Ignore the wheels, tint, and focus on the car itself:

I've never seen that color before on a NA 944. I don't think that color was on the list for 1983. Anybody have a complete color chart for 1983 944s?

Look carefully at the paint under the hood, around door jambs, and by rear hatch seal. It looks original to me. Decals and everything. I asked the seller for the paint code, and he said it L 90 E and build date 12/82. Isn't L90E Alpine White?

eBay Item number: 4632893678

I think I recognize that shade of blue, though -- I don't know what it is called, but there were some 924s painted that color (unless it was a similar shade and I am mistaken).

It is obvious that this car was repainted by looking at the back -- the decal is missing, the way the metal flakes lay, and the scratches all scream "cheap body shop" to me, . . . . but again, under the hood, etc., it looks like the car was repainted the original color.

Assuming for a moment this is the car's original color, how can this be? Alpine white color code, different color on the car. -- Is there something about the way Porsche did custom orders/paint to match/etc. that a special color cars happen to have irrelevant paint code stickers on them? e.g., did they maybe all get labeled Alpine White for some stupid reason? Maybe this one car happens to have received the wrong paint code sticker in error? Just a wild-assed-guess. I know it sounds far-fetched, but the idea of somebody completely disassembling a car, painting it completely, and putting all the decals back under the hood including a decal for the wrong paint code sounds even more far-fetched.

Note: I have a LCD monitor laptop -- maybe there are some details (like alpine white showing through) that I am not picking up on...


Also: This car has white gauges. The first thing I thought was "ah, taken from a 924", except it looks like a 160mph speedo -- I know the 924 turbos had 160mph speedos, but this one also appears to have kilometers on it, and I've never seen a 924 speedo (turbo or NA) with miles and kilometers. (although I have never seen a 1982 turbo)

To follow with that, it doesn't have the "silver wood grain" around the gauges that 944s have; again like 924.

My first thought is, of course, all this was swapped from a 924; however, with the potential unusual paint situation and the potential unusual speedo markings, I'm wondering if there is more to it.


To all the anoraks, perfectionists, and historians: What are your thoughts?

 

no link

Edit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Porsche-944-This-is-a-VERY-COOL-little-car-LOOK_W0QQitemZ4632893678QQcategoryZ6434QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

nice shade of blue, with 924 guages put the itme number in ebay and it will show up

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=4632893678

 

1983 color codes can be seen here: http://www.porschepassion.com/944.htm

Keep in mind those are the dealer codes, not the US option codes. As an example moss green was LM6V not Y8Y8. Anyhow. No blue like that in '83. Maybe '82. My guess was that it was an interior out respray with a lot of tape work. There were in fact 1982 944's but most were autoshow cars and dealer/demos.

Michael

 

Does anyone know if there is a record of how many cars of each color were produced?

FWIW, my 1983 has yellow-on-black gauges with yellow needles.

 

Speedometer looks like its from a 924S. The tach looks a bit different compared to the one on my 924S, the needle on mine rested at the 3:00 position, not the 2:00 like on this car.

That is indeed a nice color though.

 

D'oh! How could I forget the 924S??? Okay, speedo explained!

Tach: Anyone seen this tach before? 924 Turbo, maybe?

 

That looks just like my tach on the 83, same needle position. I think Porsche got sloppy with using left over 924 parts on the early cars.

 

Nice color though! Most likely a respray. Its too bad Porsche doesn't offer a bunch of colors that bright anymore like they used to on the 356s and 914s!

 

Okay, I'm trying to spot something on that car that shows the original color. How about: Look at the second shot of the engine compartment (the one at an angle) look at the driver's side strut tower, and follow it down -- is that a bit of Alpin Weiss I see on the side there? (again, LCD laptop monitor, so I don't see things as well as some of you)

 

If it's a respray, it's one heck of a good job -- who the heck sprays the inside of the engine bay that well?

I have read in an old thread somewhere that when Porsche does custom colors, it is usually at the end of that year's production run and the color code can be missing or off (because it's a custom color). The high VIN number of the car could mean that it's a factory custom color job.

I'd do a search on how to tell if it's factory job or not.

 

Actually, some people do respray the engine bay and then replace all the stickers and markings. A true concours level finish would require the car to be stripped down of everything including the engine to properly spray. Its not cheap, but you do get people doing that.

 

Beautiful color. Bumper shocks look collapsed though.

 

yeah your right, looks like it was in an accident, Or he just wanted it that way. is that even possible?