Another Color Change Question..., Looking from a new angle, considering other changes. Options

[aggiezig]

I'm looking at the color change dilemma from another angle, considering all of the non-original changes I have already made to my car, and hoping for some 914World feedback. I know the common consensus is that a color change car will always lose value compared to an original color - there's plenty of threads on that. But I also buy the argument that a bare-metal color change can help to negate that loss.

Here's the thing, the original Malaga Red my car came in is a pretty color, but I'm not just "in love" with it. I'm putting all of this effort into the restoration of my teener, and when I'm done, I want it to be noticed and scream 70's sports car. Plus, when I walk out and see it in the garage, I want to be blown away. If I could pick any color that I wanted, it'd probably be L50E, Adriatic Blue. (Of course, this is not a 1975 color.)

The other side of this story is that my 914 will be no means be a concourse car anyways. I have remove the side warts, shaved the antenna hole, backdated the bumpers, upped the engine to 2056 (and removed fuel injection), will paint the sail panels, plan on using an aftermarket wiring harness, and will be trying to add some small custom touches to the interior.

So here's my question - with all of the changes I have already made, is the originality value already negated? In other words, will a color change be the straw that broke the camel's back? I'm not building this car to sell, but I also don't want to want a color mismatch to be a fatal flaw if I ever need to sell my car.