I can't disagree with what you are saying and if I was trying to do a ground up restore, to win platinum, there are a number of things I do differently. I think its hard to know what the OEM sheen was, but in my case the finish matches the sheen of new OEM parts that aren't sticky. Took a while to find the right clear to achieve that. A lot of sticky treatment is just taking off the coating and leaving the plastic exposed. And I've seem professional work that looks like a 3 yr old did it. Anyway, when I mine no one doing laser etching and such. People were still using plastikote and the quote from the popular source at that time made me think that with my time and $100 I could do it better myself. Matching the AC cover is tough. I don't think any of the stick ons actually duplicate the factory finish. They all seem to have a slight textured finish and the apparent sheen changed with the angle of the incident light.
@johnk... has Tubi headers. Arguably the tightest 355 owner on Fchat . That should tell you Tubi headers aren't $10k or remotely close.
I can't say what I paid for them but $4500 isn't far off. And I'm not tight, just living on SS, and eating government cheese.
I’ve heard a reasonable price for installation while engine in is about $800. During engine out… free. @johnk... installed a set himself with engine in.
I was amazed at the poor quality of the plastic Ferrari made those vents out of. It's crumbly like chalk, and (other than being sticky) mine were in beautiful shape, not sun damaged in the least. I found that SEM Landau Black made them look excellent. I guess if you examined them with a magnifying glass they aren't as perfect as a $5K refinishing, but the closest I ever get to them is while driving, and from a couple feet away they look perfect. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Indeed - the two issues found with the car were low compression on cylinder #7 - off by more than 20% and some higher than expected corrosion on some of the underside bolts/suspension parts. It was almost like it got splashed with salt water or salt spray at some point since the body and rest of the underside was in excellent condition. It drove well though and looked spectacular. For a buyer who wasn't being all that meticulous (skipping the PPI perhaps), it probably very attractive.
Mine were about 1,500 + 4,500 several years ago. So about 6k all in. Purchased at Eurospares. Engine in.
My buddy just received a quote to replace headers (engine in) at GTO Engineering in Los Angeles. They said 4-5 hour job. Not sure what their hourly rate is, but I doubt it is more than $200. *Buddy just told me their rate is $200/hour.
Oh No! Will this YY (yucky Yellow) spider with 30k miles challenge the F1 GTB that recently sold with about the same miles? Image Unavailable, Please Login
https://www.pcarmarket.com/auction/1998-porsche-911-carrera-s-10/ OK. Now even the NA Widebody 993’s are surpassing 355 values. Now I’m convinced the 355 is a $600k car .
The 993 and the 355 are two of the nineties icons. I was watching that auction but didn’t see the final bid until now.
Even some of the narrow body 993's (which I think still look great) are bringing good money https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1996-porsche-911-carrera-s-2/ Glad I got my 96 4S for 68k less than a year ago. I'd like to try an NSX at some point too.
I got my beautiful no-stories '96 C2 coupe almost 15 years ago for a number that starts with a 2....right at the bottom of the depreciation curve
