All,

I have attached a few pictures of the 74 pre-paint, my son did most of the body work (welding in filler, filings, Platinum and then sanding) and we finally found a shop that would do the work (40 miles away). We are in the Boston areas and nearly every body shop is booked weeks in advance doing insurance work. You have heard of Boston Drivers?


When I met the shop owner, he was VERY familiar with doing re-stores at varying degree of accuracy. Though I went in thinking we needed to spray on PPG- L96D, he talked me into using his VERY German Spies Hecker system.

Any opinions? I am not interested in a 100pt restore - just a solid, original appearing paint job,

Thank you team 914.

CTC911CTC

Click to view attachment

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I am surprised you found a body shop willing to paint over work they did not do.


the few body shops I have dealt with want to know what is under there. or they won't warranty it past the end of their driveway.

It’s 95% prep and the painter, 5% the paint. It’s much better to use the paint the painter feels good about than to try to pick the paint for him.

I'm not planning on keeping mine original at all. I want mine unique to me. I am going to rhino line my entire exterior. I have seen so many cars done this way and I love it. My car is white now and in desperate need of a body work (cracked paint, dents, etc...). I fixed most of it but this will cover the rest. I am jet blacking my entire car. No chrome. Doing it all myself.

The best thing the previous owner of my 914 did was not keep the original silver color.....

Go visit a couple different car dealerships and find your perfect color.

When i had mine repainted, i ordered the paint from Porsche in Germany and had it shipped over.
However, the body shop was not familiar with that paint and apparently used the wrong thinner (or wrong amounts of the right thinner?).
The paint looked great for the first 6 month and then developed spider cracks all over that eventually turned into full cracks.

Fast forward to today and my (really expensive original German) paint looks like shit.

Pebble Beach / Amelia Island OK get the real paint....anything else spec the Porsche color you want and let the shop/painter get the automotive paint they use every day.

Different brand paints will cover and flow different, so it's actually a headache for a painter to switch up for one job. Also sounds like they have the whole system in house instead of buying premixed from a store.

Sounds like you are going to end up paying a bit of a premium to not wait weeks to get it done.

If you really want PPG, ask the paint supply house for a recommendation or 3. An INS bodyshop is using the cheap stuff 99% of the time anyways.

I've got 3 quarts of PPG DBC in L96D waiting to be sprayed on my car. Great color! The advice to go with the paint your painter knows how to use seems good. I will only add that L96D was a 2 stage base/clear coat paint even back in '74. That doesn't mean you have to go that route. Just letting you know that base/clear is what the car had from the factory.

THANK YOU everyone!

For this car I am going with the Body Shop paint, for the next one - 100% original,

CTC911CTC

The shop I went to knew beforehand that a 17 year old did the work, they were VERY complimentary as to the work he did, the body-fill welds are amazing. Youtube is his mentor, so far a pretty good one!

The body shop guy said that they would go over everything and 'make-it-right'

Thank you!!

My take (understanding) on the body shop's brand of paint is that system is one of the best in Europe.
Hopefully the job will be better than original -