GOSANE

Yep, spend $$$$ on shiney new paint of a different color. You've spent $$$$ and have a killer looking car that is actually worth less.
If you are going to keep the car and drive it do whatever you wish.
If you are concerned about re-sale don't even paint it unless you have a quality job done $$$$. A crappy paintjob of even the correct color can de-value an automobile. Especially something like a 951S.

And if you are trying to save a few bucks with some DIY prep work be aware that the prepwork is the most critical and most skilled part of a paintjob. HTH

GOSANE, I-CAR certified in Automotive Paints and Refinishing

peterjcb

Repainting to a different color is never a good idea.
Repainting an almost 20 year old car, with mechanicals that are nothing less than almost perfect, is an even worse decision.
What kind of condition is your car in?

apierce918

i repainted my 20 year old car, no regrets

ehall

This needs a SERIOUS repost! See above. It ain't very rare. You won't get any long term value out of this car vis a vis a 930 turbo or a 996tt. It's a 951. All 89's have the same equipment as the turbo S cars. They are NOT turbo S cars. If you have a legitimate 952, and it has NEVER been changed AND it has very low mileage, then you have something to protect in terms of resale. You can check the vin pretty easily to know for sure. Otherwise, it's just a 944 turbo, and the minute it hits the track, your apprecitaion value goes to zip, unless you win a VERY big race.

Personally, I don't like to see a body that is a different color than the engine bay etc.

L8 APEKS

If you can prove that the car was never wrecked, and was repainted a different color "just because", I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Sure, a potential buyer might use that as a bargaining chip...but it's kind of a hollow chip. I mean, technically, it made the car look newer. And if a buyer wants it that bad, and you stand firm, they will buy it.

Frankly, I would think crappy paint would hurt the resale more than a high-quality respray in a different color. Because a buyer would factor in ~$3 to $4,000 if the car needed paint. But if you've already done it, they have nothing to deduct for.

No offense to the "almighty Turbo-S/89 Turbo", but it's just a lightly modded '86 951 from the factory. It's not a Gullwing Benz. It's your car...if you want to paint it, paint it. They seem to sell for well under $20k (sometimes under $10k...I've seen it). If you were talking a $200,000 collector car, I might say otherwise.

ehall

exactly.

josephsc

Not to be picky, but 952 is the designation for the right-hand drive 951, not the TurboS.

It wasn't special enough to get it's own factory designation.

ehall

nope. You are right about that, not picky. I forgot about that. The engine of the S model was designated with M44 52 rather than M44 51, and the vin number contains 97JN50001- but ends before 95KN150001- which is a 89 turbo that also has the m 44 52 engine.

swimmingly

While we're on the subject. If I plan on repainting with the original color, how intensive do I need to be in terms of prep work? Will someone be able to tell that it had been repainted with the same color (assuming I don't do the engine bay or any other interior parts)? Frankly, I just have a LOT of small dings that I think would cost more to smooth out rather than do a repaint.

Porsche-O-Phile

It's your car - do what you want with it. These cars aren't worth schit if you go by appraisal/blue book so who cares? The most pristine original 951 I've seen sold for about $16k. In order to get the average 951 to that kind of condition to fetch that kind of dollar would cost at least that, and many wouldn't be able to get there because the service records are incomplete, mileage is already too high, accident history precludes it or (yes) it has non-original paint.

The way I look at it is if you're lucky enough to have a car with orignal paint that is perfect, then treat the car as collectable. Other than that, it's 20-year-old paint - it's eventually going to fail if exposed to "daily driver" conditions.

Matt H

Multiply this times 2 AT LEAST and you will be getting a good paint job from a quality shop.

#1 - ANY 944 is rare (I know, this can be argued both ways). The "rare" Camaros and Mustangs were produced about 100:1 to the 944. Even Corvettes teeter on 7:1ish.

#2 - repainting will almost always devalue a car if for no other reason than "why did it need to be repainted" syndrome. However a quality respray will certainly raise the value if the paint is crap to begin with.

#3 - if you are looking for a reliable track/de car then painting might be a good way to go. You probably want to remove the engine anyhow, you are about 30% done with the hard work to repaint it.
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TheRealLefty

OK, since this thread is wobbling about over a variety of fine points of everything from model designation to rarity, I might as well add seasoning to the soup

First, IMO, there's no reason to debate the issue of 100 point concours cars in this thread, since the car in question is not one. As we come up on the annual Barrett Jackson media circus, let's not forget that the cars we own and the cars we compete with are not even remotely connected to the world of collectible provenance. Watch how many of the big dogs are cars with "0" miles since restoration...and have been through a couple owners since the resto.

944's aren't in that world, not even a Turbo Cup factory racer, so its not worth worrying about it. Sadly, IMO, a clean, unrestored Hemi Super Bird sold years ago down in Mississippi to some hay farmer might draw more on the auction block than even the Porsche factory "Boss" LeMans Carrera GTP survivors.

Second, yes, it is risky to a car's value to change its color, but as an owner of a Light Gold Metallic 89 Turbo, I've been often told that my car's value suffers considerably in value from having an "undesirable" color. For a gold 944 driver, I'm betting a well done color change would leave you ahead of the game as opposed to a tired original paint job or even a well done original color repaint.

Matt H

My in laws neighbor has a Challenger R/T, it is a rusty piece of crap...he was offered about 20K for it. He has 8K in making it drive and it looks about the same as the Mustang at the end of Gone in 60 Seconds (the new one).
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tifosiman

It's already molested, has fairly high miles (in "collector-speak"), and is not all that rare. You bought it for enjoyment. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Do the color change and don't look back. If you ever do sell it, the people that would be looking at it wouldn't/shouldn't be the type to care if the color was original or not, unless the paint-job was so shoddy it looked like Bosephus applied the paint with a 3/4" nap roller and forgot to do the door-sills.

Porsche-O-Phile

If you do change the color, make sure to be sensible about it. If you can, remove the interior seats, dash and carpet so the paint underneath that stuff will match the new color. Ditto on the engine bay (although removing the engine and all the other crap in the way to paint is a horrendous proposition). Or you can do like I'm doing and do the entire engine bay with a herculiner/rhino liner. Yes, it will stand up to the heat and yes it will look pretty good. It also offers a degree of resistance to chemicals that most paints don't have, to say nothing of a little extra sound insulating value. And you can do it a little at a time (i.e. loosen a couple hoses / lines here, paint this area, then re-attach, etc.) Makes it a helluva lot easier. Azndragon has done this on his car and I've started it on mine although it's gonna' be a while until I'm totally done with it. I do also plan on changing the paint color. Anything is better than my crappy, sun-burned, faded, cracking paint that's on there now.