An original paint survivor or a perfect repainted car? Options

[jagalyn]

I have a 73 2.0L with 100% original paint.
The original silver clear coat failed long ago on all horizontal surfaces.
The vertical surfaces still have the original clear coat.



Because of the failure, I know with absolute certainty that this car has never been hit, never been rusted, repaired or repainted on any panel.
The front and rear trunks along with the rockers and interior are all original and near perfect.

Cars are only original once.
They can be repainted and/or restored anytime... and while I would love the paint to be perfect, there is a certain appeal to having an original paint, unmolested, unrestored survivor... especially a 73 2.0L.

Question for you...
What would you rather have?
An original paint unrestored survivor or a perfect repainted car... and why?

[Tom_T]

There is a possibility that a really good resto/paint shop could carefully remove the failed clear coat & respray it clear coat only, but the cost would probably be as much as a full-on repaint, results may or may not look good enough to be worthwhile, etc.

Your use of the car will also lead you to an answer -
DD, leave as is, or respray;
show in Preservation/Unrestored class - remediate the paint & HD waxing with Carnuba or polymer waxes to preserve the now unprotected metallic paint;
show queen or top dollar resale - probably a full on resto of everything

Yes, the metallics were 2 stage color-clear even back then, & there was a Porsche repaint SB for it, as noted above.

In fact my 73 2L has had 3 - yes THREE - resprays in metallics - 1st was pre-75 from the original dealer trying to get the car sold from the factory L80E & then Sahara Beige (both single stage non-metallic & then the 72 MY Gold, then I did 75-76 MYs Copper Metallic in 1976, then the 76 MY 930's Anthracite Gray Metallic in 1980. All were done by a Porsche-Audi dealer or Indy Paint Shop per the Porsche specs/TSB.

So this one being with failing clear coat may or may not be the actual factory paint in part or overall, just because it's peeling off the topside surfaces. And any early respray would've aged by now 44-50+/- years later, just as would the factory paint (sooner if not done properly).

It too could've had accident repairs, so you'll have to dig deeper that that to verify if there's been any repairs/repainting (spot or whole). You should also check all documentation & records for the car, & look at all backside surfaces for evidnece of bodywork (hammer & dolly work, etc.).

Then also do the ole magnet wrapped in a thin cloth & rubbed over every inch of the body to find any bondo when the magnet looses magnetism (those shiny eyeglass cleaning cloths works well). Use a relatively weak fridge magnet too, so it will drop off on even thin coats of bondo.

Documents dont'l lie, & the TSB below is from Jeff Bowlsby's website:



.

Yes Virginia, they had clear coat paints back in the Dinosaur ages of the 1960s & 1970s, as well as early polyurethane paints - the latter I know because my Dad got the patents for Koppers for both urethane varnishes & paints in the early 1960s (before we moved to San Diego in 1963). So you may even see some 1960's classics shot in urethane.

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Tom
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