OK so lets say you have a '74 2.0 914 that's remarkably clean, you're the second owner and have all the records and history on the car going all the way back. It's been a CA car its whole life and has only very minor rust issues, super straight, no accidents, no DAPO changes, all OE equipement is in stelar shape and nothing is missing. Any mod's have been bolt on with no permanent changes that couldn't be reversed...

I've owned the car for 16 years now, have no intention of selling it ever...It's always going to be a '4' and will always be on 4 bolt Fuchs, I have no intentions on changing that.

The car has been both a daily driver and a garage queen, still low miles <100k...but has lots of little scratches etc from 38 years of use...shows very well from 3 feet away. I do drive it, sometimes hard, including AX and DE...

So here's the big question-in terms of overall values-with prices driving up and up on these the way they are, What would you do if you were finally going in for a professional total repaint?

Feel free to flame the choices with your opinions...

Pic to help you decide:
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I obviously voted before reading !!!

If you are going for ultimate value...........LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!! KEEP IT STOCK!!!


Watching most of the auction shows now on TV.........the latest and most money cars are either totally redone to better than stock or true 'survivors'. I believe yours falls into the later category.

Just keep driving and enjoying your car.........I wouldn't even go in for any respray as it will drop the value (see above).

Either totally redo the car or leave it alone. Just a paint job will in the long run drop the value............Again, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ULTIMATE RESALE/COLLECTOR VALUE!!!!

Lose the side markers. The european style is what we would also have if not for artificial DOT regs. I had this decision a year ago and am very happy I eliminated them. It gives a cleaner appearance and the front fender actually shows a fuller curvature that isn't apparent with the markers.

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You got to get rid of the " Warts " from the front fenders! I removed them from all 5 of my cars. Ray

I agree, lose the side markers...those are just plain ugly...I did it many years ago when I repainted my car......and this is my opinion but I would also remove the Porsche crest from the front hood...I like the car better without it and it keeps people guessing what the car is...a few weeks ago somebody asked me what it was...I replied jokingly "Lamborghini" and they actually believed me...than again it is your car...those are just my thoughts to share

If you going for CW Paint, keep the Lens. Also skip the Chassis Stiffening

In the pics your car looks amazing, do you really need new paint? Just leave it as it is...your car is obviously in nice, clean and un-modified shape...hard to say but a true survivor is cool too. Also you may want to consider the ENGMEN kit which is very popular around here and reasonably priced too

Hood badge will be removed for sure...

I can snap some pics of the scratches etc on the paint--it's not horrible, but there are enough of them that you cant ignore them...mostly from the car being stuffed into 'too small' garage spaces over it's life to keep it out of the rain etc

I do get the points being made about no paint at all--it's compelling to see the original primer and lack of repaints where the scratches are...

Voted without reading.

Concourse level? None of the above.

I also agree that the paint looks pretty darn good. Is it worth it to you for a $4000 repaint?

Also dont you get more points from original paint at a concourse? AKA in the "preservation" class?

I deleted my side markers but since its just a 2.0 -4 no stiffining. Glad I got rid of the side markers!!!

Remember its your car and you can do whatever you want to it

I also voted before reading. Considering what you have, I would take it down to a really good detail shop & have them go over the paint. They can do wonderful things these days to get out scratches. If it still is not up to your liking, then find the best paint shop you can & have it resprayed in the original color. You do get points for original paint if you show it. We showed our 911 SC in the unrestored category, and got many good comments on the original paint.

It really is amazing what some detail shops can do these days. There are guys out there with incredible talent when it comes to buffing, waxing, and making the original paint look great.

Personally, on 'narrow bodied' 914's, I like the front markers shaved, and adding the side-markers that are located between the door and wheels. It's not that big of a deal to do, and it's a good back up assuming you don't like the look of the fenders without anything on them.

Also, I like the Porsche crest up front, and think that with the addition of some front Euro lenses would look great!

What Markb said. I would think the car would be more valuable not repainted, then repainted from a collector stand point. Looks beautiful in your posted picture. 2 stage paint from the factory? Maybe just reclearing it if the scratches can't be worked out?

I'll post some pic's of the scratches--some are deep, like someone with a belt on leaned into the engine compartment and dug in, others are just normal rock chips etc...

Maybe the scratches can be touched up, hard to say...

Some @hole threw what appeared to be a soda across the front hood when it was parked in front of my house about 10 years ago and you can see it in the clear--like it ate away at it or fogged it...

There's some minor rust repair to be done too, in the rear trunk (not severe enough to warrant panel replacement, remember CA car always garaged) and some in the left side engine bay...aka drivers side hell hole...

I may have missed this but is it original paint? If so, patina is not a bad thing. There are painters out there who are true artisans and could blow in the scratches that have cut right through. They can colour match and blend to the point that unless you knew exactly where to look you'd never know - and even if you did it would be virtually impossible to tell.

That way you preserve the original integrity of the factory finish. I've seen original paint cars from the 40's, 50's, 60's etc., that have had partial panel repaints and IMHO the car benefits from it as opposed to a complete.

