1988 Carrera Sport Coupe Restoration at 70k miles

[rshea]

I am just completing a full restoration of a Marine Blue Metallic 88 Carrera sport coupe .......or as it's know in Europe....SE Coupe. The car was a 2 owner car when i bought it last April and had 70,000 original miles. It can with books and records since new and a clean car fax...more about the books and records and car fax later. The exterior was stripped to bare mental, The interior totally gutted, engine- drive train-suspension - brakes all rebuilt or replaced, new wiring harnesses, body seals, lights, gages reconditioned, you name it we did it. Once the car was stripped it was clear that the body was in good shape with no rust but ......there is always more to be done that you planned for.....or budgeted for!
I will start this story with the original car, the dismantling, the body work and paint prep.

[rshea]

The body work and paint prep continues......

[rshea]

Now bare metal and no rust. But need to make sure panels are straight and the gaps are correct. Then a quick coat of primer to protect the bare metal from rusting while we continue the body work.

[rshea]

Once everything looks correct the first undercoat is spayed.

[rshea]

While the body and paint shop are working hard to get the car ready for final paint. The mechanical shop is rebuilding the engine and ordering the numerous suspension, drive train, wiring, brake, rule line....you name it parts.... the shop doing the interior is ordering Porsche leather for the seats and dash, and headliner material, and also re-building the rear seat delete. It should also be said that when the Body shop dismantled the car we found many surprises. All of which come with a car that sat in the salt air near a beach in Florida for more than 20 years. It was also clear that any work that was done on the car was done sub standard. So those books and records mean very little when it comes time to judge the quality of the work. It also became apparent that the car was probably stolen at some point in it's history. The door locks were not functioning, the alarm was missing and the ignition was replaced with the wrong model year part. There were a lot of short cuts taken over the years...for example. When we took apart the Headlights one of the structural brackets that holds the light in place was broken. Instead of replacing it a small stick was used to bridge the break and fix the light in place....the list goes on.

[rshea]

While the engine was being rebuild and the engine parts were being CAD plated the interior pieces were being recreated. The interior will be finished in Porsche Can Can Red and Black. Dash in Black leather, carpet in Black , rear shelf in Black, and seats, door panels, side panels and console in Can Can Red. In essence , the Body/paint shop, mechanical shop and interior shop where working on their end of the project in parallel to cut down on the total time for the restoration.

[jeffbottman]

Seems unusual that a 70k mile car would need total restoration ... was it in bad shape?

[rshea]

......mean time the paint shop is ready for final paint and body re-assembly. then the car goes off the the for its new interior.
I should mention at this point that the following folks should be congratulated on their super work on this project.

Cantrell Motorsports(Colin and Brandon Higbee) for all the mechanical, electrical, engine rebuild and general project advisor.
Queen City Auto Rebuild, Steve and his expert team for all of the body and paint work. You won't find a betty shop in the Pacific North West.
All City Convertible and Customs, (Matt and John) for their interior craftsmanship.
More pictures of the final paint and interior work

[rshea]

With the car at the interior shop the new dash made and installed, the rear seat delete installed and all panels , headliner, and seats are made and fitted. Once this work is done the door panels and seats are removed and the car goes back to have the engine put in and all the rest of the mechanical and electrical work completed . The panels and seats will go back in once that work is done and the car is ready to go back to the body shop for final detail and the fitting of the sun roof. It seems like a lot of back and forth but the three groups worked great together on this project. All three of the primary shops are extremely busy and fitting a project like this in is sometimes a challenge ....but it worked out great!

[rshea]

with the engine in the car, new fuel lines, brakes, you name it....we are getting close.

[rshea]

We are now in the home stretch....the car is almost completed mechanically, electric is done, interior is done.....it is back at the body shop for some final detail work, sunroof installation and final prep.....I will post more picture once I take delivery which is scheduled for the the first week in Sept.....
I can't say enough about the great crew that worked on this project. Based on my experience ...... and this is the second restoration where I worked with this team, our first project was a 1989 Carrera 4 (964) with 75,000 miles.... I whole heartedly recommend them as they are the best at what they do.
Stay tuned more to come.

[Dueller]

Wow....interior is stunning!

[rshea]

Originally Posted by jeffbottman

Seems unusual that a 70k mile car would need total restoration ... was it in bad shape?

I bought the car from GR Auto Gallery in Grand Rapids. It was originally a Chicago car then was sold and spent most of its days in Fla. It was a good driver but I wanted to really bring it back to life. The interior was not good at all and all of the issues we found in the rebuild process would have surfaced at some point and would need to be delt with. So I decided to just start from scratch and rebuild the car so it would be better than new when we were done.
The 1989 (964) Carrera that we completed in 2012 didn't need the deep dive that this one did. That car had more miles but was a New Mexico car and very well taken care of....as you know it just depends on what you want out of it and what you have to work with at the beginning.

[jeffbottman]

It's going to be gorgeous (already is)! Hope I can see it sometime; I'm a fellow Seattle resident. Would you mind telling us the shops doing the work for you?

[OldSpool87]

That interior looks faster than the car. It's stunning. I have a marine blue 930. It's a beautiful color. Happy to hear you kept it. Do you know the color of the original interior?

Fantastic. Period.

[AJ's 911]

I am guessing that this is at least $35-$40k restoration job. Great to have the time and money! The question is will it be driven or be a trailer queen to concours?

[Canada Kev]

I'm looking forward to how this turns out. Hopefully, you'll be able to get some pics that really show how it looks with the bright red interior and blue exterior. My car is also Marine Blue and I was thinking of changing the blue interior to red as well, but a much darker shade.

I hope you're really happy with how it turns out. Great project!

[heliolps2]

is that silicone on the engine case ? love the red interior

[billydeakins]

Absolutely stunning car.....that fresh engine is a thing of beauty! Love the red interior with the blue as well....can't wait to see the finished product!

[rshea]

I will post detailed pictures of the completed project in early Sept.
I am pretty pleased with how things turned out so far.

In response the the inquiry about the shops i used for the majority of the work.....
All mechanical, electrical, engine, drive train, suspension, brakes and assorted other goodies were done by Cantrell Motorsports in Bellevue, Wa. The interior- headliner, leather dash, leather seats, carpet, side panels, door pockets, and rear seat delete were done by All City Convertible and Customs in Kirkland, Wa. The body work, paint and fine finish work was done by Queen City Auto Rebuild in Redmond, Wa.
I highly recommend these shops as there work is very high quality and the people are very professional and great to work with.