Southern California Restorer Recommendations

[Ben Wainscott]

Steve,

You have to ask yourself is how much involvement with the restoration you want. If the answer is none or limited and you are happy with the interior, brakes, engine, trans, electrical, etc. etc. then I would then I would look at the shops recommended below (CPR, Wilholt's, Euro Collectibles, Jim Liberty, Bob Campbell, etc.) that can perform any level of restoration. If the car is a driver now, take it to them and talk to them about what you want and see if their schedule and costs work for you. Suspect they will recommend some additional items because it is cost effective to do during the stripping and painting of the car. Additionally they may tell you what you can do to keep the costs in check. No doubt you will be much more knowledgeable after the discussions. If they can't support what you want, hopefully they will provide you names of other shops/people that will meet your needs for the level of restoration you want.

I whole heartily endorse Andy Elsener and Jim East, but during the restoration of my 65 SC, I did the total disassemble and delivered the body to Andy Elsener for the body work and then took it over to Jim East for paint...but that was just one phase of the entire restoration process.

Regards,
Ben

[Jacques Lefriant]

Hi
why do you want it done in SO CAL? aren't you back east?
j

[Adam Wright]

While Harris is a neighbor of mine, his house is about 3 minutes from my house in Upstate NY, I'm pretty sure he has houses all over, and probably has one in SoCal.
That's if we are talking about the same Harris.

[Dave Wildrick]

While Harris is a neighbor of mine, his house is about 3 minutes from my house in Upstate NY, I'm pretty sure he has houses all over, and probably has one in SoCal.
That's if we are talking about the same Harris.

You guys seem to have missed that the original post by Steve Harris was in November 2010.
What revived it was a post earlier this week suggesting to avoid a specific restorer.

[Mark Sabbann]

CPR is doing my '56 Speedster now. Apparently mine was their 1,580th restoration (including 911s and 912s).

Jon's Speedster restoration was in 2010, but I was looking at a car for sale at CPR recently, spoke with Jon about his experience there and decided to go elsewhere.

[Edwin Ek]

Bigger is rarely better.

[Steve Proctor]

Shop that did Best of Show at 2014 WCH and 2014 North Meets South if you're willing to go out of state...

[Mike Wilson]

There have been some excellent suggestions and advice offered on restoration shops in So-Cal. I have a couple that I would like to offer especially since I have recently begun the restoration of my '63 Karmann coupe. Before making my decision on what shop I decided to use, I asked people who had their cars restored if they had any issues during or after the process. I have several friends who have had their 356's restored and was able to observe the processes on two of them. Both used two different shops. Some things to consider:

If you use a metal shop to replace panels, sheet metal, do body work, etc. but another shop will be doing the painting, remember the paint shop will still need to insure the metal work is up to their standards as they are responsible for the quality of the paint work. One friend used a metal shop but additional body work was needed by the paint shop. This incurred additional costs. The other friend used one shop for the stripping, metal work and paint.

Make sure the shop is very familiar with the 356. This is very important. I've seen some real hack work by shops that have done 356's not only in body and paint but reassembly and obviously did not have a lot of experience nor did they even bother to refer to shop or parts manuals.

Ask around, inspect other cars carefully and then make your decision based on the level of restoration you want and your budget. John Willhoit has an excellent check list on the restoration of a car. The quality of his work is impeccable as a result of his attention to detail.

Mike Wilson
Lomita, CA
'63 B coupe

[Adam Wright]

Make sure the shop is very familiar with the 356. This is very important. I've seen some real hack work by shops that have done 356's not only in body and paint but reassembly and obviously did not have a lot of experience nor did they even bother to refer to shop or parts manuals.
Mike Wilson
Lomita, CA
'63 B coupe

Mike-
You are so right about that point, I have looked at many a "restored" car that is completely awful, but shiny. I looked an SC cab one time, fully restored, by a Jag shop, who lap welded everything, in addition to a number of other horrid things to do to a Porsche. I felt bad for the guy because he had spent thousands, only to realize any real Porsche-phile would see his car as a project since it would all have to be re-done.

Also, now that our little cars are getting very valuable a lot of shops are trying to restore them, I am getting more and more calls from shops asking me for parts and I quickly realize they know very little about the PORCH in their shop.

[Jon Schmid]

Just an X2 on my post from 4+ years ago. Jim East has retired but his son Shane has things well in hand. After my Roadster got backed into, he, Mike and Pablo made things right. Just picked it up today--now I have to avoid GMC Sierras.
I highly recommend them after working with them for 25 years.

[Jules Dielen]

Take it to Arizona, fewer environmental regulations (they can still use solvent based paints!) www.deluxecustoms.com is currently doing my convertible D and has 2 roadsters and 2 A coupes in the pipeline. Excellent work.

[Steve Proctor]

+1 on Deluxe Customs. Love that red Speedster

[Martin Benade]

Solvent based is only for the basecoat, the clear or single-stage are still with solvent even in CA. The water-borne basecoats take some relearning to work with but the end result is the same, and even the paint itself is not water based, just carried to the car in water.

[Jon Schmid]

You are correct, Martin. Talking with Shane East about my Roadster repair, he said they now use Glasurit #22 instead of #21 that was put on the car 25 years ago when it was initially restored. He said the basic difference was that lead is no longer used and that some of the solvents have been reduced, but otherwise it is the same paint and is not water based. I sure can't tell the difference on my car.

[steve brown]

Use Jim on a my 57 speedster (Body & Paint Repair / Match paint) Compleate bottom replacment;
and a Total restoration 60 Roadster , Ground up Resto - Both nice Drivers...
The work was done right, and i would use jim a again with no reservations -
BTW, Jim is a great guy and has been doing Porsche Repair for 30 plus years...

Regards,
Steve Brown -