Mint Green Shark

Now that we’ve driven the coupe around the neighborhood, gotten the gear shifter going and cleaned up some temporary wiring, we came to a crossroads. At this point in a typical restoration one would strip the car back to its shell and send it to paint. I could not be more excited to be to that point.

But this isn’t a typical restoration. There is so much testing and refining to be done with the various systems. Yes, the Tesla unit is working and we can drive the car around the block. But remember all of the other modifications we made: All-new steering system, braking system, suspension, weight distribution changes and more. We still need to implement the power steering pump which will power the steering and brakes. We have to install fluid reservoirs. We have to design and install air conditioning. All of this testing, adjusting, retesting, and refining will involve additional cutting, grinding and welding to the car. To carry all of this out on a freshly painted car could be costly disaster. I sound like I am so careful, but to be honest I was still planning to go to paint - it took a lot of people to convince me to hold off until the car is completely refined.

This means driving the car as-is for 6-12 months. It also means time-consuming final assembly on hundreds of items only to pull it all back apart later. Not only that, but in order to drive it on public roads it needs a fair amount of exterior and interior finish pieces to make it safe and legal.

MINT PRIMER

If I am going to drive around an unfinished car, I’m going to do it in style. Our painter recommended a particular primer which he doesn’t mind sanding off to do his prep work in the future. One of the available colors was a nice dull minty green which was an obvious choice. We sprayed the entire car in the primer and I have to say that I am getting more positive comments on the color than I ever did with the orange mockups. Since matte finishes are so popular right now, many people think that this is the final finish. This speaks more to Tyler’s amazing metal restoration and metal finishing than anything else. It is spectacular to look at because you can see the raw, smoothed metalwork which proudly shows the efforts we have taken.

PREPPING FOR THE STREETS

Once the coupe was dressed in green, we still needed to make it legal for the public streets. We installed the windshield, rear glass, working brake and turn lights. We don’t plan on driving at night, but we installed the grills and headlights so that the car would look complete. While we were at it, we put on the side trim and the trim around the side windows. Bumpers went on too. In the end, she actually looks like a finished car.

Here is what the couple looked like during our first drives around the building.

We sprayed the car with the green primer.

After most of the exterior trim was installed. It’s looking like a presentable car.

SOME CUSTOM TOUCHES

We did a few little things to make the car our own. Starting with shaving the door locks. One thing I love about the E9 coupe is the way the designers blended the door pulls into the body trim line. Removing the keyhole below really emphasizes this line. We also swapped out the very heavy and bulky hood support mechanism for lightweight, modern gas struts. Finally, we threw on a Tesla license plate frame as a whimsical nod to what is under the hood.

Tyler fills in the key lock hole.

He smoothed it out.

And we’ve got a clean new look.

We implemented modern gas struts to save weight from the original and very heavy hood support mechanism.

The original and very weathered BMW Roundel looks fantastic against the matte green finish.

A little fun with the license plate frame.

We now have a car that is safe for the road, looks fantastic, and we’ve begun to roam further and further away from the shop with some spirited drives. The green is growing on me, althought I am still very much looking forward to that final paint finish!

Cheers,

Paul