Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

This episode of Crimewatch Roadshow was on TV back in June. It features a story about an armed robbery at the bodyshop that currently has my car for rust repairs and a respray.


https://youtu.be/ivpPsDVxAvw

At 3.06 there is a shot of an old 911 in front of which is a red 944 that I'm pretty sure is mine.

So even though my car is in bits and covered in dust it still managed to become more famous than me.

Famous cars are worth big bucks!
They were a bit extrem for some parts what must be almost impossible to sell .
Is the guy ok now?

No disrespect to the repairer he may be fine, but looking at the state of the Carrera GT in the workshop I wouldn't be happy if I owned it...

Ha ha not sure this is really what is meant when a car is described as being the star of a TV show.



Difficult for me to say, since I've only known him since the incident. He seems a nice enough chap but he is taking a while to get on with finishing my car. I think he has probably taken too much on.

Hopefully in a few weeks I should be able to post some pics of my car looking like new. Or some of it still unfinished and buried under an inch of dust.

What are you having done to it

Hi Greg.

When I got the car the passenger side front wing was showing signs of rust (the usual bit at the bottom but also bubbling at the front). So I was thinking I'd get a secondhand wing, but there didn't seem to be any about that haven't either been repaired or need repairing. So I was looking at either a new wing or get mine repaired.

Anyway as well as that it was pointed out to me that the paint was uneven (a variety of shades although it all looks red to me). And that there was quite a bit of filler around the passenger side rear wheel arch, not the usual bit at the front but behind the wheel.

On top of that I'd got a new under sill trim piece to replace the one that was there but had been butchered for reasons that would become clear. It turned out that the replacement trim would not fit because the existing repair to the passenger side rear wheel arch bottom (the bit in front of the wheel) was not the correct profile. This explained why the old trim had been hacked up, so it would fit to the new profile. On the one hand it's good that the repair had been done but if I'm getting other bits done I figured I may as well get that repaired too.

So, I thought I'd get it looked at with aim to have three corners looked at (the driver's side wing has been replaced in the past and is still good) as well as the sills (turns out the original sills are still good to my surprise) and any other bits (including a bit of a bubble on the hatch and anything else they find).

With all that being done I asked how much extra for a full glass out respray. It didn't add too much more so I thought why not get it all sorted now rather than doing it bit by bit over time.

A few pics

Looks like he's doing a good job of piecing it up but did you work out how much a Gen wing would be as a lot cheaper in labour and no other rust ready for new surprise showing when you get it home , acid etch primer on metalfollowed by epoxy high build to finish .

Hi Greg. By "Gen wing" do you mean a pattern win or OE wing? I did ask for some advice on the subject a while back.

http://forums.tipec.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=20722&hilit=Pattern+wing

The advice was mixed and in the end I decided to go for this option. Pretty much all the secondhand wings need repairing or are repaired, so are not really any better than I have, and pattern wings seem nonexistent (I managed to get contact details for a guy at Eurocarparts who said they could get one but I had to go through my local branch, but the local branch couldn't get one and were not very helpful). If you know of a source it's a bit late for me but post it anyway in case it helps someone else.

OE wings are very expensive but might have been a better long term choice. In the end it came down to what the guy at the bodyshop told me he could do and how long it would be good for. Price was reasonable for the whole job, so I figured let's try it and see goes. Other places I had it looked at weren't prepared to do the full job, just replace the wing. So it seems there are places that just fit new parts and some that repair, I went for the repair option. I can't say for sure if it will be the best choice but it wasn't made without weighing up what was available to me at the time.

Yes I mean a genuine Porsche part, my opinion is if it's not a huge difference and your keeping the car it's the only way to go, but that's just my opinion , Iv been mending Porsches since the mid 80s. And don't like it if a customer comes back 6/12 months later with the same problem.
Just for saving £100 or so.
If your guy has got all problems resolved could last years though.

Anyone else want to chip in with reports of how long your repaired wings lasted?

My only worry would be the rust trap at the bottom of the wing often needs a bit of exploring and cleaning up with the wing off, lots of sealer and hidden bits. Looks like a really good repair job so far though.

Brian

Thanks for the advice Brian. I'm not sure that the wing will be coming off to be honest, but I'll have a word with the bodyshop to see what he's doing about sealing the wing on the inside.

The most interesting bit of rust in the car was behind the n/s rear wheel. I wondered if anyone else had anything like this and what might cause it? One of the previous owners had just filled the hole and painted over it, so I'm hoping it is sorted properly now.

Mine was like that.The battery on the S2 is located in the rear wing and I seem to recall that they used to have a vent pipe from the battery into the base of the wing.Its probably the results of years of acid venting into the base of the wing.

Toby