My $85 restoration

[Greg D.]

I've seen lots of very impressive & expensive projects on this board... So to maintain balance, here's my $85 restoration, courtesy of Bryan Martin, that talented friend of mine! Yes, this is slightly tongue in cheek, it's not a super valuable car and the paint on it is not stock anyway..

My 69 912 had some weird blister in the rear fender above the brake light. Not your typical rust spot, so for years I wondered what on earth that was and suspected bondo from SUV contact or something...



Enter Bryan, the guy with the mad skills mentioned above...
After picking at the scab, this is what showed its ugly head:



In essence a nice dent that was filled instead of being pulled back in shape, and some rust under the filler that helped lift that whole area...

So off with the rust, the dent was pulled out properly and the pull holes welded shut:



Check out the thickness of the bondo over the dent



Some Filler, not so much this time



Sanding, and lighter coat of filler on top...



Bryan breaks out the airbrush and the white paint... Followed by 2 coats of pearl... my car has a weird Audi-like pearl to it - like I said not stock - and 3 coats of clearcoat also via airbrush...



Ta-daa !!!



Reassembled, and like new...



Now the funny part.. All of the above (minus tail light reassembly and buffing the next morning) ? Under 2 hours ! I was there...

I'm speechless... Sure it's not as nice as most of this board's concours cars, but given the time and expenditure, I'm very happy !!!

[mikehump]

What a great service - everyone needs a bodyshop like that!

[Greg D.]

What a great service - everyone needs a bodyshop like that!

I keep telling him he should open one.. we did that in his garage ;-)

I can see it: "Bryan's mobile blister removal" specializing in old porsches ;-)

[EA911]

oh man I could use his services for some light paint touchup stuff. Only problem I can see is if your car has original single stage paint - wonder how you can blend without clear coat?

I'll take this opportunity to ask the board if they can recommend someone like this in the San Francisco bay area.

Cheers.

[sithot]

Great job!

Ask around the local high-line dealers like MB or Porsche. Most of them have a guy like this in pocket. Our local MB dealer has a couple they use.
The work is apparently dependent on "how good it needs to be" which is, unfortunately, the way things are in the used car business.

The C300 may not receive the level of care and skill the SL63 does.

Best,

Tom

[EA911]

Thanks Tom - good idea! I do have friends at a local Porsche and Audi dealer. It true about "how good does it need to be" statement but I figure since my car is by no means concourse it should be fine

[66S]

Dont forget to coat the inside surface with a protective paint.