Ferdie:
Jim,
you are of course right that it boils down to the people involved. Nonetheless, I do believe that there are regions which are more appropriate for restoring vintage cars than others. In my region, I do know a handful of people being specialized in air-cooled Porsche models and / or Porsche race cars which have their list of contacts again for certain assignments. As Iain pointed out, the garage servicing the Dino beforehand was specialized in a different brand and did not know the specific quirks of this model.
In all seriousness he could launch a business restoring these cars as he has the passion, knowledge and funds to do so.
Ferdie, I dont know the Euro restoration players, but If California is not toooo far away, or you need a good excuse for a trip, take a look at these guys. http://www.caporsche.net/carsforsale.html they do complete restorations and sales.
And bonus! Nick lives nearby.
Reginos,
Ferrari's Classiche factory restorations are hugely expensive (Porsche's are eye wateringly so as well) and they subcontract out the body repairs and trim work in any case and simply add a healthy profit margin on top.
I much prefer using my dealer to do the strip down and all mechanical work and control the body repairs myself. The Italian company I'm using to retrim the seats and door panels of this car is the same one Ferrari use for their Classiche restorations.
JimFlat6:If California is not toooo far away, or you need a good excuse for a trip, take a look at these guys. http://www.caporsche.net/carsforsale.html they do complete restorations and sales.
And bonus! Nick lives nearby.
Thanks Jim,
that looks great. They definitely offer some attractive cars. Nick´s vicinity closes the deal.
Latest update after I dropped by the bodyshop this morning. The flatting and polishing of the body has begun with both doors back on the car and the rear window back in place. They were working on the car all day today and will do so again tomorrow. The intention was to refit the rear quarterlight windows by late this afternoon. The car is being collected by my dealer in two weeks time so that the rebuild can begin. I'm also expecting the interior to arrive back from the trim shop in Italy next week.
03.06.2012 07:46:56
Such a beautiful color, I'd love to work on this, clay, wax and buff out etc. My skills aren't nearly good enough though.
Will you 'staple' a plastic film in between the door cards and the frame of the body? When parting several 80s BMW I they always had this plastic film for i'm guessing moisture barrier.
03.06.2012 08:20:27
Yes, the plastic membrane to prevent water ingress on to the back of the door card will be reinstated. You can just make out the original membrane in the pic above. It's a textured grey plastic film. We're having trouble trying to source something similar as the types used today are either clear or black film. Once the door card is back on you can't see the film beneath so the colour is less important but we'll still try to find something close to the original if at all possible.
The engine block is back after being rebored and the mating surfaces reprofiled. It has also been given a new coat of matt black paint as per the original factory finish and has has gone from looking like this...
..... to looking like this....
Once the new pistons arrive, hopefully at some point next week, the rebuild of the engine can start.
06.06.2012 19:26:10
Nick,
The restoration cost is roughly 63% of the price I paid for the car and I can assure you that I bought the car for a very good price that reflected how much work was required on it It pays to know exactly who to send the car to for the best level of workmanship but at sensible prices. My Ferrari dealer is unbelievably good to me on pricing their work as they regard it as gaining invaluable experience of total strip down restorations that they can use for other customers. With the modern cars needing so little routine maintenance they really want to get back into the old cars in a much bigger way and offer full restoration services to a limited number of clients.
My third 246 will receive exactly the same treatment and end up being as good a car when finished as a result. I paid less than half for that car than I did for this one due to it's current condition, higher mileage, much greater number of owners etc. I hit pay dirt with that one Having said that I'm not selling any of them for a long, long time.
ISUK:My third 246 will receive exactly the same treatment and end up being as good a car when finished as a result.
Dear God,
Please make Iain dream of black Dinos from now until the moment he starts the restoration on the next one.
Amen
Enmanuel:
Dear God,
Please make Iain dream of black Dinos from now until the moment he starts the restoration on the next one.
Amen
Sorry Enmanuel, you're going to be disappointed with me. I'm returning the car to it's original colour so it will go from this...
Rosso Chiaro
To this......... Verde Germoglio
Only 69 of the total production run of 4,067 Dino variants (206 and 246 models) were finished in this colour and of those 69 I doubt more than 3 or 4 came to the UK market. I don't know of any that still survive here in this colour.
07.06.2012 13:47:25
@ISUK: outstanding effort ... such a fascinating thread ... I am in awe of what you are achieving with these stunning classics ... please keep us updated ... it's riveting to read :)
997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red
ISUK:Sorry Enmanuel, you're going to be disappointed with me. I'm returning the car to it's original colour so it will go from this...
Verde Germoglio
Guess you should do another one then... in black.
I really like that color although I would rather expect it on a Lamborghini. Do those three cars visually correlate when standing next to each other?
Ferdie, it is remarkably similar to the Lamborghini colour Verde Miura and would be my colour of choice on a Miura for sure. Porsche's Peridot green is similar (although it is metallic) but has more yellow to it whereas this colour has more blue in it. I've not seen the 1970's Porsche colour Chartreuse Green in person but from photo's it also looks very close.
I'm reliably informed there are only two Dinos in Germany in this colour so it is equally rare there. I had a spray out card done in this colour and cannot wait to see it on the physical car later this year. Both it and the Roso Dino orange make the car look a lot more modern and contemporary.
A great thread Iain, so much more to owning these cars than just driving, working on them and restoring them can be as much fun and often more satisfying. Many similar stories in my neck of the woods. I love the orange and thought you might go for yellow, but this green is cool too. Skittles
Here are some old Porsche color charts
ISUK,
Here's a DINO GTS for sale in perfect condition. It's on sale in Belgium for 210k.
Very expensive though.
http://fr.autoscout24.be/Details.aspx?id=214002541