It’s been a while since I’ve provided an update on Blondie’s progress. At the time of the last update, she was about to be shipped to Skunkwerks, a panel shop in Colac, about an hour out of Melbourne. The team there have built themselves a solid reputation for quality Porsche resto work. Prior to commissioning the job I’d visited the shop and seen the work they had done on a mate’s 993 – I was very impressed. So in mid-January Blondie was transported to Colac.
6 weeks later, the promised “great result” was delivered back to NINEAUTO…. and what a result it is! The work, as quoted & completed, included:
• Pick up & delivery (to & from Melbourne),
• Use of a ‘clear over base’ paint,
• All disposables, fillers, primers & seam sealer,
• Supply replacement engine bay decals,
• All materials used being the best possible quality they could source,
• A memory stick with extensive progress photos of all work carried out on the car.
The works commissioned involved the following steps:
• Removing all panels from the chassis and dismantling doors,
• Stripping paint and repairing any small dents and rust areas on the car,
• Fine filling, priming and painting all panels,
• Long blocking and fine sanding of all panels in preparation for paint,
• Painting & reassembling all panels,
• Buffing & detailing car,
• Cleaning & painting the engine bay, front & rear wheel arches and reassembly of all panels.
Communication throughout the process was very good, with Skunkwerks keeping me up to date with the progress at each stage. The communication was made somewhat easier by the fact that there wasn’t really any bad news to deliver; no hidden surprises were discovered lurking in the bodywork.
We decided beforehand to go for the superior finish of clear-over-base paint (5 liters of Glass 55 Mix GP1), as opposed to the solid colour paint. As work progressed we also decided to finish the engine bay and under the guards (using 1 liter of Baslac base coat).
In all, a great result was promised – and a great result was delivered: Very happy!
By Peter Bosland
Here are some pics of the major cosmetic challenges that Blondie presented:
