I recently inherited a 914 from my Uncle. Overall the car is in good shape, but as with every 914 there are some rust issues. Does anyone have a recommendation for a body shop in the Maryland area that can do some rust repair.

Thanks for any recommendations

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Use one of the secialized 914 repair guys or don't bother. Body shop will not be able to restore it properly.

but they are getting tougher to find, especially on East Coast. Chris isn't taking any more body projects since Ed retired, I believe. Someone please correct me on that if I am wrong.

Where in Maryland are you? Classic Porsche Restoration (East) is in Easton. They do mostly 911's and 356's, but they are at least familiar with 914's. And they do have full metal fab and paint setup, and they started expanding the scope of their business from full lifecycle resto jobs to smaller jobs and maintenance. @mepstein is very familiar with the shop in Wilmington, but they are also pretty high end from what I understand.

High end and on at least a couple year backlog. The 914 guys don't want to pay $100-250/hour to fix their cars. The shops all know this and focus on the 911's.

Since the evaluation of potential rust repairs is not something you're qualified to make, I suggest that a World member or some other knowledgeable 914 person might be able to give you a better basis of what repairs should be required to get this car into safe and reliable condition. There are many options about repairs going forward, from a good daily driver to a concours queen, and you will be able to make such decisions when you have better appraisal of the car's current condition. .

we still do them all of the time, but as stated, you need someone familiar with the car with all of the correct panels to use. Body shops NEVER want to do it as they are into collision repair that makes them MUCH more money than fooling with an old carClick to view attachment Click to view attachment

Welcome to the world! Where in Maryland are you? Where are the rust issues? I could evaluate the rust if you are not familiar.

"Ralph's" in Reisterstown offer restoration services. I have not used them - only dropped by to check it out. (I love DIY, but its not for everyone! I am really enjoying repairing mine.)

Nice looking 914 to start with. The best bet would be to try to locate a member here familiar with the rust issues on our cars and get them to inspect it for you to give you a general idea of how significant of a rust problem you may have.

To make that easy, if you can, pull out the seats and carpets so you can check the floor easily for rust-through. Maybe pull out the back pad to see about rust along the bottom of the firewall where it meets the floor. Check the suspension mounting point in the rear where they attach to the chassis for rust and metal fatigue. Pull the battery out and using a nice bright light and a metal probe check the "hell hole" for penetration from rust.

The more you can do yourself, the better off you will be in your pocketbook. You can post photos and people here will chime in. Start searching now for a shop that is very familiar with 914's and the typical rust repair they typically require. But be cautioned, you want someone who is a known 914 metal-man. A lot of people will talk big but have never done the actual work and will try to learn on your dime as they go. Or maybe they were great body men a decade ago and their circumstances have changed. Once you find a shop, hopefully at the recommendation of fellow club members, go visit the shop in person and look at it and the work in progress on other cars. Hopefully they are all old Porsches and at least 1 is a 914. I would not be afraid to look outside of your immediate area to find a good shop but try to keep it close enough so you can actually go to the shop in person.

I would not rush into this process. Take the time to make informed decisions and know the path in front of you. Have a solid plan for repair work with a budget already available.

Finally, starting with a solid, rust-free, (to the extent possible) chassis, is the best way to own one of these cars. Fix it once, fix it right, and never have to deal with it again.

Good luck and enjoy the ride. Michael

I am Severna Park love to have someone take a look

I'm in Easton and about 45 minutes from Severna Park. I'm happy to come by and provide my input at some point (FWIW ).

Having the rocker covers off is a big help. You can check the places mentioned by Cairo with a sharp ice pick, and also the bottoms and sides of the longitudinal members, the rear of the trunk floor, the frunk floor, the door sills, the base of the windshield, and any where else--and keep a list.