356 painting/restoration

[Kristin B]

I inherited a very solid 1965 356C from my father. Thing is, the red paint is so oxidized that the car almost appears to be a dark pink. I read in the June issue of "Excellence" that most 356's are not really worthy of an expensive restoration due to their current market value. One joint I contacted was starting paint jobs around $4000 - more than I'm willing to spend at this moment, especially if it's not going to significantly increase the value of the car.

My questions are - how much should I reasonably expect to spend on a paint job? What should I being looking for? If I opt not to repaint the car any time soon will it damage the integrity of the body?

Any responses would be great - I am currently pretty short on car care knowledge but want to learn.

[markham cronin]

Kristen-

Hang in there. The quote you got sounds pretty high, but I have some questions- first of all, geography. What you pay does change with where you live. Where are you?

Second: Condition of the body- You said the car was "pretty solid". Does this mean theres a little rust (door bottoms, that kind of thing)? If all you need is paint, that 4 bills is robbery. But if you walk into a big bodyshop cold, with a 356 and say "how much?" they'll take one look at the word Porsche and knock you down. A VW of similar vintage would command half that quote (if that) It also depend on the quality of the paint you want to use (Glasurit, for example, is like a factory or better spec paint, and is really pricey- other companies make paint that's almost as good and a good bit cheaper (PPG would be an example). If you're going to drive it (as oppsed to show), probably this is not a bad way to go. It also depends on how crazy you want to go with this paint job. Added onto the cost of actual painting is the stripping of all the exterior trim, etc, bumpers, door handles, glass. Some of this is optional, depending on the extent to which you want to go. The reason I know this is because I too have a C that is as we speak being painted- the job's costing me around 3K, but included in that is extensive fairing and rust repair, so I would think that if you have a body that's in nice shape, you could probably get a good job for 2000? Just a guess. My best advice would be to look up some of the better known restoration joints in your region (the ones that specialize in 356s, check the 356 registry) and just talk to these guys. The ones that do all the show cars will spend like 10 Gs on a paint job, but the guys who do drivers will be able to tell you who might do it for your budget.

So good luck- I'm not sure if any of this is new news to you- let us know what happens.