Turned out beautiful Stephen!

I really like it. Hard to tell, but is it Light Ivory? Getting a shell in paint is a huge accomplishment- you should be very happy.

It is indeed but for some reason I can't help think it looks a bit too creamy. But as I mentioned above it's a perfect match for the colour my car was previously.

I like it! Of course I might be a little prejudiced having a light ivory car.
Keep going, when all reassembled it will not look so overwhelming.

As with so many things we are very invested in......anxiety takes over.
IT LOOKS GREAT !!!!!
I felt the same about the prep on my wheel houses and pan. I felt it was all
inadequately done. No one ever sees what we sweat over.
I'm jealous.
I wish we could have a mid-pond 914 gathering.

Well this is a little embarrassing.

Bye-bye Light Ivory.

Stephen - I am TOTALLY with you on what had to be a very difficult decision to go another direction. Not that I have anything against the color.
What I have everything FOR is choosing to do whatever it takes to make your car EXACTLY what you want.
In the end, you'll be happiest.

For my money, it's the journey, not the destination.

And most importantly: what color, what color?

Says the guy who never redid anything in his life...

But yes... what color?

This is not embarrassing at all. To the contrary, this was a brave decision that is also the right one. I don't have a problem with the color, but my eyes are not the ones that need to be happy. I totally get thinking about the long-term enjoyment of your car, and how it will be impacted by a difficult decision now. No regrets!

Thanks, I appreciate the comments. It was indeed a difficult and rather expensive decision to make but it's something I had to do.

I went back to see the car several times and despite having a folder full of great pictures of Light Ivory cars and sure that was the direction I wanted to go it just simply didn't work for me. Being this far into the project and with much money spent I knew I needed to change the colour.

For those that know me will know that for a long time I was going to paint the car silver, I actually don't remember why I decided now to stay with Light Ivory, originality maybe? I'm not sure.

This is a picture of ConeDodger's car I've had on file for sometime and it just looks absolutely fantastic. I messaged Rob and he confirmed it was L97A Diamond Silver Metallic.



Today this was waiting for me at the paint shop.



The interior will be painted 'again' next week.

You have to be happy with the finish. All that hard graft to get to this point.
No doubt it will be to your standards when done, and really that is the point of these “journeys” as Chris said. Both are rewarding.
Looking forward...

Ha! I was going to tease you about how silver is the best color (oops sorry - colour) but decided against it... but we all know it is

You won't regret it.

I am also redoing a car that wa originally lite ivory and no the color in person looks nothing like photos you see. If it remains white it will be bright white, otherwise.....
Thes cars look amazing in a good silver

Ha, yeah I learnt that the hard and expensive way

If you look at my photos carefully you can see a couple of lighter bands going horizontally across the image. The colour within the bands is a good representation.

The lights in the paint shop are awful fluorescent strips and play havoc with my camera.

Sorry I meant pictures in general . Digital cameras and color balance are a pain.

Your car should look incredible when finished in silver.
Betcha can't wait for it to be finished....

Better to have changed your mind now than to wait any longer, or worse yet to have ended up with a color you were not happy with when done. I applaud your decision and although a set back, having the car you want after all your hard work is well worth it.

Wow this is the same conversation my wife and I had about my car the other day. She hates the Saturn Red.. Says it is Orange and wants me to change it or she won't ride in it. Well she never rode in any of my other car's ..

I can't wait to see you new color..

Thanks, finished yes but I'm so looking forward to the build up. If all goes to plan the car will be back here in three weeks.



Cheers Jim. I'm very happy now the uncertainty has gone.




I don't think my wife would be happy in mine whatever colour I painted it. The first we went out in it she initially refused until I put the roof back on. Didn't want to mess her hair up.

With my self inflicted colour anguish over I could get back to finishing off a few other details.

I had a rummage in the loft though my parts and came across my heater controls and decided a make over was in order.



Closer inspection revealed the was certainly room for improvement.



Careful rub down with sandpaper to smooth the surface and then mask.



Reassembled after a lick of satin black.



