I may have an interested party for my 74 Phoenix Red 2.0. He was inquiring about resto costs. I was planning on doing most of mine myself and as I haven't priced work like that in years, I don't know a good $$$$$ estimate or shops to suggest.

Guy lives in MN but also has a place in FL, so anywhere in between might work. Suggestions?

Define "restoration"... - fix this seat and correct the lights and clean the carpets or hey, here's a vin plate, build a car around it?

Lots of places, but timing may be inconvenient.. and depending on the work it could take a long time.

I would let the buyer research resto costs and places. GLWTS.

Buyer: looks like it has some rust

Seller: don’t worry it’s just surface rust - won’t cost much to fix it

^ Totally agree - Planning and costing hypothetical future work is not your responsibility/problem as the seller. That said I would figure any competent body shop that works on older/classic cars could handle 914 bodywork repair and paint. I had one done many years ago by such a 'general restoration' shop and another done by a different shop/guy who mostly focuses on older Porsches but does other classic cars too.

Ok, for a baseline, what would a good "topside" (no jambs or under hoods) paint job cost these days?

Also, what is the going rate for competent (914 fluent) rust patching / repair?

If a restoration body shop doesn’t have 6+ months booked out, they’re either just getting in to the business or just about to flatline.

A lot
This is why it is recommended to buy the best car you can afford
Cheaper in the long run

Without seeing the rust it’s impossible to guess
Maybe 10k
Maybe 20k

You’re looking at $2000 just in paint, primer, thinners, hardeners for a DIY paint job and we haven’t even mentioned labor or rust repair.

$10k for a Plain Jane paint job is not unreasonable in todays market.

Expect rust repair on a time and materials basis at shop rate - guessing $100-$150 per hour.

Thanks! I had the pleasure of talking to Rich at J3 Restorations in TN today. He said about 10k for a topside paint job, which for a shop of their caliber sounds fairly reasonable. Rich said about 6 months for any metal work and they aren't taking on ANY paint work at this time.

I had no idea that paint is $1000 / gal now. WHOA!

Both paint and clear (the good stuff) is very expensive.

Talking true costs of paint and restoration will scare away any buyer.

MaaCO

Depends where you live. In so cal, the average cost to bare metal, primer and paint (Porsche / VW color) including door jams and both trunks is $15k. This did include very little rust repair. There was also around 1/8" of paint layers on my car from previous DAPO cheap paint jobs. It literally came off in chunks.