Sometimes, not all surprises are bad

[geshaghi]

There was a recent thread here about nasty restoration surprises, but sometimes not all surprises are bad, as can be seen here. I'm in the process of restoring a 72S Targa that I bought last year. The car had been "updated" back in the 80's, although it appeared to have been done with a light hand. From what was evident when I bought the car, it looked like the original latch panel had been relocated to accommodate a short hood, but that the nose was otherwise intact. I assumed that the fenders were replaced when they added an impact bumper. What I found underneath was a pleasant surprise - original, uncut longhood fenders had merely been covered over by the fiberglass bumper

A couple of photos of what she looked like before we began a tear-down and what we were happy to find.

[Christian Guthrie]

How awesome is that!

[hoffman912]

SCORE!!!! that made my day to see that. someone doing an update correctly (ie reversible!)

[geshaghi]

I can't remember that last time I was so happy! When Danny (my welder/body man) took the bumper off and came to tell me what he found, it didn't quite register at first, but then disbelief and elation when I saw it myself. The car will get a complete restoration, and has an interesting history as well. More photos of the project are in the gallery at the website. http://autoinno.com/gallery.php

[teenchy]

A very nice surprise. Looking forward to following the restoration.

[geshaghi]

The front pan needed replacement along with the nose/latch panel repair to return to longhood configuration. We decided to install a complete new nose/latch panel assembly from Stoddard. A few before and after shots....

[geshaghi]

After debating how far I wanted to go with this one, I decided to try and do it all, so the remaining portions of the interior carpet were removed and the last three weeks have been spent cleaning the inside of the floors and stripping the undercoating. I removed the carpet and insulating material on the floor and the top side was in excellent shape with a satin black finish. I was worried about the area below the pedal box, but it along with the rest of the underside is unbelievably rust-free. Removal of the undercoating was an extremely tedious process. We used a combination of a wire brush (effective), pneumatic scaler (not so effective), chemical strippers (effective), sand-blasting (effective but very messy) and hand scraping. If I had planned ahead a bit better on this, a rotisserie would have been used at the outset rather than a four-post lift. In reality, I started the project thinking that I would just fix the front pan and restore the long-hood configuration, but the restoration slope is slippery and I have slid down rapidly. We removed all of the undercoating, treated any areas that looked like they might have had the beginnings of rust with a rust converter, applied etching primer and then a liberal application of ZeroRust (a product like POR-15). We'll brush and spray some additional ZeroRust, then another light coat of etching primer as a binding layer before the Wurth SKS is applied. It was exciting to see the naked metal underside of the car, with the factory welds evident, and realize that the work we are doing now may outlast me and hopefully preserve the car for another 40+ years.

[geshaghi]

Still a few details to sort out, but the restoration is mostly complete. I learned a great deal with this car, and at times I was incredibly frustrated with the project, but when I drive the car now, the frustrations are a distant memory and fade faster with every mile. The interior has only been partially restored, as I have a pair of sport seats that are earmarked for the car, but I am contemplating a color change for the interior. The COA indicates that the original interior color was beige/tan leatherette, so I am contemplating tan or possibly red. When I bought the car, the interior was a black and red combo. The car has an interesting history, as it was originally delivered in Italy and was imported to the US in the mid 1980's by two brothers from San Marino, who were later on the San Marino Olympic Bobsled team in the Lillehammer Olympics (think "Cool Runnings" Italian-style). They brought this car in along with a Ferrari 512BB, and Federalized both cars. One brother kept the Porsche, and the other kept the Ferrari.

[curtisaa]

Nice George. We'll get to see it next Sunday, and give it the " S Registry " once over !!

[teenchy]

Well done! Those seats look great; I'd be reluctant to swap them out but a beige/tan with pepita inserts might look just as nice and certainly would lighten things up a bit.