I just picked up parts taken off my car before bodywork/paint and was horrified to see that they pried off the trim that holds in the door and targa seal. I told them that I would have new seals but didn't expect them to go ape on the trim. Those are only held in by small screws accessed by taking out the rubber seals. Unbelievable.

So, how hard is it to obtain those chrome pieces? The two that are attached to the "A" pillar for the three sectioned seal and the two that are attached to the door post for the door seal. I need to get a value as I think they should pay. I doubt they are even available new.

Check with a Porsche Dealer and Auto Atlanta. A lot of these parts are still available, but you better be sitting down when you hear what they cost. Otherwise, some members that have made dedicated auto-x or race cars may have some of these as take-offs.

Also, some of those 914s in the Phoenix wrecking yards look to be in pretty good shape, they may be able to help you out.

Sorry to hear of your problems with the paint shop.

I might have a shot at good used ones. I can't imagine that those are taken off too often.
If anyone is selling at the Parts Heaven swap meet on Sunday...please bring 914 trim. I'll also be looking for the lower sail trim as once the paint was stripped, it showed the trim holes filled with Bondo. Going back to the sail vinyl. I also noticed that at one time my car must have had the awful rubber ding guards down both sides. So many dealers did this.

Check the classifieds here. You'll find some. Sux though!

That f03%%^$#% jfca!!

We have several pairs (you can stop laughing Mark!) that have been removed correctly. Shoot me an email or pm and we can work something out.

jonathan

They are relatively cheap new, try Sunset Imports in Portland. They have a website. Talk to Jeff in parts he will set you up.

Actually, if they are the pieces that hold the vertical targa seals and the large one across the front, I actually got mine here: http://aasesales.com/chrometrim.html

What shop is doing the work? Someone in the Santa Cruz area? Sorry to hear about the trim. I may have some of the pieces I will check this weekend.

Jim

Was this by any chance a COLLISION repair shop ??? Collision shops are in no way meant to do restorations. This is typical, and this is where owners cars get pushed into the corner in favor of quick insurance work. Then the owner gets pissed, the shop owner gets pissed at the owner being pissed and the car gets rushed out the door. Then the owner gets REALLY pissed at the shoddy work that starts to come apart 6 months later.





Or so I have heard

That would make sense. I have a great collision shop near me. I have spent thousands out of my own pocket paying for repairs to my cars caused by other people. They treat me great and do a great job. I would never take my 914 there and they are probaly happy I don't. These cars are to quirkey and out dated for most normal shops. They are older than most of the techs and the techs have certainly have not been trained on them. It takes the right tool and the right people to do the job right.

Get your car away from those morons!!!!! They should absolutely pay for it. If its an insurance job, Call the adjuster immediately.

Collision shops don't want the detail work of a restoration or a old cars problems. It's like hiring the cheapest roofing crew to reroof your house, they get paid by the square not the quality work they do.

I can't get too worked up about this sorta thing. Collision shops have to deal with all sorts of cars and the 10,000 different ways their trim attaches. This is a quirky, classic car. It's your job to make sure that you talk to the shop and decide if they know 914s enough, and if not, it's your job to take 30 minutes and strip off the trim yourself.

It's just a learning curve. This might be a cheap one.

I went with a so called Pro auto restorer for my two cars, he had a nice pretty photo album with all the neat porsches he worked on in the past. Looked good, and he talked the talk, sold me a on him, fronted money to him (my first big mistake). he get my car and (356C0 and he repairs rust in the door bottoms, then stops work on the doors mid way thru and switches to the nose, he uses a fucking plasma cutter to cut the bottom two inches off the front trunk the floor and all four sides ruined, why? he thought it looked too low! =then he wants me to pay for new metal (it was new metal!!) I say stop on the trunk and just finish hanging the doors, Opps, the doors dont fit! he made them wrong, infact one door was 3/4 inch fatter than the other, so much for perfect number matching perfect gap doors! meanwhile my 914 sitting in the corner get a big dent on the front fender top, like something fell on it, I tell him that needs fixing, a few days later we move the 914 around an I find a big oil canned dent that moves back and forth. the shop owner tells me it happened aw hile ago when his friends where in teh shop, but he would take care of it.

meanwhile he ruins more metal in the front trunk by drilling 30 holes in a perfect panel to remove the panel he damaged with the plasma cutter (he did this after my stop work order.

