cost effective USA restoration?

[Lightweight_911]

Recommending a US company to carry out any necessary work is difficult without knowing where the car is located

[Nick Moss]

my logic was 0 vat 5% duty on +30yr old imports...

5% VAT, £50 duty

unfortunately there seems to be far more available abroad that fits into the bracket above. it just seems logical that if i take the risk of buying abroad i might as well take the risk on getting rust / paint job done there too

Most 912s were sold in the USA, but they have never had any value, so have been mistreated, poorly repaired and generally ignored. Just have a look at Beverley Hills Car Club for the evidence

[Diego Milano]

Recommending a US company to carry out any necessary work is difficult without knowing where the car is located

my understanding is shipping from one end of the states to the other is cheap enough.... i wouldn't care if i bought in X and sent to Y to be prepped etc...

its more about who can do work professionally and cost effectively ...

[Nick Moss]

When buying in the USA be aware that they use English quite differently. When we describe a car as having original paint, we mean it's never been repainted, in the USA it means original colour. No rust to us is obvious, but apparently not in the USA; it may have holes in the floors and chassis rails, but (probably) none visible on upper surfaces, usually as it's full of bondo.

[Diego Milano]

many thanks.... appreciated!

[KS]

My car was described as rust free and never hit. That meant that the rust was free and the car hadn't been hit, but it had hit other cars...

[neilbardsley]

My car was described as rust free and never hit. That meant that the rust was free and the car hadn't been hit, but it had hit other cars...

Seems to be a common line other there!

[jamie]

My car was described as rust free and never hit. That meant that the rust was free and the car hadn't been hit, but it had hit other cars...

Mega.

My thoughts... After many years of exposure to the classic Porsche world in the US, I can think of four people that could restore a car to a standard that a normal (picky) Porsche owner would be happy to own.

Apart from one, none of them advertise, and all of them command top money because they are aware the quality of work over there is generally not very good.

Unless you plan to keep the car in the US, in the long run it'd be cheaper and less stressful to just buy a decent restored car over here or in Germany.

What colour are you after?

[Diego Milano]

hi jamie

one of the lighter blues ie golf
one of the wild oranges.
turkey/signal green

basically they never come up so i figure respray anyway....

hence buy a mechanically sound but body battered 912

thing is, i think you guys are miles ahead of me in terms of expectation. i just want a car in my color that mechanically is good, as long as it drives im happy, it can have a bit of rust on it.... i have no intention of restoring to peak or concourse condition. the line of the car wont change if i spend 10k or 50k on it. and its the line that i love....

call me a freak but driving about in a bit of a battered 912 also appeals ... lol

[neilbardsley]

hi jamie

one of the lighter blues ie golf
one of the wild oranges.
turkey/signal green

basically they never come up so i figure respray anyway....

hence buy a mechanically sound but body battered 912

thing is, i think you guys are miles ahead of me in terms of expectation. i just want a car in my color that mechanically is good, as long as it drives im happy, it can have a bit of rust on it.... i have no intention of restoring to peak or concourse condition. the line of the car wont change if i spend 10k or 50k on it. and its the line that i love....

call me a freak but driving about in a bit of a battered 912 also appeals ... lol

Battered is ok but rust/MOT failure isn't. They don't have difficult MOT in the US to pass. Please listen to Nick/others they have lots of experience.

Here are two stories from me.

I bought a rough 912 about 4 years ago (after getting one stolen). It drove well and the paint was rough but I thought rust free. At the time I could of bought a a 65 FIA certificate new Prill built race engine and rally prepared for £17.5. Instead I bought my targa for £8.5k. I'm now on my 3rd rust repair and I could of easily of bought the other car.

I bought a 356 from the states via a trusted seller (member of the 356 Registry Board). I got recommendations from Richie/Andy Prill. The car arrived as stated in the ad. I took with DDK to Stuttgart, and back with no issues. No major repairs since owning it.

Never are concours cars but intended to be driven hard.

It will be cheaper to buy a nice car for a small premium and repaint then buy a project and get it right. Trust us. We have been there tried that.

[Diego Milano]

neil im starting to see it this way too.... thanks

[Diego Milano]

morning chaps ....

does anyone have an opinion on Design 911 in Brentwood?

Thanks

[Nick Moss]

Pile them high sell them cheap, no sorry, that should be expensive.

[hot66]

...no early car is ever th esame as another. There could be one or 2 gems or they could all be rotten dogs

Photos are meaningless .., you have to get out there and go and look at each car on an individual basis and judge its condition

Even when I was looking at 964's , i viewed 7 in one day all at respected dealers near London. All looked good in the photos but nearly all had issues and this included a car at JZM who pride themselves on the qulaity of their stock ( it had peeling paint from a previous poor blow over )

Point being , dont always judge a car by the dealer selling it , but judge each car on its own merits etc

[Diego Milano]

So... thank for the advice so far. Looks like I have secured a 912 from Max at Revival Cars )