I offered cash and even a new Redline 24, to clean it up do the citric treatment on the forks, etc.
Tried hard with every angle of approach regarding, preservation vs. restoration.
And failed. It was just what he wanted to do.
In the end, its kind of like "Catch and release" among fishermen. You can extoll its virtues, but some guys are just going to eat the fish anyway.
He was a little nervous to show me the thing in bare metal knowing my view on it.
It was a weird conversation, went on about how much work it was...
And I was thinking, "Bet it was hard work, fucking that up...." did not say it though.
After seeing it I said, "It's only original finish once."
Then he hit on that and related a story of an old car that had original faded paint and how cool it was.
Oh well.