Now that you mention it I do not see many in Atlanta any more.

OK. 2020 November and still running great.

Glad you kept it. These are very nice cars when maintained or brought back to specs. Of course, many times cost more to bring back than market value justifies. Doesn't really matter when you have the money, time and want it fixed. I'm going to look into insuring mine for about $10k when it comes out of the shop. Don't know whether a carrier will go for that price but even finding one takes time and hassle.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

You must have a really good SD.

Interested. What is the going rate for a good paint job on an SD these days? Assume I do not remove the bumpers, etc.

YAY ! .

I have no idea how I managed to get all the $ I've dumped into my '82 240D but IMO it's worth every penny .

First thing to - morrow morning I'm hitting the road in it and will wheeze & clatter my way North for a days or three ....

Slowly but we'll make it I have no doubt .

It needs painting too but I know of no shop I can trust it to .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

I was quoted $5000/2 weeks by a "reputable" high end shop.

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'83 SD, 2x '85 SD
You are entitled to your own opinions, you are not entitled to your own facts.

OK; thanks for the feedback. Think I will just go with compounding.

I've redone front suspension, brakes, tons of little stuff, found crack free dash, good wood all around, clean interior, in family since new. I'm technically the 2nd owner, planning on keeping it till I can't drive and giving it to my son - hopefully in slightly more than 30 years (when I'll be 100).

The car drives like new and now looks new. I haven't seen any within driving distance that good which is one justification for fixing it. The real reason is "I wanted to". I'll work on getting the AC converted using Rich's brackets once I have it back home.

It won't have a market value anywhere $10k but my time is worth money to me and I want to insure for enough that the carrier will pay me for my effort.

I have a 78 280Z that I want to put a 83 turbo motor in and an 85 300TD to fix. Those will be fixed to comfortable daily drivers with everything working. After that, I'm just doing maintenance and not buying projects unless I stumble up on an air cooled 911 where the price differential will pay for my effort.

Sometime, petrol will become obsolete. I suppose that's good and bad.

To answer the paint cost question, $5 to $6k at $40/hr. Of course, I don't know whether those are honest hours or pulled out of the air. The paint job looks great. I wouldn't run a shop on $50/hr if I was the only person working. 2000 hrs/yr at $40 = 80,000 and shop and self employment has to come out of that.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

Jman - how about a couple of pics.

This is before the final wash and buff. The back panel was pushed in which pulled the sides of the trunk in to where it wouldn't close. He cut the replacement out of the parts car. Next time, I'll do the taking apart. There were some electrical plugs in the door that were broken and the 1st shop unbolted the sun roof from the frame instead of pulling as per the FSM which will take more effort to adjust.

These pics are as it sat after moving it out of the shop with the intent of pulling the starter. It's dusty but I didn't see any blemishes even in the bright paint booth lights.

It started and ran so I'm not sure that anything is wrong with the starter. He said it would spin without engaging whenever the battery was connected. Car was in park.

I wish the site coder would add an automatic resizer to this site.

Attached Thumbnails

   

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.