Andy B

I'm taking my 65 convertible to the painter in the next week or so. The body and all the components that need paint have been completely disassembled and stripped to the bare fiberglass. I have already redone the engine compartment, wheel-wells and underside of the body. The painter is going prepare the body and paint the car, three color coats three clear. The painter comes highly recommended and I have no doubts of his ability, in fact he painted the car once before in the late sixties. When I spoke to him to discuss how much this was going to cost me he said, "oh, $4,500 should cover it". I'm now curious as to what to what others have faced when it comes to having their midyear painted.
Thanks
Andy B http://vette.20m.com

MasterDave

I had quotes on mine from 5K to 15K. :eek: :mad . With lotsa hunting I found a guy that did it for much less. For me, much more than 5K would make me more paranoid than I already am to drive it. Get a written estimate from him. Hope it turns out good.... :yesnod: And I do hope you mean that you've stripped the paint down to the gel-coat, not bare fiberglas. If you see fiberglas matting or chords in the body it will entail much, much more work to re gel-coat your car and will drive the cost way up.


[Modified by MasterDave, 11:07 AM 9/5/2001]

klen

I did pretty much the same thing you did this past spring. I brought mine to the painter primed and rough sanded (150) . Same kinda guy - well reccomended , he did it Time & materials -- priming,sanding color & clear.
His total bill was $3,400.00 . Not a "show job" but a damn finish for the price. I think you're guy is right on @ 4500 . It's a real thrill to get it back all pretty after all that hard work !!
Good Luck,Enjoy It.
KLEN

kahuner

Andy B;

FWIW, here in Detroit things tend to be a little more costly than in most other parts of the US but none the less when I checked the going rates for a paint job (that included stripping to bare glas) it came out to $7~8K. The breakdown went something like this: disassembly of the car and reassembly $1K, media blast $1K, prep and paint including adjusting all gaps (hood, doors etc) $5~6K max.

Keep in mind that this was a turn key deal and since you have your car stripped and disassembled, for budget purposes $4500 I would think would be a "not to exceed" number.

The shops that I talked to (w/o fail) made a big deal about show quality vs. a factory paint job. I would ask them to define/show you the level of quality you'd be able to expect. Don't just focus on the price. There should be some standard of measure by which you can judge their work.

67ratrag

5K including body prep. This did not include stripping off old paint.

Andy B

Hey everyone thanks for the replies….

The more research I do on this topic the more comfortable I feel about the money situation on this one.

MasterDave, you really scared me for a while there with the gel coat issue. I felt like a real dumb foot in that I never even thought about it while I was spending countless weekend hours stripping the body by hand with paint remover. By the way, I highly recommend the Rubbermaid dishwashing gloves, I went through three sets of cheap ones real quick, I switched to the high dollar Rubbermaid’s and they never let me down, that paint remover really burns the bare skin!!! I talked to the painter tonight and he being familiar with the job said, “yeah, I know, the price includes sealing the glass”.

Thanks again for the info
Andy B http://vette.20m.com

Stingrr

Rat, where'd you get that poster of the Rat Pack? I love it!

Grey Ghost

I'm not much at turning a wrench, but I did paint my car and have some knowledge of the process, after painting several cars in my life. One thing you may want to inquire about is: "Color Sanding", after the clear has hardened ( 24 hours or so, air dry), you go over it with 2000 - 3500 grit sand paper, this flattens out the orange peel and any trash. It makes it perfectly flat, like a mirror. Then you start compounding with a buffer and different grits of compound to bring out the shine. This process, actually removes some of the clear coat. But, the finish is perfectly flat and reflective - just like a mirror :D

P.S. - Ask for a "high solids", paint. I like PPG, but Dupont is just as good. All have various product offerings in their product line.
THAT - is how you get a show car finish. Labor intensive, but a perfect paint job.


[Modified by Grey Ghost, 8:42 AM 9/6/2001]

Curtis

Sounds reasonable. Tell him you don't want any peel. :D

Curt

65convrat

Andy, I am having my '65 convertable painted right now, it is costing me $8K, and it is suppose to take "4 to 5 months" to finish. :crazy: Good luck, it makes me very nervous, and my wife is about to kill me. :smash:


[Modified by 65convrat, 4:51 PM 9/6/2001]