To paint or not to paint?

[polizei]

Guys - I've got an '87 Carrera w/ original paint that's in overall great shape from a body perspective. It's not a 2% concourse car, but for being 30 years old, it's a serious looker.

Most of the imperfections, as you can imagine, are around the front & rear bumpers as well as the side view mirrors. Is it worth repainting these bits purely from a resale /valuation perspective? Or should I leave it as is?

Thanks for your input in advance!

Andy

[BK911]

It's only original once!!

[ficke]

Painting a car to resell usually does not make financial sense, unless your car has serious issues.
Repainted cars add questions that are not needed to be asked by buyers on original paint cars, like is there any rust? was it every in a accident?
I always wonder on repaints what is being covered up, just rock chips? or serious accident damage?
Getting a decent paint job for under $8,000 is getting harder to do so the return on your investment starts really coming into question.

[SalParadise]

Keep it original.

[NYNick]

Those aren't imperfections, that's patina!
In this day and age, you much better not painting.

[nhs15]

As a buyer, I would personally prefer an all original paint car if the imperfections were limited to bumpers/rear view mirrors having light peppering of stone chips. Actually, I would almost always prefer all original paint in a g50 car.

[polizei]

Glad to hear such unanimous feedback - thanks everyone!

[voitureltd]

Over the years I have had mirrors, rockers and front valance repainted and end up with otherwise original paint. Hard to have someone claim car was in an accident except by those who do not realize these areas get stone damage. So for concours yes, repaint carefully only these affected areas and leave the rest original, otherwise keep it the way it is. I had chips on fender lips carefully blended and the cost was more than repainting the entire 1/4 panel just to keep as much original paint intact as possible. A really good shop can do incredible blending if they are used to keeping expensive Ferrari's and such as original as possible. Always keep photographic evidence of what was done and disclose if you ever sell. And yes patina can be a great asset. I even hesitate to aggressively clean the underside of my cars as a fresh clean can cover all sorts of previous problems the car may have had. Best to offer a fresh underside detail after the car has been inspected.

[specialtyoneinc]

Originally Posted by BK911

It's only original once!!

[voitureltd]

Agree in many ways but there are limits. I have had 930s still with the original German air in the tires for those who wanted really original 930's. Little scary to drive though. A few stone chips can ruin the overall appeal of a otherwise mostly original paint car. There are very few early Porsche cars without some paint repair. The 70s 2 part paint cars sometimes had paint repair under Porsche warranty when fairly new. Some new Porsches needed paint repair from transportation from Germany. Trust me, I had a friend who owned the body shop that did the work for the regional Porsche dealers. Bottom line, very few totally original paint Porsches especially after decades of being exposed to whatever, no matter what the current owners might think or have been told. People place way to much importance on every square inch being totally original paint as opposed to other more important aspects of the cars past. OK, I put down the coffee.

[nathanbs]

I no longer do complete repaints but the last one I did on a late model vehicle was $15,000 exterior only just fyi

[Rawknees'Turbo]

I'm of the opposite perspective of most in this thread, it seems, as I would rather buy a car with repainted front bumper than one that is rock chipped and has "patina" (a code word for "looking like shart is cool" ).

Paint is a wear item to me, much like the rest of the car is (and more so if the car is driven and spends any time outdoors), so the whole "it's only original once" doesn't fly with me - that's like saying that something is worn out, looks terrible, or needs repair or replacement, but I'll just be cheap and lazy and tell myself that it's original instead of doing the repairs.

[Fast Freddy 944]

Paint it, Its your ride, its your image, Porsche has a ivy league image not a rat rod look, so polish it up!

[brianz426]

Are you selling the car or keeping it?