by Kate Sullivan, Hemmings
Every month in "Restoration Profile" we make the same point - you have to document your teardown. Taking a part off? Take a picture first, then label that sucker. We all know how necessary this is to make reassembly easy - but we also all know it's a pain in the butt to record every last nut and bolt coming off your car. So we get lazy and slip up, only to regret it when it's time to put the transmission back together and realize that a critical bit has gone missing.
Now, though, there's no excuse not to fully document your restoration. Collector Car Companion makes it almost absurdly easy to keep track of your project - just enter the part into your account and go from there. Collector Car Companion will generate a unique part number, enabling you to track your parts easily; you can snap a picture, load it into the website, and make notes on restoration tasks that need to be performed, such as media-blasting or re-chroming. Using a powerful, flexible menu format, the website lets you organize parts by type or category, note where you've stored things, and even print labels to attach to your components.
The tool breaks any restoration project down into its three main stages - Strip Down, Restoration, and Assembly - and lets you make lists of tasks for each part of the operation. You can easily add and tag photos, make notes on your progress, and even print packing lists for sending parts out for restoration.
Collector Car Companion is incredibly intuitive and user-friendly, but if you have any trouble, there's a great set of FAQs online, along with friendly and knowledgeable support staff ready to answer any questions you have along the way.
It's time to stop cursing and swearing that you'll document the next teardown (really, honestly, I mean it this time) and start organizing your restoration like a pro. When it comes time to put things back together, you won't regret it.