It'd be good to hear what paint they'll be using

My car is Schwarz Black (paint code L744)
You're right about it being super soft and easy to scratch - but that makes it easy to polish out too

The paint used by Audi has always seemed very tough to me

Ive always found the paint used by Japanese car manufacturers (especially in the 80's-90's) to be downright nasty. It's quite soft, but it's got a strange plasticy feel that makes it feel bad

Remember, if it's resprayed with a different paint it 'could' have an impact on it's future value should you ever decide to sell it

Personally though, I'd be doing exactly the same thing as you are
All the best, and make sure you get pictures during the painting process - it'll blow your mind just how good it'll look

 

I am going to stay with the same color; black, but as bad as the OEM paint was, it's hard to believe that much better, more expensive paint would diminish the value, but I don't doubt it. It was so soft, I literally wondered if they did not clear-coat it. I will post the nomenclature of the new paint when I get it.

As far as value of the car, it has already been raced, and now it has been in an accident. I am just going to enjoy the car as much as possible, with little thought of ever selling it. I will make sure it looks perfect, and everything ever done to it is perfect. There is no structural damage, and my mods are VERY tastefully done. Beautiful welded-in roll cage, Moton suspension, SQS sequential shifter, Safecraft RS fire suppression, GMG X-pipe full exhaust, GMG wheels to name a few.

So I think if I ever do want to sell it, which I doubt, I will sell to someone like me, who appreciates fine attention to detail in a beautifully maintained, updated, upgraded work of art. For someone looking for 100% original, hardly driven garage queen, that won't be my guy.

 

^^^^ Man super sorry to hear what happened as a fellow Baltimoron and GT2 owner (who is very familair with Mitch and his shop as well) ...that is just terrible news. On the brightside, you are not injured/maimed/dead, you are working with Mitch and a group of really good people to get the car sorted again properly, and you are planning on using materials suited for improvement on the factory paint properties.

Things happen for a reason, you could come out of this with a car that's better for you, one that you might be happy with, who cares about the re-sale taking a hit, worry about that bridge when (or in your cas if) you ever get there my friend, and if you plan on keepin' 'er for a while that might be a bridge you never come to!

 

Thanks, and sorry for the very delayed response. I agree on all counts. Today my detailer and I drove up to Old School Enterprises where the body repairs were completed, for an "acceptance inspection." The car looks spectacular! It looks like it's brand new on the dealership showroom floor.... or better. It has never looked this amazing. I couldn't be more pleased. I had Dale at Old School use Imron for the clearcoat, which is for aircraft, so it's super-tough. Between the paint and new GMG WC wheels, it looks like a new car.

It's going over to Mitch Piper's shop for some final, small details, and then it's back home finally. It may look so perfect I hope I am not scared to drive it.

 

Glad things turned out okay. How do you know dale? I know him also he is friends with my buddy Greg who restores classic cars, jaguars etc.... Small world. Met dale over at gregs annual car show/bbq this summer. He does really impressive work, he's done a few cars for Greg.

 

Dale was Piper Motorsport's first choice to do my body work, so it was their recomendation. He had done the Frankenbeemer, owned by a good friend of mine and built at Piper's. Dale is a great guy and serious about doing good work. I would definitely recomend him. The only drawback of custom body shops is that you have to wait your turn for the magic. They're not banging out body repairs like dealerships. Top work requires patients.

 

I have to give credit to Intercity Lines for doing a flawless job of delivering my GT2 back to me yesterday, after Piper Motorsport and Old School Enterprises finished working their magic.

I have been out of town, so a friend of mine handled the arrangements. He spoke with several of the biggest names in fine car transport companies, and said that Intercity was by far the easiest and most helpful to deal with. I would not hesitate to call them the next time.

So, the car is finally home. I'll post more pics once it gets it's final post paint clean and polish. Thanks also to GMG for the great deal on the new wheels!

 

Here are some pics of the delivery.

 

....and finally back in my garage!

 

Looks spectacular/fantastic/awesome/khubsurat/great etc etc..

Care to explain the the cost of something like this? I know most of us have the similar OCD as yours when it comes to cars, so would like to get an idea?

My only concern would be, in situation like these where the car repairs take this long, would it lose the inside good leather smell..

Thanks

 

No, sir. The car still smells new, believe it or not. I am sure that is due to the leather care that goes into the maintenance of the car.

The cost is a bit complicated. I guess it depends on where you started and where you are trying to go. If I wasn't replacing pieces and parts damaged in a crash, and was only paying for the labor and materials to repaint the car, it would have been in the neighborhood of $7000 for me. Keep in mind that in my case, the entire car was not stripped to bare metal, only where it was necessary. The rest just got a wet-sand, light coat, and new clear-coat. If the entire car had been taken down to bare metal, I imagine the cost would have been at least 2 times as much. In my case this would have been totally unnecessary, because portions of the original paint looked beautiful. The entire car was wet-sanded and clear-coated with the super-tough Imron clear coat.

Keep in mind I also did not use a dealership, because 1. they would not have done the quality of work I was looking for, and 2. They would have overcharged me, so I would have paid more for less. As is turned out, I don't think the car looked better the day it rolled off the showroom floor.

I took a "car-friend" of mine with me to do an acceptance inspection of the car after the body work was completed. He is a top-level car detailer and the only one I let touch my car. He was shocked when I told him that I only paid 7K for the paint work, so the moral of the that story is that I think you could easily spend a lot more, if you didn't know a custom guy who isn't trying to kill you.

 

Car looks fantastic! Dale does great work, I know him thru my buddy Greg who restores a lot of vintage Jags, I remember talking to Dale about your car this summer when he was working on it, told me about the project and the damage and what all he had to do and the paint and all, looks like he worked his magic real nice for ya...and Piper and the guys seemed to have gotten the other bits sorted. Also the wheels look great, GMG monoblok mesh can't go wrong with those! Congrats on getting your car back, bring that thing over to Canton somethime lets do a photoshot of both GT2s

 

Oh forgot to ask, do you have any before and after pics? or any details we can see of the damage before and after, this would really show the quality of the work done on your car which I too agree is exceptional

 

That thing looks beautiful!

 

Car looks awesome. What wheels do you have on?