Finishing off the red and blue details.

Now I'm happy, really happy. Exactly how I wanted to feel when I saw the car in paint.













A couple of bits to sort on the exterior but by this time next week it should be complete!

Beautiful! Congrats!!

GORGEOUS!!! I can tell you that great feeling will not fade either. It has now been about 5 months since I sprayed the interior of my car L96D silver metallic and I still spend WAY too much time just staring at it and admiring the beauty. And to be honest, I think your version of silver metallic is even nicer but I was sticking with the original.

An expensive and agonizing decision well rewarded!

What did you do to bring back the plastic lever knobs? Looks great!

Konrad

I used some brake Kleen on a set of knobs and it made it look almost new again.

I just used some metal polish. Autosol to be precise. Quite often works wonders on plastic too.

Thanks Brent I've over the moon with the way it's looking right now and knowing I'll have the car back very soon makes me very excited indeed!

I've never seen L96D and L97A together so I don't know how much difference there actually is. I was under the impression it was just a change in paint formula back in the day. I'm sure someone will know the truth.

Could be. I only have pics of conedodger's car as a guide which, of course, can be deceptive; but his car looks like it has a slightly more liquid finish to it which is very nice. BTW, when I bought my paint, I learned there are differences between the VW and Porsche formulas for L96D. The Porsche formula uses higher end pigments and just a hint of violet. That's the one I went with.

Stephen - Your car is looking absolutely beautiful. Silver is a great color on our cars.

Thanks Michael, much appreciated.

Years ago a bought a replacement targa top that was in much better condition than the one I got with my car. However like many others it had lost a corner at some point in its life. It was a presentable top but need looking at now.

This is the damaged corner.



After cleaning the area I started to build it up using fibreglass filler.



Before long I had enough filler there to enable me to reshape the corner as it would have originally been.

On removing the latch hardwear I came across one screw that wouldn't budge and in the end I had to drill out the insert.



Once I had the insert out I could see that it closely resembled a rivnut.



So with some strong two part adhesive I glued in a rivnut in its place.

I'd seen Raptor Beliner used before to repaint the targa texture and fairly recently U-POL have released it in 2K Aerosol. After finding a couple of rather cheap cans on Ebay I decided to go that route.



With the roof sanded down almost smooth with 80 grit and a few small repairs made and primered I was ready to give it a go.

Two cans later the job was done. To start with the finish was a bit patchy but I was prepared for that I knew it would impove after it had flashed off.

So 24 hours later this it what I had.





And here's that corner repair

The next day I refitted the original Perlon and refurbished latches I did a few months ago along with new fittings.









Really happy with the result. The texture of the raptor liner is a bit finer than the original finish but it's closer to the finish of the vinyl on the sail panels.

Looks new.

I love the simplicity...and complexity...of 914 tops. 50 years later no manufacturer has come close. You’ve done a beautiful job on it.

Top job!

Seriously, that looks super.

Nice job... looks really good.

Looks brilliant pal. Another project superbly executed!

Thanks for the comments guys. Another job done!

Nice work! I like the painted rear targa latches. I've been trying to figure out how to take mine apart for replating and get them back together after. I think I'll just follow your lead. Also good to know Raptor is available in spray bomb form.

It's painted! I was speechless when I first saw the car. It truly looks fantastic at this stage it's just a gun finish but it still looks impressive.

Plan now is not to rush and leave it a couple of weeks for the paint to harden before polishing. All being well I should take delivery of it at the end of the month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlZAbhFoveQ

That looks.... well, let me think....
Words are failing me, but holy moly. That looks so f-ing GREAT!

I'm thinking you made a great call on changing the paint color!

So beautiful. Congratulations

That's exactly what I said to the painter

Simply stunning. You will have NO regrets on the color correction. It looks liquid.

Thanks, no regrets here at all!

All of it is..... .
That is mega! Congrats Stephen

Is the targa hardware painted or powder coated? If painted, what type paint did you use? The finish looks great.

The targa top finish also is impressive. Excellent finish for aerosol spray can bedliner.