IMHO A solid car that is NPOT tracked and has low h.p. ( original power plant ) does not need a stiffening kit. I do however strongly recommend one in anything that gets track use, hard street driving or has over 150 h.p.

Lenses are a personal preference, but a car as solid and clean as yours, I'd leave them. They are original, and as stated, the cars values continue to rise. Removing them takes away from it's originality.

Paint wise, original cars get repainted every day and don;t lose value. The only people that care about factory original paint are at Barret Jackson, loaded on mint julips and blowing more money on a car than I'll ever see......... and Pat Garvey The key is finding a shop that can and will duplicate the factory finish ( read orange peel ) and not over or under do it, unless you want it over or under done










And even Pat's car has ben repainted

I did go for paint. I voted the same way I chose for my car.

--DD

Since you're never selling it you don't really care what the value does, so do what make you enjoy the car most.

I like the look without the side markers and you don't sound like you need chassis stiffening.

Paint it and enjoy it.

jim

To do it right though, it should be welded and then you are talking paint.

I had the same scenario for Dad's car including an 8 track. I opted to do things MY way and I have no regrets. Dad's car to me is for personal enjoyment and time with the kids. It has no value to anyone beyond me and my kids. Not saying everyone is like me, but you have to decide for yourself what you want.

I also like the hood badge. Should have been there all along.

......... and Pat Garvey

And even Pat's car has ben repainted
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Nice.

We all need a Pat though to keep us relatively straight...

This is why I stated to leave it alone............

Yes, the first part of the post says he's never going to sell...........but we all know that good intentions and all............

You are going to have to ask yourself the hard question...Which do you want, a collector with maximum resale value or a personal car you can do anything with???

The answer to that one would be 'B' --a personal car you can do anything with!!!

Really I'm trying to gauge the opinions of the members here in the sense of "What would you do" given the scenario...

I'll likely never please the hard core CW's anyway with the fact that I like to drive the sh!t out of it still when I can and no matter how pristine my retentive nature makes it, that's still going to be the reality for it.

That IS the reason we all love these cars afterall...ISN'T IT?!

There are minor rust issues I want to address and the paint is showing it's age when you see it in person...the rust is really the motivator, minor as it is, I'd like to take care of it...

Silver metallic photographs very well, so its a bit deceptive in the picture.

YES!

Do what you need to do that will continue giving you as much enjoyment in 10 or 15 years as you're getting out of it now.

As far as the front badge and side markers go, my 3.2 car has the badge and no markers and the Phoenix car has the markers and no badge. I'll still think your car looks amazing no matter which combination you end up doing.

Heck, in that case........definitely shave off the hockey pucks and paint and make pretty (inside and out)!!!

If you are going to stiffen the suspension, are you going to up the HP in the motivational part???


Good luck............There are those that like original only (CW), then there is the rest of us!!!

not many original looking survivor cars around anymore. I would keep it original as possible.
paint, I woujld paint it but I woujld take everything off and not just mask around for a spray job.
warts...I dont like them but I woujld not delete them since teh car is un-molested.

My $.02 - for a very clean, stock street car I would nix the side markers (hate 'em) but not bother with the stiffening kit. Hood crest/badge is personal preference, but as you know they weren't stock.

My "914R" project is losing its side markers and will (probably) have a factory race car style hood crest decal. It is far from stock or CW material, though.

I would install the Engman kit before the stiffening kit. Major difference.

Ask the Modder's crowd & you'll get more yes's, ask the CW crowd & you'll get more No's - the Garage is mostly the former, so I think you know the answer you'll get in this poll!

It's your car & you need to do what you want, but don't "If only..." later! Facts are the all original 914s are fewer & farther between, and they pull a premium in value in stock paint, colors & fitment.

That said, you may find a great P-car paint & body guy in your area who can fix the rust & scratches, while only spot painting & airbrushing in those areas for maybe 10-20% of the overall body/paint area - but metallics are hard to do that with, as compared to a non-metallic, and even some of those colors are harder.

Have at it!

I'm anything but a CW, and tend to lean towards 'improving' 914's. Having said that, I saw Erics car today at Cars and Coffee, and it is in great condition. It really does not need a respray!

I haven’t seen the car in person but I guess I’m kind of in the leave alone camp. But if I was going to respray, I would probably remove the front side markers. I would also spring for the inner long kit. That would stiffen the passenger compartment and allow the trunk to absorb an impact like it was designed to do. That’s kind of what my plan is when I start to deal with the one or two bubbles in the paint on mine.

I voted to keep the Hockey Pucks, I don't know why. As for the paint a good

detailer can work wonders. I would check the known rust areas ,repair what needs

to be done there. And Enjoy the darn thing. Dave

Having seen it yesterday, I would say take it to a professional detailer or two and get their advice. It might be fixable, it might not be. If it isn't and it will continue to bother you, lose the side marker warts and go for a quality paint job!

p.s. personally I would leave it alone.