Looking for a 928 Restoration Shop
 

Paul I suggest you break that project up. No shop will be good at your entire list

or they will sublet it out and mark up the prices for their "trouble"

The 1978 car I'm parting out now is the result of someone finding a shop that promised everything and delivered nothing

at some point that car would be a restoration candidate.

it would be perfect for someone that had a crashed 1978. It is a straight chassis with the correct engine block and trans

I run an exclusive 928 shop in Southern California.

We are certainly doing complete restorations on 928's on a daily basis, these days. We do not do the actual painting or upholstery work, in house, but we have highly skilled people that we sublet this work to. We do not, as suggested above, mark up the cost of the paint or the interior work. We encourage people to pay for this work directly. We do charge to disassemble and re-assemble (see below.)

To make sure things are perfectly put back together with the correct hardware in the correct location, we do our own disassembly and reassembly of both the body and the interior. This gives us the chance to clean or replace any of the ansilary pieces or rubber.

As far as the mechanicals/electricals of the car are concerned, since that is virtually all we've done for the past 15 years, you would be hard pressed to find another shop with our levels of skill. When it's all you do, day after day, year after yesr, you get pretty good at it!

Regardless of the make or model of a car being restored, a true "98" point restoration is huge dollars. I once asked John Wilhoit (of 356 restoration fame) what the difference between a "95" point 356 restoration and a "98-99" point 356 restoration was. He responded with: "About $100,000 dollars, these days. The judges have forced restorations to be way more perfect than the cars were, originally. We can spend a month, just sanding and making a couple of door jambs perfect...something that they were not, when they left Porsche."

Matching "restoration" work with a client's desires and budget is very important.....and takes effort to discuss what the client desires and then effort trying to manage and meet their expectations. I've done cars that people want mechanically restored and are not concerned about the paint or interior being redone (these are already nice looking cars.) I've done paint and interior on cars where the client just wants the mechanicals to be done, but doesn't care about the appearance of the mechanicals. I've done cars that the client wants the engine compartment to be show quality, but doesn't care about the rest of the underside...other than being reliable.

In the end, the cost is all about the time, the parts required, and the desired outcome.

Suffice it to say, Greg does nice work.

https://webfiles.uci.edu/redwards/pu...%2012-2013.JPG

https://webfiles.uci.edu/redwards/pu...t%208-9-17.jpg

https://webfiles.uci.edu/redwards/pu...on%20hoist.jpg

Disclaimer, I'm a little biased, have had a little work done at Precision Motorwerks....

https://webfiles.uci.edu/redwards/pu...20Greg%27s.jpg

There are plenty of shops in the US capable of doing such work. One of the top shops in the world happens to be in my backyard, 100 point Pebble Beach cars under their belt. To think they couldn't do a 100 point 928.......it's just the cost would give most a heart attack.

Well said. I like to use Corvette's as examples. The cost to do a Bloomington Gold restoration on a L-88 69 Corvette will cost about the same as an 1974 (Same overall car) but one will be worth a quarter million or more, the other less than $40k.

People seem to think that big money restorations always lead to big money cars. Reality is, that's the exception not the rule. The vast majority of cars are restored for a cost that far exceeds the end value of the vehicle. Then why do people do it? Because they want to.

Watch enough collector car auctions (like I do) and you hear more than any other phrase: "You couldn't build it for that" and these are true statements.

This ---^ X 928.

Furthermore the initial pre-restoration state of the 928 can make a HUGE difference. A 928 that needs a mechanical restoration and a lot of cleaning is vastly different from a 928 that needs paint, interior, and body panels. And that latter grade 928 is vastly less expensive that one that's been stored or driven in very poor environments. I'm now restoring one of that last grade and every single part of the car - every. single. part. - requires remedial work of some sort if not outright replacement.