944J

928 needs:

new interior (pretty much everything)
new paint a few dings here and there (want a nice paintjob but not too nice)

i've seen 356 Porsche's at the Maaco in Oxnard, i would just want to make sure that our windows were removed and they did the door wells and didnt spray over the stickers


what am I looking at spending and what approach should i take? super high end or maaco and a private interior guy for cheap?

Imo000

$5000 or more.

944J

i've got quotes for $600 for the interior recovering, etc. from an independent

Alan

It will be many thousands to have a good job - for a few hundred you will just have lots of regrets...

Alan

Rob Edwards

For what it's worth, I just finished installing a complete new interior that had pieces re-finished by both Rob Budd and Paul Champagne (Two of the 'Big Three' of 928 upholstery, the third being Jerry Feather or his colleage Doug. Have I forgotten anyone? ).

Here's the thing- The vinyl dash, A-pillars, pod, center console, and shift surround all have a molded surface that can't really be removed. So when you re-cover 928 pieces, it changes their dimensions. If you look carefully at their individual finished pieces, it becomes obvious that Rob and Paul have thought not only about making their pieces beautiful (and look like they belong in a 928), but how the pieces are to be recovered so they actually fit back in the car.

The total cost depends too much on how much of the interior you're doing, materials, etc. But I would weigh heavily the 928-specific experience of your upholsterer. That said, are there talented guys local to Oxnard? Probably- if you go that way and have a good experience, followup with details!

928 at last

Seriously.....for paint I'd expect easily $4,000 for a job you won't be happy with, up to $12,000.00 for one you will love. Others here will have actual experience where my opinion is based on local quotes and experience......if you do a lot of the prep and blocking yourself, the costs can be controlled.
For the interior.....what you would like to spend....double it...and then discuss with the pros on Rennlist...

944J

I am on Paul's site now and would love to just have him do it. I like his stretched dash more than the taylored dash. His work is beatiful. My car needs everything re-done, I wonder what that would cost in leather, in alcantara, and if suede is an option... i got my car for $500 running so I can spend 1/2 to 1/3 of the value to paint it and re-do the interior, what's a nicely restored 1981 928 worth lately?

944J

Oxnard is like car-center. A lot of supercharger companies like Vortex live there as well as a lot of body shops, metal polishers, and customizers, there a lot of talented independents who will do a great job for a fraction of the cost that typical porsche owners are comfortable paying... for example i've seen a 356 porsche at a earl scheibe in oxnard, those cars are worth $50-100k easily and it was getting painted at an earl scheibe!

944J

I'm going to email Paul and ask him for the cost to do the entire interior in this kind of leather.

http://www.designpaulchampagne.com/seatOBCamel.html

Rob Edwards

A complete leather Champagne interior will cost about 20x as much as you paid for your car.

Imo000

If only the body and the interrior are done and not the engine, then I would say an '81 is worth about $6000 - $7000. You will never get your invested money back, if that's what you are trying to figure out.

EspritS4s

+928

Unless you have some serious emotional attachment to this car (like you bought it new, in which case shame on you for letting it go), then you're much better off dumping this car and then buying a nice condition example. If the cosmetics are that bad, then paint and an interior are only the beginning.

Whatever you do, a Maaco paint job and a Champagne or Budd interior DO NOT go together.

Good luck.

Jim Devine

Probably best to take the money you would spend & put it towards a much later car in decent shape.
For what you would have to spend on yours, you could easily
make payments on something you could enjoy right away. Wish I would have thought of that! You are getting good advice so far.

Ponty

+1

It's cheaper to buy a car in good overall condition than it is to bring something a bit neglected up to the same standard. I've found interior to be really important as it's super hard to transform something rough into something nice. Mechanicals I find much easier.

If it's going to be a long-termer then you will soon forget how much you spend, provided you can afford it in the first place. You just need to be honest with yourself about how long you're going to keep it.

Good luck
Jim

danglerb

Welcome to the group.

Anyone sending a 356 to Maaco needs professional evaluation. Willhoit in Long Beach gets $150k for a full restoration. 928 parts are much cheaper and readily available so a nice restoration could be done for 1/2 to 1/3 of that amount. I don't know of anyone who has done an early restoration though, as an almost perfect low mileage example can be found around $20k.

Posts some pictures of your 928 and that will give us some better idea of how to proceed, but I'll take a guess that it needs $5k in interior work, $10k in paint, and $10k in mechanicals to put it into worth $10k category.

I live in OC, so Oxnard isn't that much of a drive, making a nice cheap upholstery place a very welcome find, but I know of ZERO from TJ to Seattle that include all three words, Nice Cheap and Porsche. Generally non perfect interior work looks worse than beatup factory.

****

I suggest, fix critical mechanical things, buy some used but decent interior parts as they turn up from time to time, and attempt to bring the factory paint back to semi life state. Drive and enjoy.