Restoration to original color

[Victor Ingram]

Stephen,

My first Continental coupe I bought as an unfinished project and the first thing I did was get the COA and it was suppose to be silver with red interior and oatmeal carpet. I decided to paint it toyota truck ivory w/ red interior and oatmeal carpet. It placed 2nd in class at the Boston Parade many, many years ago. It was also a matching numbers car, it was for sale in Europe about a year ago for 180,000 Euros. the color did not effect the price the quality of the workmanship did!

I recently had the same dilemma in reverse! My 55 Cab was painted ivory with a red interior and an oatmeal carpet when I purchased it over 20 years ago. It was done right and the combination was very pleasant, but the lacquer started to give up the ghost so I re-restored it.The kardex stated that it was silver and that did have some bearing, BUT I thought about taking some creative liberties with the paint. All the time realizing if I changed the color of the paint the interior would have to follow. So after many paint chips from silver blue and the plethora of Porsche silvers my neighbor without who is a car enthusiasts said to me one day without prompting or knowing of my dilemma "its like these cars were meant to be silver"! It struck a cord with me and after that remark my decision was made. Silver it would be, I am glad I did it. Everything else is correct dated wheels, matching numbers, numbers on the tail lights etc. etc. etc.

[Glen Hamner, Jr]

Victor,

Nice touch using those 911 lug nuts, and leaving off the hood handle and the Porsche label. The integrated fog light are especially nice. And, from what i can tell, a very well fitted canvas. Going wiperless is a clear sign that this is a fair lady cab.

[Jay Patrick]

I vote for silver

[Roy Smalley]

Regarding value. It just takes one person to buy your car when and if you sell. They may hate white over black and love silver over red. Will they pay less because it is a color change, or more?

I have a white over black twin grill roadster, numbers matching not yet painted. I feel your pain. I am thinking hard about Oslo blue over red.

RoySmalley
www.eurowerks.com

[Mike Wilson]

Just thinking out loud (and in print)...have any of you that do restorations offer a car for sale, such as the one Roy has, unpainted but will do the paint and interior per customer's preference?

Mike Wilson
Lomita, CA
'63 B coupe

[Dan Kalinski]

Went through this same argument with our '63 Cab. Original was Ivory over Red:



Kept the red interior and changed body color to Black:



See the smile on our faces?

We made the right decision, you will too.