Then a collision shop that does the odd classic here and there is your best bet. The labor is less expensive than a restoration shop because the grunt work is being done by less skilled guys under the supervision of a real professional. The guys that will actually apply the paint are excellent painters because they constantly have a gun in their hand, and are spraying cars day in and day out. I've actually noticed that some collision shops have turned out some of the nicest candy paint jobs I've seen because their paint work is robotic and it's muscle memory, whereas low volume shops may only paint a few cars a year and get out of practice. Collision shops also need the room for insurance work, which pays better than custom or restoration work generally, and they will move your project in and out quicker than some other shop that may let it collect dust for a while. This past Labor Day weekend was the DMC show in Mahwah, NJ, and I saw a buddy's OT Firebird that I haven't seen in 2 years since there haven't been many shows with the pandemic. He had the car in grey primer last I saw it. He took it to a friend's collision shop, and had it painted that gorgeous metallic Burgundy on the new Mazdas, which is a 3 stage. The car looks incredible, and laser straight with excellent cut, buff and finish work. When I inquired about how much it cost, he had said around $7000 with materials, and took about 3 months. I was VERY impressed.
Alt, find out any shows that are still scheduled for this year. Go to the show and ask everyone if they recommend a painter. Get some contact numbers, find a match for what you're looking for. There's a few guys in my area. My first choice was lead painter at a large collision shop for years, took a job for the railroad has a small shop at his house. He was a paint rep for a while, flew him all over teaching how to do factory tricoat pearl matches. Remember when that cadillac escalade pearl white and ford chameleon green came out. Word of mouth, only takes jobs he likes, 1 car at a time, No paint jail - No storage. Basically you won't find him unless recommended. I'll shoot single stage myself, I don't have a booth, will hire out the paint for my current OT project, getting pearl base/clear.
I painted this car in my garage. Rustoleum Antique White rolled on with high density foam rollers. Buffed it out with harbor freight variable speed buffer and foam pads with 3m compound. Materials cost me a little over a hundred bucks. Not the best way but I could afford it and didn't have to trust someone else with my car or time.
To give a little more context, here are a couple photos I sent to some places to give them an idea of the sheetmetal condition - so they could get a better idea of how much filler and blocking would have to be done before paint. Main areas are patch panel seams, a few rough spots (center of trunk lid), and some general bumps/low spots here and there. Other than that, the steel is pretty straight and solid. Just got another estimate today at $15,000-$20,000 for filler, blocking, priming, and single-stage urethane. No metal work/panel adjustments/etc.
Drive or tow it down to Lloyds ............ I can't imagine even driving a car that I had spent $20k on a paint job.
Lloyds or start learning to do the metal work. That isn't hard metal work and would give nice satisfaction when you finished it. Get into the zen of working on it an don't think of it as work and tedium. My opinion but I like doing body work an find getting a panel straight fun
No, no, you're clearly spot on. No need to re-evaluate. Btw when can you get to spraying my Chrysler? I should probably man up and ask @tb33anda3rd if it's something he was willing to do. He's local-ish to me.
you would be at 10-12 up here for that kind of work. so with exchange about the same . 30-40 grand for a nice paint job is nuts. I got a O/T 70’s Cadillac painted a while ago colour change and all for 7 grand . I striped all the chrome and glass off etc , pulled the fenders doors off and put them back on at the body shop . Again someone posted above and it makes sense, the 2 shops I use do majority of there work for dealerships and insurance, I drop my cars off in the winter with no hard deadline except “ I want to be driving when the roads are clean “ That usually gives them 4-5 months .to fit it in between “ quick paying stuff “ And when I stop in it’s usually a junior guy doing the blocking , sanding etc . Not a pro body guy but a guy at a few bucks above minimum wage. He has his painter paint it, and his lead guys inspect and guide the juniors along. again my cars all come out really nice , not concourse nice but still a very respectable paint job I would consider new car looking . mall makes a difference .
It's hot rod, driven car, vs ambr contestant to me. I used to paint cars for $300-$400. Then $800, $1000.... now my overall averages $5500.
Yep. My first paint job was 100 plus materials. He got his moneys worth. So did the guy that paid 7 figures for a build where I worked at later in life I drive mine as found. we all have different levels of zen
You've gotta keep in mind, i have zero overhead, I'm a one man operation, i have one guy that helps from time to time when i need help with lifting. I work at the firehouse 10 days a month, that's my main income, momma works in the emergency room 3 days a week, that's the other main income, the upholstery business is starting to grow, so i don't have to rape another car guy to survive. It's about profit, i don't have to make it all off of one job. When i left for work at the firehouse this morning, there was 11 jobs going at the shop. There are 3 waiting for me to call, and 3 jobs in the upholstery shop.
The problem only second to cost is...PAINT JOB JAIL! Not talking days or weeks, but more likely months and hopefully not years.
