lowside67

What an amazing car! Can we have a hint of what it costs to do a restoration like that? It came out incredible, wow.

Mfletch

Thanks for the kind words guys. I really appreciate it. A ballpark estimate on the cost of the restoration is 70-80k with me and my family doing all of the work, except paint and upholstery. We spent hundreds of hours at the paint and upholstery shop doing the unskilled work. We also spent hundreds of hours at home and friends shops rebuilding the suspension, brakes, fuel and electrical systems. The cost would easily double if we paid someone else to do the work.

dmw996

Beautiful car! I know you are proud of it!

Wellardmac

It looks awesome Mark and as you said, quality time with the family and funding retirement makes it all worthwhile. it's great that your wife continues to be supportive of your projects. I think mine would kill me if I bit of projects like yours.

Wellardmac

I just showed the car (and this thread) to my wife and she loved it. Hard to imagine that you started this project just over 5 years ago.

Mfletch

Wayne, my wife is a keeper. After you bought that pretty M3 for your wife, I am sure she would tolerate a project car or two. I had the car in a concours about a year and a half ago. The transmission was the hold up on not having the car done back then. Your kids must be getting close to the age where they would enjoy doing a project with dad. I did project cars with all three of my kids, with mixed results. One out of three will be a gear head for life (maybe two). I hope you are still enjoying your white 996.
dmw 996, thanks.

Ubermensch

It's hard to believe it's been five years already. I remember you making this original post. I'm glad to see it was a successful project and you and the family enjoyed the process!

-Shawn

php

Amazing, absolutely amazing!

Wellardmac

Mark, both cars are still running well. The M3 is a rabid beast that I love to death and my 996 is a aging lady that I still coddle. Hard to imagine she's over 14 years old now and she's been with me for most of her time on the roads. She still looks in showroom condition and turns heads wherever she goes.

I've been window shopping for cars for around 12 months at this point, but am pretty convinced that anything less than a Ferrari 360 would be a downgrade for the garage I have... so until my wife gets tired of me sending her photos of F360s that I'm lusting after and tells me to buy, then I'll continue to window shop. The closest I've gotten to an alternative would be a new Maserati. I've always been a fan of the Quattroporte and from what I saw of the Ghibli at the auto show last weekend that appears to be a nice car also.

My wife is incredibly tolerant of my additions to toys, sadly my wrenching skills do not match up to yours, so I end up buying the finished product, or paying someone else to do the work if the project requires anything more than rudimentary skills. My kids do like it when I'm tinkering around in the garage, so maybe I'll be able to drag them into a project within a couple of years... my son is still a little short on attention spans, but he has helped out on a couple of projects with the 996 and the M3... he's a real gear head in training and is always telling me how he wants to be a race car driver when he grows up. There's hope for that one.

Barn996

Your project turned out top shelf Mark. If I remember correctly, you sold me a 3 spoke steering wheel for my Porsche just before you started this project. Can it really be 5 years ago? I see you still have your 996 as I do mine. How has your back held up after so much restoration work? Glad to see you posting again on this forum. Congrats on such an extensive restoration, don't be a stranger.

Invius

Mark, unbelievable project, it looks amazing. Any shots of the instrumentation? I love the dials from the late 50's and early 60's, not sure I've seen one from a Mas back then.

Cheers,

DS

redridge

Epic restoration! Excellent work Mark.... These classic cars are just awesome, GLWTS.

Wellardmac

Wow, this thread is dragging everyone out of the woodwork.

I hope all is well Ferd.

Mfletch

Shawn, thanks these past years have flown by.

php, thank you.

Wayne, you have a pretty awesome garage with the M3 and 996. The restorations really are not about wrenching skills, they are about persistence. Your background prepared you way better than mine for this sort of thing. Both my boys are in college now. The youngest is set on an engineering degree, the oldest is leaning toward engineering also. I blame the car projects on steering them toward engineering. I couldn't be happier. I did not want them to follow in my footsteps.

Steve, I am glad you are still enjoying your steering wheel. I have missed hanging out here with you guys. My wife and both loved your truck...any plans to replace it? The restoration has been rough on the back. Before I do another car project, we are going to buy our retirement home and it will have a shop with a hoist. Thanks.

DS, thank you. I will post a pic for you.

Ferd, thank you. Didn't you get an air cooled 911 to replace the supercharged 996? My next project will be an air cooled 911.

Mfletch

Here are the instruments. Sorry, it the best that I have.