DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

My car failed its MOT this year due to the dreaded tin worm in the sills. I think its due to water getting in around the windscreen.
I had planned to strip the car in the next couple of years to sort out some bits, such as the windscreen, but this has bought this forward.
I had a bit of an accident 6 years ago, which involved the car going on a jig, so know its straight, if a bit rusty.
I am not after a concours car, but the shell sorted, and a respray in a different colour. I am happy to strip the car and reassemble afterwards, and it will be the old bits going back on, most have been sorted in the last 8 years of our ownership.
Before anyone suggests doing it myself, would love to but really don't have the time due to my never ending house renovations. So would end up having a car in bits for the next 10 years, I could just find the time to bolt it back together.
I know its difficult to be accurate but what sort of figure is the bodywork going to cost? And a descent respray?
I had a visit from a guy from
http://www.carrosserie.co.uk
They are not too far from me, anybody had any dealings?

Stuart.

Hi Stuart,

Not a question anyone can truly answer accurately over the internet Stuart.

Paint in a different colours going to be anywhere from £5K to £15K depending on what sort of job you want.

Sills and scuttle tin work mean the cars probably hiding a few more areas that'll need attention so again anything from £2K to £5K

And that's with you doing the strip and rebuild, unless you can find a one man band charity workshop who'll do it for the love of it and to cover his overheads

Strip down: free (your time)
Blast / dip: 1K
Welding (labour): 10K
New (repair) panels: 5K from Porsche. Really expensive bits of metal. Cheaper available but less good, so you may find the fettling labour offsets the saving
Paint: 10K
Various seals you need, plus a few bushes etc you decide to change "while it's apart": 2K
Reassemble: free (your time)

All the above assuming you want it done properly - everything off and full strip back to bare metal - but the only serious rust is sills, floor, screen corners, lower A pillar, lower B pillar, lower rear wings.
If you get into front pan, inner wings, torsion tube, higher up in the body... think of a big number and then add a bit.

Just my 2p!
Or to quote the sage of Sussex, Dave (stretch) "I wouldn't bother starting unless you have 50K". But that included overhauling the oily bits.

inaglasshouse wrote:Strip down: free (your time)
Blast / dip: 1K
Welding (labour): 10K
New (repair) panels: 5K from Porsche. Really expensive bits of metal. Cheaper available but less good, so you may find the fettling labour offsets the saving
Paint: 10K
Various seals you need, plus a few bushes etc you decide to change "while it's apart": 2K
Reassemble: free (your time)

All the above assuming you want it done properly - everything off and full strip back to bare metal - but the only serious rust is sills, floor, screen corners, lower A pillar, lower B pillar, lower rear wings.
If you get into front pan, inner wings, torsion tube, higher up in the body... think of a big number and then add a bit.

Just my 2p!
Or to quote the sage of Sussex, Dave (stretch) "I wouldn't bother starting unless you have 50K". But that included overhauling the oily bits.

Not sure what car this is.However, 2 kidneys, 2 outers, 2 inners, 2 b posts,2 lower screen,was about £950 plus vat from Dansk on current job.Exact same parts from restoration design last year were 977 euro.

My car. Not all that rusty, having spent most of its life in Australia.
I still managed to spend 5K on panels from Porsche. Lots of folk have needed more - see resto threads.
To be fair my bill did include door skins, rear wings and various bits from the front pan area. And VAT. So not like with like compared with your list.
And I am aiming for concours.
That said, I guess any car that is far enough gone to fail its MoT on rusty sills might not only have rusty sills...

Just waiting for a quote to paint my 73T exterior only, a nice job but not a mega perfect etc job as the car is a bitza hotrod car. Any welding etc will be DIY, so I will deliver a down-to-the-steel shell on its suspension, glass out.
will pm you where here.
Lots of people will restore and paint a delivered bare shell, may not have a famous name on here or in the Porsche world, but will do a great job. Take a look at TP's Alfa restoration thread in 'Member's Other' section on here.

Good people have a long waiting list, in my case the Man is out to April next year before he could start.

All I would say if you are going to do it, do it properly. If the sill's are rotten I would bet lots more is too.

I would think most shells will require 350 to 400 hours of work, mine was 400hrs. I think my panel cost was around the £5k and paint £7.5K. I did as much as I could and gained a wealth of knowledge. Its going to take a minimum of 24 months, so you can pay for stuff as you go along.

Have a good look at the restorations on here, you will find very similar areas of rot on most of them.

If you do decide to restore the shell make sure you go in eyes wide open, as it will be a rocky path but well worth the effort.

Good luck.

There's a simple formula to answer such questions

Cost of restoring = (lot's of x 4 + all the things you weren't aware of) x 2 for good measure

The OP has no time for the time-consuming bit, all the cutting out and accurate welding, so he is 'doomed' to going to a specialist.

If the car is grim then we all know where that goes, lots of time (and so apply the formula above).

I DIY'd mine in '89 and it took me 9 months of DIY in a single garage. It is certainly not a 'Barry Shell' but is sound and ok enough.
Some Porsche panels + the dreaded Dansk tin for all the usual places. Made my own floor repair sections as none available at the time.

I had done 4 cars before this, 2 x MGB's, and all are very similar in construction and all have the same panel gap issues etc. I believe there is nothing magical about a 911 shell in comparison. This is why I say I think a good local body shop will be fine, esp one with classic experience.
They will spend a lot of time with Dansk parts in my experience, the Porsche parts (then) fitted a dream. (rear wings and front tank support).

dogbower wrote: http://www.carrosserie.co.uk
They are not too far from me, anybody had any dealings?

Don't know them but from their website I'd expect they know how to charge so expect a sizeable wallet raping. Their work looks very high end, concours level and top notch and that doesn't come cheap or even mid range.

Richard, i still maintain that a proper restoration would eat in excess of 50K. Let me know how much change you have left at the end. Obviously the OP is talking about some localised rust repairs and a re-paint only. I read somewhere that to do the sill areas was 1.5K a side in labour. Bet that was a few years ago. Any shop putting your shell on a jig will want at least £40-50 per hour.

Paint..? that can range from 3k " down me mates yard " to somewhere between 10 -16k from a Porsche god with a gold plated gun..!

Dave

stretch wrote:Richard, i still maintain that a proper restoration would eat in excess of 50K. Let me know how much change you have left at the end.

Yes Dave. In return for your invaluable advice, I will buy you a drink with the change.

dave +1

Sell it and buy a nice 964 ... your wallet will thank you

[quote="stretch"]Richard, i still maintain that a proper restoration would eat in excess of 50K. Let me know how much change you have left at the end.

Dave I would say add on another 30k.........

My tupence..... Would agree with Dave that any reputable body shop are going to charge in the region of £40-50/hr. Not always possible but try and agree a price up front at the point the car is stripped.

My car is currently nearing the end of its body being totally restored and let's just say the estimated hours when the car was stripped and blasted has increased by 50% and it's still not finished......work is fantastic thou

Mark