1973 Porsche 911E RHD – Silver

[lamakdaddy]

Ohh..let the fun times begin!

Great detailing and clearly someone who cares about all the little things is working on your car.

[BILLY BEAN]

Gitesh,
RE 90 line or 55 line choice.
My suggestion is that you leave it to your painter as he should stand by the result and the medium term durability of the finish.

[911GP]

That's sound advice and I was thinking the same last night. I have asked Graham to get sample pots of each and we will then assess the results. There is no rush so better to spend time to get it right.

One interesting thing to note is that it is quite difficult to get 55 line (solvent) due to VOC content and suppliers have asked for documentation (v5, proof of address, photo of the car showing the number plate) to prove it is for a classic car.

Thank you
Gitesh

[BILLY BEAN]

Gitesh, I don't think the 90 or 55 line will make any difference in terms of observable results. Your painter may have a working preference for solvent or water based paint which needs to be respected in my view as he is the guy doing the job. As you are aware the VOCs are already an issue. In the future the solvent paints may be banned altogether although how far off that is is anyone's guess. Non solvent based paints may " future proof" for any repairs that might be necessary in the future should VOCs be banned. Although I did not have Glasurit used on my "S" four years ago and it will not be used on my current ST build, solvent paints were acquired without any issue. Probably depends on the local supplier. My current build is Light Yellow which proved difficult to match to an original unsullied bit of bodywork I had available so this guided choice somewhat. I believe this yellow was not available from Glasurit, back in the day, but a Lesonal one and I am not a purist in terms of paint manufacturer in any event. ( The paint might have the same supplier name but the paint itself is entirely different to 40 years ago so you are not respecting originality in any event by chosing Glasurit) My priority was a good durable product, best colour match from a quality supply and one that my painter would stand by if there were issues down the line. Good luck with it.

[911GP]

I hear you. To be clear, Graham and I had a chat this morning and he suggested we try them out so I asked him to order some samples. Obviously, it will be his assessment rather than mine that will count since I know very little about paint (and other Porsche things for that matter). I expect he will be honest about which he prefers to use since he wants to do the best job he can and with the samples he can make an informed decision.

Completely agree that any new paint will be nothing like the original paint whether solvent or not even if the brand is the same. Your point about "future proofing" makes complete sense and is something I hadn't considered.
Many thanks.
Gitesh

[Gary71]

Future proofing was the key that drove me to use a current (at the time) 2002 Porsche silver on my ‘72T. It wasn’t original anyway and the ease of repair and matching has proven valuable in the years afterwards.

[911GP]

Bonnet and front bumper prep - I ordered a new bonnet from Porsche but the poor quality of some new Porsche panels compared to their old productions has meant some extra prep work was required by Graham here:






















More to follow.

Gitesh

[911GP]

Paint - Graham has been very thorough in his paint preparation and even contacted the technical department at Glasurit to discuss paint options to suit the Glasurit program he has been following. They were able to confirm that either their water based or solvent products would work well with this so Graham ordered samples and painted some test cards. Although he thought both were good, he preferred the results from the solvent paint since, in his opinion, it looked more period and would suit the factory finish we were aiming for. I never saw the results but I guess you could only notice the difference on a side-by-side test like this.

The car was painted at the end of last year and I went to see it last week:



















Really good attention to detail at the front with a lighter coat of paint that blends to black behind the dashboard:







The differing thickness of underseal spray can be seen better with the silver paint:





A lighter coat of paint has also been applied inside the cabin area:









Gary Cook covered the original, factory applied, crayon body number when he stripped the car so we were able to retain this. A nice touch:



Good colour and texture on the fuel tank:



The finish on the panels is superb. Unfortunately the lighting doesn't show them to their best:













Before Graham started work on my car, I asked him to make this the best paint job he has done yet and he hasn't disappointed. I couldn't be happier with the results and working with Graham was an absolute pleasure. His attention to detail, communication, enthusiasm and expertise were superb. The job has been finished to a first class standard and Graham completed the job in the timeframe he had allocated. Thank you so much, Graham.

The car is going into storage for a while since Gary Cook has a backlog but he has given me an estimated start for the rebuild of around June this year.

That's all for now,

Gitesh

[stichill99]

That paintwork looks absolutely stunning! In some of the photos it looks quite like Polar Silver.

[Darren65]

Looks glorious

Congrats

[911hillclimber]

Absolute craftsmanship.

[inaglasshouse]

Very very lovely Gitesh. You must be delighted.
Look forward to seeing more when the refit starts.

Cheers, Richard.

[210bhp]

Great result. Very careful work by the looks of it.

Regards
Mike

[MarkIII]

Top notch Gitesh you must be well chuffed with the quality of Grahams workmanship. Look forward to seeing the rebuild, will be popping in to see Gary in the coming months so hopefully will see it first hand

[Dougieboy1]

wow, top quality work, love the attention to detail!