Polaris all over again

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mwcs73

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Time for a fresh coat of paint, the first in about 35 years as far as we can tell. Body seems in pretty good shape, with a little rust under the sunroof (shocker) and a couple more of the usual places. Some old bondo scars but again not as bad as I feared.

We're going to fix that, as well as a few other parts that need some TLC. Also going to work on some of the panel fits and gaps.

Paint is going to be as close to the original as we can find, probably (ahem) NOT water-based either.

Will try to keep this thread updated when I can. Fingers crossed she'll be as good, maybe better than new!

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mwcs73 said:
Time for a fresh coat of paint, the first in about 35 years as far as we can tell. Body seems in pretty good shape, with a little rust under the sunroof (shocker) and a couple more of the usual places. Some old bondo scars but again not as bad as I feared.

We're going to fix that, as well as a few other parts that need some TLC. Also going to work on some of the panel fits and gaps.

Paint is going to be as close to the original as we can find, probably (ahem) NOT water-based either.

Will try to keep this thread updated when I can. Fingers crossed she'll be as good, maybe better than new!

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Looks like you are working with good bones. When I had my Polaris coupe painted about 15 years ago I sat with the painter and looked at a hundred different silvers. I had liked an early Porsche Boxster silver, close to Polaris, not exact. Settled on that with a touch of metallic. 99.9% can't tell the difference unless they look under the hood where true Polaris reigns.

Waiting to see the finished job. Steve
 
oneills said:
Looks like you are working with good bones. When I had my Polaris coupe painted about 15 years ago I sat with the painter and looked at a hundred different silvers. I had liked an early Porsche Boxster silver, close to Polaris, not exact. Settled on that with a touch of metallic. 99.9% can't tell the difference unless they look under the hood where true Polaris reigns.

Waiting to see the finished job. Steve
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Lol me too! There's some perfect original paint under the tool kit so we're using that as the lodestar.
 
Good starting point, a clean shell. I will enjoy following your thread.

Don't underestimate what *could* lie beneath the brown crack close to the rear jacking point.
What we see is that for sure the outer layer is rusted through.

Did you have a chance to inspect the layers under there? You can get a camera inside the sills through holes on the inner sill, and through the opening under the rear doorpanel. Also there is an inspection hole on the underside of the body, on the vertical bit of the inner sill next to the subframe mouting points; together with the fenders these are the 2 most rust prone area of an E9. Also you can unscrew the seat belt mounting points and slide a camera into the sill.

It can add 2-3K if that's bad and you want it done correctly on both sides ...
 
mwcs73 said:
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Finally close to done after a long long time.
A couple of things are to me cosmetic upgrades. We put dark grey alcantara for the headliner to create a more luxurious look. We also found great leather with a very slight purple tint to to the dark blue, not original of course but I like it better.
This is clearly not a 100 point car and nor is it meant to be as she will be driven a bunch.
 
Right, on light colored cars, but the chrome grilles looks great in how they match all the other chrome trim on the car.
 

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Beautiful car Steve! Can you share what shop or shops you used?
 
OMG so beautiful! Love getting rid of the reflectors...on my list if I get rid of my two tone . If you come down to the peninsula give me a shout would love to see you live. Just got my interior done but I kept true to the original color. Also put on Alpina. My goal is to grow up to be you!

For some reason it is telling my pics are too large to load.
 
A lot got done and fixed really. The man who did all the hard work is an extreme detail freak (he wouldn’t mind me saying that) and so all the paint, gaps and lines are truly perfect and better than original.

The car has always had great bones, we put on the 16” Coupe King wheels and Michelins to fill out the wheel well, and a slight lowering gives the stance

Most things that could be chromed were chromed, including the rear logo. The belt line was polished up and looks great. Again not an original look but this is a luxury GT car so we thought it looked the part.

Interior is almost completely redone, wood as close to the original as possible, I’ve had the Nardi wheel for ages. The leather is from Rolls Royce and we also did a very interesting parcel shelf treatment, also in the same leather that gently incorporates an LED brake light that I will post some pics of as I really didn't want someone running into the back of the car at night.

I love the dark alcantara and also redid the carpets edges in the same leather, and customs Cocomats in dark grey wool. Sun visors also alcantara.

Engine still original 4 speed and running great with 2 carb setup.

Switched out A/C with modern setup and upgraded window motors.

That’s all really LOL
 
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