That's why i recommend getting contact info for the owners of the cars sitting in a prospective shop. If they've been there locked up, a shop isn't gonna give you their number. That's a red flag. First red flag is the car's sitting there covered in dust.
Is there a vo-tech with a body shop program near you. Sometimes they will take in a project for the students to work on. Anthony may ne able to tell us if this is an option these days.
Not for me.(at the moment) We don’t do much outside work. You can’t teach and run a body shop at the same time. Most programs have issues with older cars. The projects we do take a long time for a couple reasons. When the course “metal welding and cutting “ is being taught, that’s when I do something cool like cutting the bus we built, or a body drop. We also do the “not necessarily on the curriculum” stuff after school. The virus crap has a lot of school way behind. We’re just now finishing an all over we started 2 years ago due to closures and staggered scheduling. But a car that is torn down, stripped/blasted wouldn’t be completely out of the picture for us (once we get caught up) or most other schools
I’m a high school shop class. Which means adults are not allowed (insert joke about the instructor) on campus or not teaching adults and HS students at the same time. our local college program is different. Sometimes a retired person enrolls and basically takes the class to work on their own car and use the equipment.
Little different then Anthony as we are mechanics but we have quit taking customers projects in as there are constant issues with parts etc. and us instructors end up working to finish things that we just plain don’t have time to do with students. I can’t say how many engines have come in in the past that were “good runners” just needed freshening up that have holes in cylinders and we end up with hours into sleeves and machine work. In my experience more often then not people think it’s a great way to get work done for free…. In fact some people go so far as too imply that they are doing us a “favor” by letting us work on their stuff for free.
Couple of things.As I have a close family member who has a collision repair shop and is a car guy. He will not even consider doing an overall paint job however he does do a lot of repair work on the local collector cars. Scratches dents and dings.He would never paint someone elses prep work. Over alls take too much space and time to do it right . When someone says work on it in your slack time and you never get slack time that is what can turn into "paint jail" so he just says no. We have a local junior college with an autobody program. Had a fellow take an ot vehicle there. They called him and said it was done. Fender and hood didnt match the rest of the car and body work was horrible. Car wasn't even completley assembled.Wiring cut and not repaired when they tore it down. No headlights and wouldnt even start!When he questioned the instructor he was told "That's as good as it gets"! He had the car towed to our family shop where it was finished assembly and wiring repaired. Didnt even fix the bad paint match or bodywork. The instructor ended up getting fired . Just beware as I know all college programs are not like that.
@57 Fargo and @anthony myrick had a neighbour that bought a Lamborghini kit car and had a local high school chop out the fiero body and install the fibreglass body, mount all the panels and install a 305 tpi engine and was absolutely pissed off that they had not completed the wiring and the gaps on the “lambo” doors where off. this was all done in two semesters so 1 school year, before COVID. Did not cost him a single dollar in labour and he was still pissed off he did not get back a running car. I tried to help him one day as he had no mechanical ability but watched YouTube so of course he was a pro and critisized anything I did or recommend. ok chip foose ! Have at her! Stoped talking to him that day . I thought the school did an amazing job at bringing his car to a point. The local high school is know for having a fantastic trades program as it’s an old high school and has a great shop , wood shop welding snd machine shop along with other trade programs. your correct in saying some folks like to think of it as free labour.
Just an example of some of my quality work i strive to be the best yeah it's on topic. 65 GTO. "Don't go somewhere else and get ripped off, come to Lloyd's autobody first"
Disclaimer because someone will not get the sarcasm in my above post, that is what was brought to me. I did not perform that high quality repair.
@Lloyd's paint & glass Lol !! Me and my buddies used to do that to rocker panels on our 500 buck winter beaters , fill them with foam , let it dry , carve it into a shape , smooth over some bondo, rubber rocker guard and then some paint. We would get a winter out of it , complete shit , but for a few hours time you had a “ respectable “ car to beat around in the winter. we used to cal it “ Bye Bye foam” spray it in a hole and bye bye rust n rot !!! Hahahaha!!! would never even think of using it on a car I even remotely considered caring about !!! Never mind a GTO
In the '50's as a stupid kid, I used the old tape up the rocker and punch holes in the top and fill it with plaster of paris trick. Actually looked pretty good.
LMAO. Stupid kid trick for me was, mix up some bondo, Take 1/2 a pad of OO steel wool and stir it into the bondo. Take the saturated steel wool and jamb it into the hole with a stick, leaving a little sticking out to grind flush when it set up. One final coat of bondo and finish sand. It took a whole pad for the bigger holes
My .02, do the body work yourself and the paint. Use good quality products, a good gun and learn to color sand/buff yourself. The knowledge will be priceless and the other 20k can go for more tools and cars . I like drivers and not being afraid to drive them almost anywhere.
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