Back from the body shop II

CarreraDan · 11-08-2006, 01:43 PM

Pelican froze up on my first attempt to post so I will just start over since you cannot open my thread--Moderator please just delete them.

After 3 long weeks I finally got my Carrera back from the body shop today. As some of the local Pelican's know I had some blistering/oxidation on my rear passenger fender. I knew that long ago that fender had been repaired and the paint was failing. Here is what we were starting with, notice the not so good color match with the deck lid.

After a week of interviewing body shop owners I found one that was honest and very straight forward with all of my questions. He explained my options and thinking that I was going to be selling the car we agreed on just fixing what was wrong. A few days later they started sanding and found bondo--lots of bondo on my fender. Steve (the shop owner) said that we could paint over it (he did not reccomend that) or we could dig deeper and fix it the proper way. The bad news it would easily double my initial estimate. I decided that I would feel better selling the car if it was repaired properly and told him to dig in and let me know what he found. After two days of metal work my fender was free of bondo. I didn't get to take a pic until after some skim coat was applied.

CarreraDan · 11-08-2006, 01:50 PM

Now for some more bad news, the paint on my passenger door wasn't in the best of shape and Steve wanted to know if I wanted them to take care of it and fix a door ding too. I decided at this point what was a few more $100 dollars and told him to go ahead but we were stopping at the door. After the glass guy came and pulled the glass they were making more and more progress. Then we had a few rainy days and the shop started to fill up with insurace jobs and I was bumped back. He had told me that could happen so I was ok with the slower pace. Last week he called and said they would be matching the paint and hopefully painting on Friday. Friday afternoon I went and saw the car in the booth and it looked great (camera batteries died so no pics). Monday, reassembly continued and I ran over to check up on the car.

CarreraDan · 11-08-2006, 01:54 PM

Then today I recieved the call I had been waiting for--the car was ready to pick up and it looked incredible. Steve wasn't lying about how it turned out--I was very pleased with the results.

Steve's painter did a phenomenal job with the blending on the deck lid and door--it looks perfect in sunlight and under flourescent light too.

The passenger side

herman maire · 11-08-2006, 01:58 PM

Looks great Dan,
Do you have any overspray on the door jam??? If not do you know what he did??

Thanks

CarreraDan · 11-08-2006, 02:03 PM

I went for a drive on the way home and it felt very good to be back behind the wheel of a Porsche, you can only drive a Jeep so much. I would not hesitate to recommend Steve to any local Pelican's, Steve Link at Link's Body Shop, pm me for a phone #. I was disappointed that I missed the dragon run, but I think the end result was well worth the wait.

The only problem is now the deck lid, fender and door look much better than the rest of the car. I got a quote to do the whole thing and I think it will be a while. He did say he would cut me a deal if I stripped everything and just brought in a shell down to metal. My new Carrera emblem is on order at Pelican and I will be hosting a brake rebuild party very soon. As for selling the car, I have changed my mind for now and I am going to sell my 2004 Sea Ray. I am too far upside down in the car to sell--especially after today. However, if someone came with cash in hand for the right amount they might just take it.

CarreraDan · 11-08-2006, 02:07 PM

Herman,
No over-spray anywhere to be found--one of the things I explained up front about. He said he understood and it wouldn't be a problem (they specialize in muscle car restorations). They "rolled the edge" to hide the paint lines--did a darn good job b/c I can't find any. Steve is very meticulous with his work and it really shows in the final product.

Facey · Facey's Garage

all the body work on my car was also done my american hot rot specialists.... they seem to really know their stuff....

-actually it is there right now getting the fender lips rolled...

- your car looks great, seems like they did it right the first time, probably saved you a ton of money!

livi · 11-08-2006, 02:53 PM

Wow !!

Dan, that is remarkable. Looks fantastic.

My Carrera is a basic GPW original color. I wonder how much better it would look with a new paint job. Too bad it is so expensive.

911 in SC · 11-08-2006, 03:31 PM

Looks GREAT Dan! As I told you before, Granite is one of my all-time favorite colors, and yours certainly does it justice! Congrats!

Mike

mthomas58 · 11-09-2006, 01:46 PM

Daniel, it looks great! Thanks for sharing. Love the color :-)

k9handler · 11-09-2006, 01:52 PM

looks great....very well done.