Door mirrors were a dealer fit item to the best of my knowledge and certainly not a legal requirement. You get used to not having them though it is a bit of a pain when changing lanes on a motorway. Fortunately the GT has a lot of glass so it's quite simple to look over your shoulder to check that there is nothing in your blind spot.
Each car is slightly different to drive but I believe a big part of that is that the springs were replaced on the suspension on the orange car whereas we left the springs on the white car alone as they appear in good order.
Here is my third car which really is having a complete overhaul due to the poor storage conditions the previous owner left it in for nearly two years. The engine has required extensive work on this car and the body was in a terrible condition from previous botched repairs. The amount of hours that have gone into the metal work on the body alone is eye opening but the end result will be worth it. It's going back to it's original colour scheme of Verde Germoglio which won't appeal to everyone but I love it.
W8MM:
993Targa:
Yes, also like it on a 911
Is that color called "hellgrün"?
--
Mike
Carrera GT + Tesla Roadster 1.5 & Model S + Panamera Turbo + BMW Z8 + BMW 3.0 CSi + Bentley Arnage T + GT3 RS 4.0
That is Chartreuse green (or Lindgrun)
this is Hellgrun (Jade green)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads15/jade+green1250170895.jpg
911 Club Coupe, 993 4S Riviera Blau, 12' Audi S4 Avant
I forgot to update this thread as the car is now virtually finished. We went way beyond the level of my two previous restorations with this car as everything on it required attention. Virtually everything has be repainted/re-plate/re-chromed etc as required or replaced with NOS parts where they were available. It has been taken back to the exact spec it left the factory in December 1971. I managed to track down it's original owner and he has enjoyed the regular photo updates I've sent him. I had hoped he'd have some original photo's of the car but being in his mid 20's when he bought it he didn't bother to keep any photo's (much to his regret) so was delighted that I have sent him mine.
The engine required a total strip down and rebuild and the heads had badly corroded due to a lack of antifreeze in the coolant. Fortunately a specialist was able to do a superb repair on them. The block required a re-bore and new pistons plus new camshafts. Every rubber hose on the car had to be replaced and the tail light wiring had been badly butchered over the years so had to be stripped out and replaced with new. These were made following the same method as the factory originals and we managed to source the correct type of connector blocks which is easier said than done.
The interior was completely renewed using the correct materials to the original factory ordered spec. I tracked down all of the correct original manuals for the owners handbook wallet and sourced an original jack, extremely rare Bellux brand warning triangle and all the tools to put the original factory accessories that came with the car back in place. I found a small specialist in the US who has recently sourced the exact vinyl material that was used to make the tool and jack bags and had him make me a set up. I found the correct original 4 bar seat belt webbing in Arizona and had a specialist in the UK re-plate all of the original fittings and fit them to the new webbing to make an as new set of original seat belts.
Many, many hours have gone into sourcing parts and researching little details but the end result is more than worth it. I have lots of photo's of the various stages of the restoration if anyone wants to see them but will post some of the high lights to give a feel for the work that has gone into the car. Hopefully you'll enjoy them.
The handbrake mechanism
Steering rack
NOS Lucas fan motors
NOS FIAMM horns
Part of the cabin heating system
Wiper motor
Front trunk area new bulkhead cover
Rear suspension and hub carrier
Wheel hub and brake caliper
New springs and shock absorbers
Custom made replica of the engine bay rubber heat shield mat
And fitted in place
Fuel tanks fitted
Engine rebuild
Engine back in car
Fuel pump and filter
Differential and driveshafts
Oil filter and side air intake ducting fitted
Exhaust
Interior retrimmed
Engine bay completed
.... and almost finished
It's been a fun and rewarding journey and the car is totally unrecognisable from the sorry condition I bought it in nearly 2 years ago.
m4ever:
Congratulations, impressive project and amazing results. Love the color , it is one of a kind. I have a curiosity, how difficult is/was to find NOS parts for the Dino?
There are a lot of specialists around who carry NOS items or reproduction parts. Some items are simply no longer available anywhere so restoration or fabrication is the only option. eBay has been a great resource with many items coming from all over the world including the US, Australia, Holland, Canada, Italy etc. The roof aerial for example came from Greece.
A small number of owners have had items remade to very exacting standards and generously offered them to fellow owners. I've got involved in producing reproduction tools for the tool kit in conjunction with a Dino owning friend and we are looking at remaking a few other items as well. These have proven to be very popular in the Dino community.
reginos:
ISUK my compliments! You are a true aficionando.
May I ask how much a Dino restored to your usual high standard, would fetch if placed on the market?
The honest answer is I'm not sure reginos but with fairly average cars now fetching £250k here I'd certainly suggest mine is worth comfortably more as it has been restored to a much higher standard.
Jan 5, 2014 8:24:24 PM
Jan 5, 2014 10:37:27 PM
Thank you Joost I have two more projects underway - a 911E which I've started a new thread on and this 246 GTS.
Here is the GTS in 1981. It was also delivered in Verde Germoglio which is an amazing co-incidence as only 9 Dinos were delivered new in this colour to the UK market so the chances of buying 2 of those must have been very small. I will break my rule of restoring the car to it's original spec as I don't want two cars in the same colour.
ISUK:
I will break my rule of restoring the car to it's original spec as I don't want two cars in the same colour.
Please tell me that it'll be black !
Iain you are a master ! seriously your restoration threads set you way beyond the typical car buyer and into a much higher plane. not just because of getting them restored, but the level of passion and commitment you put into making every piece of the car as good as you can. You are a true car enthusiast. And a fantastic human being too, how great that you go through the trouble of sharing the process with the original owner of the green Dino. You probably gave that man a joyful experience he never expected (or knew) he would have.
It won't be black I'm afraid. You need a sunny climate for black to look good on a Dino. Here black tends to hide the fabulous shape of the body on dull days. The colour choice is between two original colours - Blu Dino Metalizzatto or Nocciola Metallizzato. My bodyshop did a spray out of both colours on a spare Jaguar XF bumper for me.