finally I arrive to inspect my cars, and he shows up late, then takes lunch, then tells me hee has to run a quick errand, (takes his plastic bottles to recycle while I wait) then he comes back, starts to work on my car for about ten minutes, excuxes himself to the bathroom, and comes back 15 minutes later stoned as can be.

this guy had an impressive resume, and very nice portfolio of 356 cars he worked on in his daddys shop when he was younger. yet he had no ability to work on my car, and his customer service sucked. he lied about taking responsibility for the damages he did (he has no insurance)

so dispite all the fancy assurances and portfolio, I got ripped off big time. I was not dealing with an honest person, and thats the bottom line.

so much for Rennsport Vintage werks in Pleasanton CA owned by the infamous Jerry McCarthy

avoid that place like the plague. I feel sorry for the other suckers that still have there cars with him. he tends to suck people into multiyear restorations. I can see why, the damages he does during the repair would keep him in bussiness forever.

over $10,000 later, I got two wrecked cars. avoid this guy like crazy, dont be fooled by his pretty potofolio he cant do the work he promises.

Someone would be getting very, very hurt at this point.

It is a learning curve. My biggest mistake was not taking off the parts myself. I initially offered, but they insisted they were a "one stop shop" and could do everything (including a new windshield install). Then to get the labor costs down, it was agreed that I would put all parts back on myself. Not a problem for me. I just didn't expect them to feel free to tear parts off haphazard knowing they weren't putting them back on. At least that's my feeling. Now I'm finding out that they put all...ALL the bolts, screws, grommets, etc mixed in together in a couple of bags. That's going to be fun to sort through.
When I restore my '65 VW convertible, I'm just bringing a shell to the paint shop (a different one of course).

I'm getting this all done cheap, so I guess you get what you pay.
It's not a collision shop. It's just a small time shop that's trying to do more "restorations". They still have things to learn.

Then you have every right to be pissed as hell and demand replacement.

Go to a junk yard sometime and spend an hour taking apart various parts of a newer ( mid 80's and up ) car. You will quickly find out why collision shops do these sort of things. All they know are plastic clips that pry off. Plastic trim that pops off. There are literally, probably half the amount of screws in cars now as there used to be. A 1/4 the amount of REAL materials, i.e. steel, aluminum, wood, as there used to be. Collision guys just do not know how to disassemble an older car, regardless of make or model. Screw won't come out ??? Just turn harder.......SNAP. Trim won't come off ??? Just pry harder.....SNAP Get my drift ? There is a reason restoration shops may charge more, unfortunately you are learning why. Unfortunately there are also plenty of hack resto shops out there too as RealRed pointed out. That is precisely why I photodocument all of my work, and at the end of the job the customer gets a disc with all of the pics burned on it. Any time you take a car to a shop to be restored you should ask them to photodoc the process, and if they refuse to, or get weird about the request, take the car to the next shop, and the next shop, until you find someone that has no problem doing it.

Sorry you are experiencing this, but you have time to stop it before it gets worse

Just a little something I learned this week. I am getting ready to cut up a late (may) 74 and I started to remove the lower molding chrome. Most times it just pops off. This car had globs of tar like sealant on each clip. It looks like it was done at the factory to prevent rust. Same type of sealant around the nut on the sail panel under the fender. Has anybody else encountered this? Did the factory try and fix the rusting problem with the body holes and rusting off clips?

you are probably reffering to the undercaoting that was sprayed in the wheels wells. It usually ended up coating the clips. There was also a strip of ( butyl tape )adhesive applied the the verticle roll bar trim that holds it in place even after the screws are removed, this needs to be GENTLY pried off of the car. It does hold pretty well, but if the screws are first removed it will come up enough for a novice to look and see what is ging on, and then propoerly continue with the removal.

Quick edit : I actually do recall what you are referring to and yes there apparently was a glob of tar like black goo applied to the clips. I remember having seen it a couple times before, but I do not recall it being on every car I have dealt with.......

yup mine 914 has the tar like stuff too, extra water proofing it seems, not a bad idea, that is one little detail you need to cover on a restoration, many shops will NOT take the effort (or even know about) all the little important sealing and such that prevents rust. so often a classic is resotred, but sealer and such are skimped on, or thought to be not important, yeras later you get rust issues cuase this was forgotten. also many cars came from factory under sealed (that is not sealed well enough) so take the time to exaimne how any water may get in, or trapped, and take extra preventative measures.