You can't hang an old bell on a new bicycle

or is it "you can't hang a new bell on an old bicycle"? Anyhow, it's a Dutch phrase I remember having heard once implying that you can't tart something up a bit and expect the overall result to look fantastic. Thinking about it, I'm sure it's the latter phrase.
Well, I've hung old components on a new frame. Or is that hanging a new frame on old components? Whatever, I think the end result is quite good...