Where to go for paint

[dhopkins]

I would like to repaint the hood of my car myself. Where would I go to get paint that will be a match for my metalic green 1981 911SC Targa?

don
____________________
1981 911 SC
1969 911 S

[gruen911]

You want Glasurit. Look up Albert Kemperle in the local Yellow Pages. If there are none in your area, you can try contacting BASF who now owns Glasurit (BASF HQ is located in Ohio). They will let you know who the local Glasurit distributor is. If that fails, I can look up the tel number I have for Albert Kemperle in Florida where I got my paint from. Kemperle can look up the correct paint mix based upon your color code and model year in their computer system.

[sithot]

You do need the code BUT in all honesty the shop will likely (or should) want to take "readings" from the rest of the car because a blend will be what you end up with. (PPG uses a spectrophotometer called "The Prophet")
You cannot, no-way, no-how, match a new formula to 30 year old original paint. My guy uses a variety of paints PPG, Ditzler, Glasurit etc.. FWIW, they are all real similar. The painter is your key to a good job as his "eye" will determine whether or not you get a satisfactory job doing a blend in. It's not easy and I will tell you that I sometimes cannot discern the slight variations that he sees in paint. It's years of experience that pay dividends here. Choose your painter wisely.
The art of blending in something like a hood is to take into account the rest of the car, especially the surrounding areas like the front fenders and headlight nacelles. If you have chips here it might be worth doing them as well. Blending in requires the use of clearcoating. In the old days, laquer was used and feathered into the good areas of a panel. Hardly adequate and it usually showed within a few years.
Modern "clears" have made panel blending and touch ups an easy job and why it's so hard to discern whether a car has been touched up, painted, etc..
As is the case, we now have the ELCOMETER! The device that will tell if the car has been touched up, painted or wrecked.
I recently witnessed a Mercedes that had no panel readings that were the same and the only panel that was NOT painted was the trunk! It was pretty clear to the naked eye but the ELCOMETER nailed them for thickness of material and that's the key. Needless to say the car was sent back to the auction house it came from with a total refund to the dealer. (My local MB dealer buddy is a stickler for paint and nails every one of them that he sees many times with the naked eye!).

Good luck,

Tom

[dhopkins]

Thanks. It sounds like I should not do it myself then. Ok. In this case then I need to find the right place to do it. My mechanic has recommended the body shop located next door to him. He says they have some kind of laser machine that will match the paint precisely. Would this place be OK? Or should I have it done at the local Porsche dealer or some independent body shop that has a lot of experience with Porsches. If so, can someone recommend such a place in the Philadelphia, PA or South Jersey area? Thanks.

don
______________________
1981 911 SC
1969 911 S

[sithot]

Thanks. It sounds like I should not do it myself then.

don
______________________
1981 911 SC
1969 911 S

Uh, No. I wouldn't use the P car dealer either unless they had a stellar reputation. The laser machine your mechanic is talking about is a spectrophotometer. A good painter will know what to do with it for a match. It's not an exact science and he should be willing to shoot a few test panels before he goes after the car. Some "tinting" may be required before it's close enough to put on the car.

Good luck,

Tom