904005

I was able to get a good price on a clean 1986 M491, but it's brown. I want to repaint. How much will value change based on the car no longer matching the COA?

cgfen

interesting place to post.
Take a closer look at the forum structure.
you'll find a 911 forum for your model year.
you may want to ask there
i guess 10 bazillion dollars lost.

904005

Thanks, I'm new at this.

Marine Blue

Moving the thread to the 911 section, you should see more responses there.

My 2 Cents, brown is coming back into style and people are seeking unique colors. I would keep it the way it is and fix it up.

Daytonacoupe66

Sell it and get one in the color you like. As noted brown is somewhat unique and is sought after by some. If it's a nice car it'll bring decent money from a buyer looking for that color....there will be interest. ..

wildcat077

Well, if you like the car already , why not paint it to your liking ... it's not a museum piece !
A lot of purists would be against that idea, but if you keep it and take great care of it it's still going to stay a nice car
regradless of the color.

Cheers
Phil

Gef3rd

I recently had a car repainted the original color. If I had changed colors the cost would have been higher due to repainting all areas (engine bay, frunk, etc.) that I didn’t feel were necessary if I kept it the same color.

There are plenty of buyers who would pay a premium for an “off” color. As suggested maybe flip the car and find another in a color combination you like. I think most people, including myself, would tell you once you start down the road of repainting it gets very expensive. Financially it’s better to pay a premium for an original, documented car or for a car somebody else has restored.

Shawn Stanford

IMHO, the problem with a repaint is that unless you do a bare shell, the old color will always be somewhere.

I agree that the unusual colors - brown is one of them - are becoming more popular. (There are too many Guards Red Porsches out there.)

Maybe a wrap?

Myself: I'm a fan of stickers and the 'outlaw' look. An interesting stripe or off-color panel can do a lot to make a car visually interesting.

In the end, it's your car. Do what makes you happy.

theiceman

im not sure if there is a turbo look specific forum , but from what i have read the value of those cars is very high as they are even more rare than an actual Turbo. Im not sure i would be changing the colour on such a car.

josephvman

A high-quality color change is going to cost more than just waiting for the car you want, even if you have to pay top market price, and yes it’s going to negatively affect the value of an M491 car. The better the car the more it’s going to hurt the value. Unusual, or even ugly colors and combinations seem to be valued by buyers of these cars, so you might want to buy it and leave it alone if it’s a great example. You’ll learn to love it when it’s the unique car at a PCA event or C&C. I have a guards red Targa and I wish it was brown!

Speedster911

+ for brown being on the rebound on desirability. What color brown is it? I may be interested if you are considering selling - PM me.

A quality repaint is not an inexpensive task

Skibum1963

I'd have to say "don't". Please?

pmax

As others have already, don't ... not on a genuine M491.

74Red80S

I have a Guards Red car that was originally brown (bitter chocolate I believe). I bought it after the crime had been committed, she has been red for about 25 years. If I could, I would go back to the original brown color but the quotes are sky high and amount of work is exhausting, basically car would need to be stripped down to the shell to have this done right. On the surface, the car still looks great, but there are areas where the red paint is cracking and the brown is coming through. If something like that would bother you, I wouldn't change colors. But if you are looking to outlaw the car, go for it! But brown is back and looks like the market for brown porsches is increasing.

cairo94507

As almost all have said, on an original M491 car, I would leave it the original color unless you plan to strip it to a bare chassis and do it correctly. The shops that just wipe them down with wax and grease remover and tape and shoot all of the trunks, jambs and engine compartment may have it looking good for a minute but in no time they start to reveal their original color and the value drops rapidly. I had a '73 914 2.0 new in '73 that was Sepia Brown, a somewhat unique brown. At first I was dubious of the color but grew to love it. It is now one of the the sought after colors.

Now, having said that, on my original '71 914-6, I did a complete color change to Irish Green since the car left the factory Metallic Gold. It was Black when I bought it having been painted Black 3 times. The Gold was just never going to be a color my wife or I ever warmed up to. But his was a full rotisserie restoration so the color change was really not a problem. Done right, I doubt the value will take a big hit.