Earlier this week, I received a beautifully looking 1968 tach underdash harness to go through as a double-check, since it was refurbished by Pat White at least 20 years ago and never installed. Great, I thought...should be a piece of cake for me! This harness looked at first glance to be pristine and well done. I start checking it out, and noticed that one of the dash cluster connectors (should be an 8 pin female and a 6 pin male) were both 8 pins. Huh? I contacted the owner to verify that his dash cluster connector was a 6 pin female, and it was. That was when he told me the story of the harness. I replaced the connector, and continued on with my checking. What's this? The two wires for the brake switch were swapped...no biggie electrically, but for being concours correct? No way! Then I found molex pins with soldered joints rather than crimped. I also had to replace an OEM splice for the resistor wire going to the rear defogger.
I guess 25+ years ago when there were no reproductions, one had to use one of the few concours-level restorers. Having now examined both a Pat White and Bill Healy examples, I am somewhat disappointed in the quality of the electrical work. The aesthetic appearance of each were outstanding, but still...
I still have yet to find out what it cost folks back in the day to refurbish to concours level wiring...just curious. For me, the electrical performance of the work should match or exceed the appearance, regardless of concours quality or not. I cannot afford the time/effort to refurbish wiring to concours-level standards and keep my price points and sanity.
Rant over.
