A body shop can do wonders!

[Leigh 13]

Hi all,

Last November, while accelerating out of a turn on wet pavement I spun out my 944 and sideswiped a guard rail (pics of the rail and the resulting damage). Luckily, I was able to drive away with only cosmetic damage done to the front fender (already replaced once before) and rear quarter panel--amazingly, the passenger door didn't even get dinged.

A week later I bought a used fender from eBay and replaced it myself, but I didn't decide to get the rest fixed until July. I had a body shop pull out the dents in the quarter panel and repaint the entire car, as well as replacing the black body moulding with color-matched red.

On Tuesday night I finally got my 944 back, and I'm pretty thrilled with how nicely it came out. After almost 20 years of dings, rock chips, and a few untimely meetings with curbs, she was looking pretty tired! Check out the difference...



And some more shots with the new paint job...







I'm so happy to have the car back and looking better than ever. I almost forgot what a blast this thing is to drive...too bad summer is just about over!


Later days,

Leigh

[Blackfoot]

looks great! i especially like the color-mathed moulding, good call. if i may, how much did the body shop charge?

[Leigh 13]

Blackfoot-

The guy who did the body work is a friend of mine, so he cut me a pretty good deal on the job. I tried to help out as much as I could by getting all the parts needed, including the front fender, new stone guard decals (to be applied in a few weeks after the detailing), and the side marker light.

My friend's shop fixed all the major body damage as well as a few various cracked bits here and there, painted the whole car, and provided the new mouldings, since I couldn't justify spending $700 for the OEM plastic. Total cost for the job was $1800.

I think the next step is to take care of the wheels, using Tim's handy refinishing procedure. Don't think I'm gonna go with the full blackfoot treatment though!


- Leigh

[Blackfoot]

i guess i don't have to tell you that's a great price. did they do single-stage or base coat/clear coat?

[Leigh 13]

did they do single-stage or base coat/clear coat?

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know. I have a feeling it's single stage, since it was so affordable.

[JH924S]

Hi just at of curiosity what was the name of the shop ,is it close to central NJ and do you what a normal rate for a complete spray of the car is?

[Oi-Punx]

Looks really nice. I love the body matched moulding. I'm also impressed with your photography. I'm no expert, but it's amazing how many people screw up the framing, lighting etc. when taking shots of their car. Taking an extra minute or two to set up the shot sure does make a difference.