DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

210bhp wrote:Darren

You should be so proud of the work of you and your team.
Great to see expertise coupled with enthusiasm. It's a rare thing.
The pictures showcase a new level of finish not achieved before (that I have seen).
Others disagree with what you have done and the way you have done it but I think you and Richard have worked towards taking things one step further.

Regards
Mike

Very kind words Mike although not a lot to do with me, my role has been purely that of photographer and quality control!

All the credit is down to Richard 'the client' who wanted a truly authentic finish and Richard 'the painter' who has really taken these jobs to his heart - we've spent countless hours discussing exactly how the factory would have produced their results and due to the different processes (e.g. wings painted off, air-fed rather than pressure-fed guns etc.) it's been a question of doing our best to get things right without making the result look 'contrived or manufactured'.

I thought I had researched things thoroughly when painting my car although Richard Murphy has taken my understanding to another level and sent me a lot of reference material, he's certainly the driving force behind this project and there's a bit more to come yet!

I can understand why many commercial bodyshops go for a more perfect finish though, a lot of people will look at what's been done on this car and think 'that's rubbish!'

Darren65 wrote:
I can understand why many commercial bodyshops go for a more perfect finish though, a lot of people will look at what's been done on this car and think 'that's rubbish!'

And that is exactly the point here - the finish on the cars from the factory was pragmatic aka a bit rubbish in places.... a production-line and all of these details will be covered over anyway....why bother?

Well, because deep down I will know that we did the very best job we could do. And because these cars were effectively hand made at speed. There were rubbish bits to them and for me part of what makes them different, special and charismatic.

Thank you all for the kind comments, this really is a fun project and each stage has been done with great care and attention to detail by various skilled people (JohnM, Barry, Rich take a bow... )

But when you see the colour (and more of this later today) the actual painting is really lovely....here's a sneak peak....

murph2309 wrote:

Darren65 wrote:
I can understand why many commercial bodyshops go for a more perfect finish though, a lot of people will look at what's been done on this car and think 'that's rubbish!'

And that is exactly the point here - the finish on the cars from the factory was pragmatic aka a bit rubbish in places.... a production-line and all of these details will be covered over anyway....why bother?

Well, because deep down I will know that we did the very best job we could do. And because these cars were effectively hand made at speed. There were rubbish bits to them and for me part of what makes them different, special and charismatic.

This is the first detailed restoration I remember seeing where the temptation to 'better' the original finish has been resisted ... & rightly so !

A really refreshing change ...

Well done Darren and to all concerned, great job!

Barry wrote:go the 'rough and ready' route in places, much harder than it looks.

murph2309 wrote:"can you make it look like you didn't really care that much".... ...his attention to roughness details has been fantastic....

murph2309 wrote:I'm keen not to over-restore, so important that we went for the 'spartan'

210bhp wrote:Now that's what you call a proper paint restoration. Bravo!

Rostrenner wrote:Congratulations, you guys really took it one step further with this paint job.

Lightweight_911 wrote:This is the first detailed restoration I remember seeing where the temptation to 'better' the original finish has been resisted ... & rightly so !

Mike wrote:Well done Darren and to all concerned, great job!

OK, I'm evidently alone in this but if it was mine I'd want some paint on there.
If you've spent so much time and so much money getting back to a rust free car then please protect it.
You have very accurately matched the factory finish but at the factory they skimped. They neglected to properly paint parts of the car where they could save time, materials and money.
I'm sorry but I'd tell my guys to make as good a job of it as you can, I want it to last a lifetime and I'm not going to be taking out the carpet and showing my friends the finish.

But, then again - as a copy of the thin or non existent paint cover on the original - I concede it's a great job. Sadly not for me.

This looks superb. It's a fabulous colour.

murph2309 wrote:

Sorry to be dim, but what colour is it?

My 911T looks just like that on the floor pan (I changed the colour in 1988) and thought it was Viper Green but mine's a bit 'metalic' too.

Ferry Man wrote:
OK, I'm evidently alone in this but if it was mine I'd want some paint on there.
If you've spent so much time and so much money getting back to a rust free car then please protect it.
You have very accurately matched the factory finish but at the factory they skimped. They neglected to properly paint parts of the car where they could save time, materials and money.
I'm sorry but I'd tell my guys to make as good a job of it as you can, I want it to last a lifetime and I'm not going to be taking out the carpet and showing my friends the finish.

But, then again - as a copy of the thin or non existent paint cover on the original - I concede it's a great job. Sadly not for me.

Ah, I thought this might be a bit controversial , Well the protection for the car is coming from the epoxy primer and the extra seam-sealing that we're doing. The epoxy primer itself is way better than they used back in the day and we've spent a lot of time and many coats to make sure that is providing a rock-hard & impermeable finish. I grant you it seems a bit counter-intuitive only putting a bit of paint under there, but we're not relying on the paint for protection. And you're right, I want this to last a lifetime too, but I may well be showing people under my carpet after all of this. You're welcome to come and have a look!

And thanks for the comments on the paint. It really does look good - I know you have a penchant for metallic green...

911hillclimber wrote:Sorry to be dim, but what colour is it?

My 911T looks just like that on the floor pan (I changed the colour in 1988) and thought it was Viper Green but mine's a bit 'metalic' too.

Hi Graham it's green metallic 224. In this case we're using a solvent based 2K paint from Octral - you can only buy 2K paint for historic vehicles apparently....and Glasurit don't do any solvent-based paints any more.

murph2309 wrote:

Ferry Man wrote:
OK, I'm evidently alone in this but if it was mine I'd want some paint on there.
If you've spent so much time and so much money getting back to a rust free car then please protect it.

Ah, I thought this might be a bit controversial , Well the protection for the car is coming from the epoxy primer and the extra seam-sealing that we're doing. The epoxy primer itself is way better than they used back in the day and we've spent a lot of time and many coats to make sure that is providing a rock-hard & impermeable finish.

Just to add to Richard's comments, this car isn't lacking in protection by any means and has way more paint, seam sealer and other protection than they ever received at the factory. In some areas, such as the smugglers box and behind the front inner wing closers, we've even forsaken originality for extra protection.

Admittedly this isn't to everyone's taste but when the car is complete and fitted up it'll look just as good outside as any other 'period' restoration, except this one will look period and original underneath too.

Cheers,

OK - so after the interior, time to reverse the masking, final wet sanding and get ready for the paint









And a little while later, as if by magic....





















And after giving a hard time to Barry and Rich about this, it seems to have come out pretty well



And a pretty good match to the original



All in all, this is looking great, I'm really pleased with the results - Can't wait to see it in real life!

Quite a milestone this. Fresh paint just looks so good doesn't it....?

Wow and er wow, I think that covers it...

All the best
Ian F.

It looks fabulous - even 'straight out of the gun' ...

Stunning

Will you look at that. Stunning. Lovely colour