Fiberglass

A good bodyshop can fix that and blend the paint. They don’t have to repaint the whole car.

It's tough to tell from the picture, but it looks more like something on top of the paint rather than a scratch through it.  If that's the case it should polish off.

Is a small chunk off the car  . One of the body shop is charging $5,000 my Hagerty insurance company feel the charge is to high.

Chip on door opening fender edge isn't going to buff out.  I can't see others. West Marine has filler and gel coat repair kits but matching color will be trick.  Is it a stock known color?

I was just wondering how these speedster replicas owners  fix their fiberglass  when needed..

Yeah $5k too high for sure at least by a decimal place.

I see it now.  I was looking at what appears to be grease pencil markings.  Yeah, that will need filling in, smoothing, and blending the paint unless you're willing to live with a noticeable touch-up.  That said, you could do the filling and sanding yourself.  Blending metallic paint is best left to pros.  Either way, $5k is waaaaaay too much.

How much do you this job should cost?

If you paid someone to do it all it should still be under $1k.  The body shop you spoke to may think it's more trouble than it's worth and just not want to fool with it.

My paint guy would do minor body work, sand and paint a whole speedster for $2500.
-=theron

That is an easy fix and paint blend at about $500 at least here at my paint guy's shop .

@Carlos panuco my black car had 2 years worth of rock chip across the entire front between the headlights and above & including the bumper into the primer....i touched up as best i could.....until it made me insanely sad to look at it....i had it repaired by a show car professional painter and it was done right and not with half measures to perfectly match the black paint.....it was not cheap...then had the entire car paint correction done, then had a clear film protection done from the windshield pillar to the front bumper...then had the entire car ceramic coated.....again, not cheap....but this car is better protected from rock chips and will never get dirty enough to wash with a bucket and wash mitt ever again.....i guess my point is that you get what you pay for and results speak for themselves....in your case, that chip is not worth 'going down the rabbit hole" by attempting to repair yourself....one of my favorite sayings from a truly wise man...."save your dough $$$ and hire a pro"....happy motoring

The trick is finding a body shop that isn't charging you to learn how to patch fiberglass. That's not a tough job, but you need to have some experience.

Do you have any boat repair shops nearby? They usually have a lot of experience with fiberglass and would probably enjoy working on your car for a change. They or any paint shop can do the paint match and spot respray.

@Carlos panuco posted:

I was just wondering how these speedster replicas owners  fix their fiberglass  when needed..

I learned by watching YouTube. Here's a recent video on repairing a banged up Elva.

https://youtu.be/DLJecJfFUGI

Man, if you were nearby I could get you where it wasn’t noticeable in about an hour.

Paint match is the hard part.  

$5000 for that is the “ I don’t want to be bothered with this “ price

My car has dings, chips, scuffs and a few poorly filled holes from removed trim and badges. I don't worry about it because the car has really evolved into a SoCal 60's weekend racer look. It's loud, low and besides, it ain't a real Porsche.

Reminds me of the cars I coveted in high school in Orange County California.

To each their own.

Thank you for the feed back. Do you mind telling me how much was your pain job and the wrapping?

Great pictures "

Do you guys get bather when they your car a kit car? ...i think a replica is much more than a kit car.  I mean the starting price of a new speedster replica is $50k...

The body shop constantly refers to my car as a kit car. For some reason it does bother me.

Sais with my best British Stuart Varney accent: "Kit car?  Bloody hell no, it's a bespoke build automobile"

What is a bespoke automobile-

put a flying horse decal over it or any other decals U wish

Would a shop competent with Corvettes be a place to check, given their ratings otherwise are good?

That's a nasty chip you have, but with a bit of filler and careful sanding a good pin striper can make that disappear right before your eyes. Matching the paint is the hard part. BTW 5K is wayyyy over the top to fix that. Go somewhere else

@msjulie posted:

Would a shop competent with Corvettes be a place to check, given their ratings otherwise are good?

Yes, that's what I'd recommend. Fiberglass is fiberglass. 5k is almost paint the whole car price.

I had a tire/rim scrape the LF corner on my old Spyder, and it took off a 2" round chunk. It was from some guy in a restaurant parking lot, I was inside.

The body shop charged me $1200 back in 2010 or so.

I had an apraser tell me what happened. Apparently it was a cable wire that got stock between the car door while I was waxing it. Just to let you guys know if you use an electric buffer. Keep an eye on the wire if you door is open this way you won't  get a nasty chip like this.

@Carlos panuco posted:

Do you guys get bather when they your car a kit car? ...i think a replica is much more than a kit car.  I mean the starting price of a new speedster replica is $50k...

No. That’s what they are, though some are put together by pros and others by ambitious fools such as yr correspondent.

It used to bother me when someone would say "is that one of them 'Kit Cars'?" Now I just say "yes, it's a Porsche Speedster Replica", that way if he is just a jerk he can just walk away all smug! But if they are just ignorant they walk away knowing that it's a replica so the next time they might not be so offensive!

I tell any one who asks that mine is a custom, hand-built-to-my-specifications, replica Speedster. No kit or do-it-yourself involved.

Jim Ruiz

Thank you everyone on this subject owning a speedster replica has brought me a lot of joy in my life. I don't drive mine  very much I enjoy sitting in my garage looking at it. My wife gets jealous of course . Ill update information on the following subject so that future speedster replica owners navigate through our experiences.

I wonder why no one refers to Cobra replicas as “kit cars?” Our replicas are selling for about the same money now!

@IndianBob posted:

I wonder why no one refers to Cobra replicas as “kit cars?” Our replicas are selling for about the same money now!

Or go to any car show and see all the '32 Fords' that are fibreglass.

I was thinking the same thing about the Cobras and the Corvettes. Personally i like the body shape of the 356 speedster more . No offence to anyone that who owns one.  Just personal preference.

I think they're all cool. Especially those shoddy home built ones.

People ask about the blue car I tell them "it's a working 1:1 scale model of a 1955 Porsche 550 Renn Sport Spyder." Or "it's a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle that identifies as a winner of the 1955 LeMans 24 hour race in the 11-and 1500cc sports car classes."

@Carlos panuco posted:

Thank you everyone on this subject owning a speedster replica has brought me a lot of joy in my life. I don't drive mine  very much I enjoy sitting in my garage looking at it. My wife gets jealous of course . Ill update information on the following subject so that future speedster replica owners navigate through our experiences.

The real joy is in driving it- get out and feel the wind in your hair! _{or on your scalp- whatever the case may be}

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

Or go to any car show and see all the '32 Fords' that are fibreglass.

Here's mine with 165,000 miles on it. Hoods and grill shell are metal but the rest is fiberglass. First built in 1996, been to every state except Hawaii. I like to fly there.....lol

Badass!

Nice ride!