top condition can score as well as, or better than, a restored car, because originality counts.

The details are unforgiving. NCRS lists an automatic 38-point deduction for a painted or obscured engine pad. Its Performance Verification award requires a Flight award first, then a test in which every component must work like a new car, with no single failure allowed. And NCRS also rewards use: driving the car to events earns mileage points, a reminder that correctness and drivability are not opposites.

A restomod has no place in that system, by design. Restomods compete in builder-focused shows and in performance events. The Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, for example, requires a street-legal production car or truck on tires with a treadwear rating of at least 200, driven by the owner or builder.

Where the money goes

Neither path is cheap, but the money goes to different places. We are not quoting build prices here, because they vary too much by car, shop and region to generalize honestly. The cost drivers, though, are predictable:

• Restoration: research and correct parts. Date-coded, part-number-correct components and period finishes take time to find and money to buy, and the closer you chase a top judging score, the more each remaining point costs.
• Restoration: documentation. Proving what a car was, through build records and original paperwork, is part of the value and part of the work.
• Restomod: engineering and integration. A modern drivetrain, chassis, brakes, wiring and climate control have to be made to work in a body that was never designed for them, and fabrication is labor-intensive.
• Restomod: components bought as systems. Crate engines with controllers, aftermarket chassis and big brake kits each carry their own price, and they tend to require one another.
• Both: metal and paint. Whatever the destination, rust repair and bodywork are often the largest single line item, and they are the part of the job that cannot be cut short.

How each affects value

Hagerty grades condition on a #1 to #4 scale. A #1 Concours car is perfect, better than new and almost never seen outside major concours events. A #2 Excellent car is like new or close to it, and most fully restored cars land here. A #3 Good car looks good from a short distance but shows minor age up close, which Hagerty says describes the vast majority of collector cars. A #4 Fair car shows visible deterioration and may need cosmetic or mechanical work.

That scale assumes a correct car. Modified cars do not sit neatly on it, and the market tends to treat them one at a time, weighing the quality of the work, the choice of components and how broad the appeal is.

At the top, restomods can bring serious money. At Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale sale in January 2024, a Jeff Hayes Customs 1967 Corvette convertible restomod, with a 540 hp LS3, an Art Morrison chassis and four-wheel Wilwood disc brakes, hammered at $1 million and brought $1.1 million with buyer's commission. The auction announcers called it a record for a custom 1967 Corvette. That is one exceptional sale, not a market index, and it should not be read as a guide to what an average build is worth.

Originality, meanwhile, is a one-way door. Once factory parts are cut, discarded or replaced, that version of the car is gone. If you own something rare or well documented, keep the original parts, label and store them, and favor changes that can be reversed.

Insurance and appraisal

Insurance is where the difference becomes very practical. Hagerty's guidance to its agents shows how modified cars get flagged. Agents are told to ask whether a vehicle is a kit or replica, whether significant performance additions such as a supercharger or turbocharger have been fitted, whether custom paint is worth more than $10,000, whether the body, chassis or frame has been structurally altered, and whether the car has hydraulics or nitrous. Whether a modified vehicle qualifies for the program depends on the degree and type of modification.

For cars with expensive modifications, Hagerty points agents toward its Guaranteed Value policy, under which the agent and owner settle on the car's replacement value up front. It also offers coverage for vehicles under construction, which matters during a long build, and spare parts coverage, with $750 included automatically. Hagerty's own research shows how large the modified world is: about 8.6 million insurable modified vehicles as of 2021, with modified-car owners averaging $48,000 in total insurable value versus $35,000 for owners of stock vehicles.

• Document everything: receipts, part numbers, build sheets and dated photos at every stage of the work.
• For restorations, keep the evidence of originality, including factory paperwork, judging sheets and awards.
• For restomods, list every major component and who built or installed it. Much of the value lives in parts and labor that an insurer cannot see from the outside.
• Revisit the insured value as the build progresses, not just when it is finished.
• Ask your insurer directly how it treats modifications, and get the answer in writing before you need it.