Living the Legend

Sep 04, 2019 23 minutes

Lee Sibley

Poole, UK

@lee_sibs

Model 996.1 CARRERA

Year 1998

Acquired JAN 2019

I was only meant to take off the wrap and give it a polish… After seven months of driving a 996.1 where the white wrap was literally hanging off, I relented. It had to go.

I’d first gone to see Leon at Poole Accident Repair, one of 14 Porsche-recommended bodyshops in the UK, about the problem back in February. Even then the car’s Zenith blue colour underneath was starting to show in places where the wrap was crumbling or wilting.

You may remember these guys have been entrusted with aesthetical work on my previous 911s over the years, so I was to trust any advice given to me again here. “The wrap needs to come off, so what sort of headache am I giving myself?” I asked. “You should prepare for the worst, but hope for the best,” came Leon’s diplomatic reply after looking round the car. A best-case scenario would be a wrap removal and polish; the worst case would be a full respray.

Preparing for this as Leon suggested meant leaving the car for a few months while I built up enough cash reserves for said worst-case scenario. Then, in early July, mainly down to the fact I just couldn’t drive the car in such a state any longer, I booked the car in for the dreaded wrap removal.

It didn’t start well. Leon had used heat guns to warm the wrap before attempting to peel off the four-year-old white film on the bonnet, only for the Zenith blue paint underneath to come off with it! It was a disaster.

However, it was interesting how Leon was able to feed back some history on the car just by a visual inspection as the wrap came off. First of all we were able to ascertain the wrap was of an economical quality, shall we say, due to the way it crumbled, and also the way it was applied. We also found the front end had been painted poorly previously, though there is no sign of accident damage, and the passenger rear three-quarter panel has also had paint, though evidently at a more reputable concern due to the way the wrap largely rolled off that panel without incident.

Once the entire car was free from its white peril, a situation assessment was necessary, which delivered both good and bad news. The bad news was that we were looking at a full respray – some parts were way beyond reproach with any T-Cut or polish, and it didn’t make sense to blow in some blue paint over 80 per cent of the car. Damn.

The good news though is the car is getting paint alright, albeit in a different colour. I asked Leon how difficult this would be – my thinking was if we have to paint the 996 blue, then we can paint it any colour we like. As I’ve found out, it doesn’t quite work like that, and to keep costs down it’s not going to be an engine and interior-out job.

Those areas will instead be masked up and sprayed Satin black, though the rest of the car will be getting its new Porsche shade – code 213, by way of a huge clue. So, a colour change is underway as we speak, and will likely already be in place by the time you read this. Following my Instagram page will allow you to stay fully up to date, and you can see for yourself what unique Porsche colour I’ve gone for.