In July 2018 I decided to refurbish the Little Blue Porsche.
The reason I did this was because I had had a partial respray a few years before to rectify some stone chips and superficial scratches on the near side of the car. I had been recommended a car re-sprayer who, basically, was dreadful. Not only did the colour not match the original leaving one side of the car a different colour to the other, but there was also overspray on the seals between the panels, on the wheels and other parts of the car. The finished paintwork was orange-peeled, curtained and run. Regrettably I had to pay as my friend had paid the sprayer himself so I had to reimburse Dave.
At the same time there was some minor damage to the road wheels due to scuffing and there were some wear and tear damage – notably scraping of the front skirts due to the dropped suspension and ‘bottoming’ the car at bumps and roundabouts, a broken ‘Speedster’ logo on the boot and a few other bits and pieces.
I had heard of Kustom Kolors in Christchurch which had a very good reputation. When I visited the works there were some very valuable cars undergoing restoration and repair and the works was an approved repair shop for some very expensive marques.
When I approached Colin he told me there was well over a year’s waiting list for restorations. I brought the Little Blue porsche over for him to inspect and he said he wanted to do the project so much he moved it nearly to the front of the queue and a couple of months later he took the car in to undertake the works.
The really good news was that, on inspection and stripping down, there was no rust at all in the car and no corrosion. There was no damage found other than the very superficial paint and fibreglass scrapes that had been known and no evidence of any previous knocks or accidents.
All fibreglass panels were removed and sent to a specialist for any repair needed and polishing. Panels were stripped back to base metal and the car completely resprayed with the original Maritime Blue – baking the paint between each layer. Seals were replaced around the doors and panels, the wheels refurbished, and any other works undertaken to bring back to concourse condition.
It was while she was being refurbished that she was seen by Gordon Maclean who left his contact details - the result was brilliant!
Sanding and stripping down the paintwork, priming, topcoat and rebuild
The Finished Article!
