Rainy day here - going up an exit ramp slowly and the back end fishtailed out from under my control due to the wet road...hit the guard rail. All at low speed. Sickening feeling. 2 days before being put away for the winter.

This stinks - but it can be repaired...ive done a 1/4 panel before. Dwelling on the event just gets in the way of mending it.

Can someone suggest how to help the body shop who will paint the new panel match the existing paint and any fading that has gone on? The vehicle is manilla beige.

Id attach pics but it won't let me upload them for some reason.


dd

PS Glad I still have my parts car kicking around.

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car

Bummer. Atleast now you'll have a project for this winter!

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Good body shops these days have machines that read the current color of the paint and adjust for age... much better than the old days where it was an art...
If it does not match .. then you have all winter to figure out what color to repaint the whole car and what tools you need to do that correctly....I recommend ' snowberry white' from early 70's MGB's.... really pretty near any trees or grass....

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1980 240d ,

chain elongation, cam marks reference:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/10414-help-i-need-check-stretch.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/305365-9-degrees-chain-stretch.html

evap fin cleaning:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/156207-photo-step-step-post-showing-w123-evaporator-removal-1983-240d-1982-300td.html?highlight=evaporator

A/C thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/297462-c-recommendations-mb-vehicles.html

Try to find exact color 1/4 panel!!!! That way, after you buff out the entire car, it will all look new and all match. Original MBZ enamel paint does not fade. You can call around and see who is authorized to get factory paint in your area (who does the stealership send cars to for paint job), then see if your insurance company will pay for them to paint it. If you have to do a match on the paint, the paint code is on the inside of the driver door (near the door strike) and that will give you an exact match, until the after-market enamel paint fades!!! However, if you get a clearcoat/basecoat, those paint jobs don't fade, they just peel like a bad sunburn. I would try also, through the club to find someone who has access to the now-controlled paint. It has to be oven-dried/cured at 150 degrees.

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

Do we get pics? What's the original color?

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1983 300D, the "Avocado"
1976 240D, 4-spd the "Pumpkin", SOLD to Pierre
1984 190D, 2.2L, 5-spd, my intro to MBZ diesels, crashed into in 2002

A Ford Explorer did the same thing while it was driving in front of us making a sharp right hand turn to an on-ramp, except he or she did not hit the guard rail but spun around and almost hit another car. This was also raining.

Sorry to hear what happened!

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

That color is easy to match. I would use the original mix and not try to fiddle with it to correct for fading.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The color is Manilla Beige - just like MBeige's pic above.

im glad to hear this can be matched - if the match is good it will be like this never happened.

the rest of the paint on the car is great - i definitely don't want to spend $3-5k and weeks to repaint it correctly.

i have never seen a 1/4 panel in the northeast without rust on it, except for my car which is from Texas :-( i have to go new....but thats OK.

I can't seem to attach pics. is there some limit? it won't tell me the nature of the error when i attach my pics.

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'85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit)
'82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car
'83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car