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I got my PPS today (free, PM me for how!). It has the original color of this 78 as Grand Prix White/R4. R4 is one of 3 codes for GPW, apparently. It also has the interior as "Lobster leather(!) Tartan Dress Red inlays" which would be wild! But it also has the interior code as 73, which is black leather. That is what the car has now, and its tired, so I'm thinking that it was originally black leather.
Black would go well with white, or with light blue.
Time to do some semi-destructive investigating. There is clearly hellblau on the rear bumper cover and the underside of the front gills, where it would be easy to miss if the painter was in a hurry, but also could be they were replaced with used hellblau covers and cheaply painted white. I don't see any damage underneath, so i don't think its likely they were replaced. The stone chips on the fender also show a light blue. I'm thinking I'll sand down a spot on the roof or hood to see whats under the white there.
The primer color was white as I understand it, so its no help in showing that it was or wasn't originally hellblau.
Any other ideas? Maybe try Kiln_Red's idea next "Take the painted cowl scuttle panel off. You'll have to pull the wipers, plus left and right windshield closeout trim to do it. Take a picture of the exposed firewall section. Cleaning may be necessary.".
I removed the cowl cover and took some pictures I took off and sanded the edge of the cowl and as I removed paint there was always a white blue white streak Under the cover is white but notice the blue flex in the paint
Best places to check are the factory overspray areas inside the doors (under the panels), rear cargo deck/spare tire well (under carpet), and the inside fender walls (engine bay).
With such an odd combination (white/black, hellblau/lobster/tartan), and mixed info (delayed production date)...
it may be possible this car was pulled from the line, then used for a few months for factory internal use (possibly color & material sample/prototype?)...
then returned to original spec before leaving the factory.
If the design dept needed to sample new colors, like Hellblau... or new materials, like Tartan...
they would've needed a 928, and the best place to find one was on the production line.
I'm just throwing out ideas based on what you've said here and in your emails to me.
More digging and info required.
With no knowledge of 928 colors beyond red and black... Is there a possibility that there are donor parts on the car? Another option is that it was a factory-use car that started life as blue but was painted white after the journalists had there way with it, and prior to public sale. That might explain the lag between factory dates, and multi interior descriptions. Blue with the tartan would be a great photo car, white with black leather would hide damage sins and be a lot easier to retail market.
Pull a door panel and see the paint hidden by that. It's usually well protected from sun fading, seldom repainted unless a very high-quality respray, so generally a reliable telltale of original colors. Else, a cosmoline-protected area in the front wheelhouse visible with liners removed, or the area around the washer bottle or the vacuum reservoir, where you can see the protected side of the a-pillar/door jams. Those areas are seldom disassembled for common respray.
Thanks for your thoughts and ideas, and for reading through the whole thread! I never would have thought of a press/photo car that was redone to a more sellable color! What an interesting history that would be! I'll poke around the car some more, and I think I'll call the number on the PPS on Monday with some of these questions.
What is it with 928 PPSs that list lobster tartan on them? This is the 2nd '78 in a year that I've heard of that listed lobster tartan incorrectly, the other was '78 #1117. The COA that William ordered on Minerva (#107) was wrong as well, it originally said navy blue vinyl interior. It does a disservice to everyone that they can't/don't bother to get these right.
Look at all the overspray white over the blue. The door switch and stay were unpainted originally. Conversely, the blue on the wiring duct to the door has blue overspray on it. That would not have been installed until the door guts went in well after painting. Points more and more to a respray, and the PPS saying it sold as GPW makes things a lot more interesting.
03-06-2020, 07:32 PM
