Well, the theives unfortunately did not take mercy on the outside of my 965 either. To gain access, they ripped the passenger side door lock out of the door and in the process really screwed up the passenger door. It's going to either need to be replaced (the door I mean) or have some fairly intricate dent removal done around the door lock. Either way, the door is going to need to be repainted and feathered in with the existing 12-year-old 200K mile black paint.

So, does anyone have a body shop they recommend? I currently live in West Los Angeles. My parents live in Orange County (CA) so it would be fairly convenient to take it down there as well.

Thanks again.
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Lance '92 965 w/ 200K miles

Best I can suggest is to shop around. Someone backed into my wagon and dented the RF fender. Of course this is a trivial replacement and I sourced a used fender that matched very closely for about $125.

But.. of course I shopped around for the most expensive body shop to get an estimate or the at-fault party's insurance company. Of all the shops I went to, if I were to choose.. even on their dime... I would probably have chosen one of the least expensive shops. Said shop had articles written about them in various industr magazines, they taught local body shop certification classes, they had pictures of various cars that had been through their shop, etc.

I pretty much went through the phonebook and visited the shops displaying various credentials. Unfortunately my knowledge of Hollywood is limited to Westwood... which doesn't strike me as very industrial...

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alex

I've seen this on TV several years ago. They said that the body shops with "gold class" are the ones doing the uncompromizing work/paint. They are expensive, but the work is the best, according to this news clip. I haven't had an accident and I've never look into this matter, though.

Vernon

Black ... if it's color code 19, then I'd try and find a good one in a junkyard, seeing how the door structure has not changed in the 7/9-series run. It would be cheaper than having a shop try to repair the existing door. FWIW, it's also the longest running color Volvo has offered.

Alternatively, if you want to try DIY, you can have the door smoothed out without the lock. So many new cars don't offer one anyways. You can get the paint from iPd. It's good, professional quality paint.

-- Kane ... who's bought it before, as my '91 is #601 red.

PS - If you're coming to the spring picnic, I can offer more opinions on what can be done.
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Blossom II -'91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles -'74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup -'86 245GL/AW70
The Wayback Machine -'64 P220/M40 ... The ParaBox -'90 745GL/AW70L

Thanks for the suggestion, but I just don't have time right now to mess around with it myself. Plus, the tab is on the insurance companies. I'm really most concerned about getting the paint matched as my car is in beautiful shape. I don't want a door off another car with varying degrees of paint fading.

Thanks, though.
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Lance '92 965 w/ 200K miles