Old School + New Tech: AutoLavish '68 Porsche 911 Ossi Blue

Sorry for posting another writeup so soon, but we have a few more scheduled for soon and I had to get this thing posted


This vehicle had been painted last year, and we were waiting for an appropriate amount of time before tackling the paint, and better weather. Unfortunately, the owner did drive the vehicle and “cleaned and waxed it” somewhat. He ended up hammering the paint so bad I had to spend over 25 hours just on the paint. I did not touch the jambs, not even the bumpers. I was tight on time, and we finished on time for a non-judged show somewhere far, so I had to work on it very late at night after other details. My neighbors love me, I know it!!!




The car looks fantastic from any angle. Almost all the trim is original. It has new rubber seals, refurbished original engine and interior, all proper and correct, all done by the owner. The side markers are exclusive to the '68 and cost a very nice dance if you can find them. Its these little things that I feel make or break the detailing experience for collectors. A detailer that understands the work involved in finding such pieces and cares for them and their integrity is essential to a great outcome and a happy customer. Insurance can cover any dollar amount, but nothing can replace the work and sentimental value of a project of this magnitude and beyond. It is my highest priority to maintain the vehicles integrity. This is also the 4th car I have worked on for this owner. Some areas on this car would remain with RIDS because simply because it is not my race to chase, and one less RIDS less would not increase the value of the car any, while any damage would decrease it significantly. The areas under the side markers and underneath the rain gutters are such areas, which are not visible even from 2 or 3 feet away.

The owner enjoys taking his girls for a ride. Here he is dropping off his "older" girl with his younger girl in the passenger seat (with the proper booster seat!).





Here are some quick pictures of the interior. We did not do any cleaning on the interior except KAIO on the windows as part of my "you will never have to touch this car again" approach for this owner. I wanted everything to clean off effortlessly to help avoid future damage. I love the plaid, the wheel, and the trim. Again, most of this interior is original and in pristine condition.












Ready to start with the cleaning, wheels first. P21S, the most safe of wheel cleaners, was used to clean the faces as much as possible. The barrels are virtually impossible to reach without removing the wheels, and are not visible at all on the car. I was not going to be aggressive on these original wheels. Again, no increase in value for the vehicle = no taking unnecessary risks.

















Washing consisted of our 9-step wash: Foam and dwell, Rinse, Foam and wash, Rinse, Clay, Foam and Wash, Rinse, then dry with Cobra MF and the leaf blower.






Washing should always be from the top down, working around the vehicle. The top half first:




Then the bottom half. This way the dirtiest areas of the vehicle do not contaminate the cleanest areas of the vehicle as you move the wash mitt around the paint.






Mild clay only on this paint, although it probably would not have made the paint any worse. Here we are using Detailed Image fine clay.






Next was to mask or remove any items that could interfere with the correction, like emblems. I love these old school emblems that are bolted on. The do require special sealing to avoid water intrusion, though (not pictured). Again, understanding of the vehicle's strong and weak point is essential to a proper correction on a classic of this caliber. Not replacing this sealing around each nut on each letter can result in rust down the road. No shortcuts. Do it right.

Since this is a modern base/clear coat paint system, I was able to use 3M Adhesive Remover for the gunk under the emblems. It this was the original lacquer paint we would need to stay away from solvents.







Now lets talk about the paint:






Sanding marks under the base color, and some filler shrink which is almost impossible to capture with this color:




More evidence of Thor:














This is one of those delicate areas:








Next I taped up all rubber, trim, and covered the wheels from the expected dusting from the compound.




The owner was concerned with polishing around the cowl, I was not




Notice delicate tape used for the side markers. This was a good idea as it will not stick hard to the paint or plastic, but the tape sticks to itself something fierce, making removal quite a pain and scary. I took a few minutes to un-tape each one!





After compounding for very long the paint started to look like this. The last few RIDS would be addressed when the test section tape was removed:






















Nice even haze from compounding and no RIDS:




Next were 2 steps of refining. Here it is along the process:

Pure Ossi Blue!




From this:




To this:




Nice curves under here, I promise:
















Door panel coming along and loving it!








looking...




...and it needs some more. This was pretty much the way around the vehicle; many hours per panel!




Marc working some refinement into the Ossi-ness:








The halogens shining through the windows from the other side gave off an interesting light:








Ahhh yes, color so deep you could dive into it!








Exhaust tip needed some quick cleaning (exhaust is also fully original):








Bola de cinta adhesiva:

By now you might understand my effort to keep the owner from touching this paint as much as possible. His previous attempts put most of this damage into it, even after working on his other Porsche which was in similar condition :/ With this in mind I opted for Opti-Coat + Reload. “Dude, you will never need to wax this thing again! Don’t even try it!!”




And it went on beautifully!




Emblems ready to go back on, and a "tape trick" to get the rubber gasket pulled out and lifted around the emblem properly. Notice the nuts still have the old sealer goo and would get hit up again before install. For now I wanted them clean for initial fitment and alignment (yes, even with guide holes emblems can be installed crooked).










It still took multiple tries to get the darn gasket on right! After a few pics I gave up at documenting and focused on the task at hand...




Similar with the rears, thank Porsche engineers for not using gaskets on each letter After these shots I went over each nut and cleaned up any sealant that seeped out.








Wheels and tires received a quick water-based dressing to make them slightly darker, more a la par with the now extremely shiny paint:








After a minute or two I wiped the dressings to remove excess and provide a more natural look:






BTW, these wheels are also original:






Finishing up:








A few necessary engine pics:







The owner picked it up almost at midnight:











Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoy the pictures!




-AutoLavish, Serving Michigan's Porsche Owners With Proper Detailing Services.

ROFL, Charlie! I'm glad you like even the little ones like this If all you ever were to say on any of our threads was "hi" I'd still love it!

Chris@Optimum said:

I really enjoyed this one. Nice work.

Click to expand...

Thought you would, Chris! Opti Coat should be the perfect solution to this abusive owner. This is the batch I got from you recently. Thanks!!

Thank you for the kind words, guys!!

Thanks, Ed! But I doubt your 996 looks bad by any measure of the word I know it is looking better than my M3!!

:dblthumb2:

Thank you, gentlemen! The temps were cold and it was raining the whole week, and all I could think about was being in the Caribbean looking at this ocean-colored paint!

Then I got called to, possibly, fly down to PR again for a few cars. Trying to see if I can make it happen as I type this.