'76stingraycolorado

Hello,

I've been doing some research on getting my '76 repainted. Needless to say, I've been shocked at how much it costs to get a good paint job.

I had a shop in Castle Rock, CO quote me at $15K. This was for a complete color change. And my car needs VERY little in the way of bodywork. I have about a quarter-sized chip out of my rear fender and some spider web cracking in the hood and rear bumper. Everything else is in great shape.

I've also had a few guys who work in their home-based shops quote me at around $6-$8k. And I'm not sure if there work would be much better than Maaco.

If I had a 60s era car worth a lot of money, it would make sense investing this amount in paint. However, it's really easy to get upside down quickly when you have a '76. The paint jobs cost more than the car is worth!

In addition, I'd like to do a pearl coat or metallic pain job, which I'm sure adds a ton more to the price.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. I live in Colorado. Let me know if there is a shop in my area that does a good job painting fiberglass at a "reasonable" price.

Thanks, Jerry

johnt365

I could not afford to pay that much either. I did all the disassembly, scraping, sanding, priming, body work, blocking and sanding myself. This is a ton of manual labor. I found a shop that would just shoot the color and clear. He charged $1000 and it turned out great.

Then I took it home and put it all back together. To be clear, he shot the outside surfaces. I had already painted the inside of doors, hinges, jambs and drip rails. He painted the car with doors on it, hood was off and painted on the side. I paid for the materials separately too.

If you can find a small shop or one of those home shop guys to just do a quick sand on the primer and then paint it, you could save some money.

I have a lot of respect for paint and body guys. Its hard work but is a great pay off when you stop back and its done.

Good luck,
John

scottyp99

Yeah, man, it's not that hard to squirt paint on a car. I'll admit there's a knack to it, but it's that hard. Getting the car ready to have paint squirted on it, well.....that's a horse of a different color, as they say. Tedious, monotonous, time-consuming, delicate, work. You can get a car painted pretty cheap, if your willing to provide the elbow grease and present a car that just needs a scuff-n-squirt. "sweat equity"

Scott

bluegtp

The guy that painted mine did a great job. He said it's usually hard to find shops that'll do a full paint job on older car because there's not a lot of money in it and takes up a lot of shop space. He said the money is in the insurance jobs. In and out mostly cookie cutter stuff on newer vehicles. I don't know how true this is but makes sense.

Find someone reputable and work out a price or something as mentioned above. Good luck.

John 65

BINGO !

That's what did it for me on a few of my cars, after getting some estimates it was time to learn how to finish it at home. Find a little spot that needs some attention as a confidence builder, that's all it takes to get the ball rolling. It's very rewarding actually. Good luck.

'76stingraycolorado

Nice looking car. Is that a metallic or pearl finish? Looks great!

terry82

I was told 10k .if it ever gets paint I will do it .It would be hard to get 10 k for a1982.

gkull

What is shocking? Look at the man hours to take all the chrome and crap off your car including the mirrors and door handles. Then you take it down to the fiberglass and fill the seams......... Do all the body work.... mask and tape everything. Two stage paint job with many hours of buffing. Then put the car back together. $100 per hour shop rate and 120 hours = $12 grand then you have $3000 in paint and supplies.

Or you can get the home guy renting a booth and he figures that he can use cheaper paint for $1500 and he is going to put in 100 hours at $45 and you get a $6000 job.

You really pay for what you get. My painter buddy and I spent probably 300 hours on a show car once

TedH

Looks like my C3 is bound to be one of those barn finds with 40-year old paint (painted 1994, including all work for $3,000). 'Think I will just drive it until I can't anymore.

Frankenvette

Here is a little DIY inspiration thread...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...d-you-use.html

zwede

I had the painter shoot my '71 in a ready-to-shoot state. All body work & primer was done. He charged $3K for shooting PPG BC/CC and color sanding and buffing. At one point he told me "Do you realize your car breaks down into 20 separate pieces that need to be painted?" He also said he won't do another C3 that cheap.

scottyp99

How many months did it have to sit in his shop before it was done? And how many times did he call you saying he needed some money from you? Man, body guys are just shady dudes, most of 'em. 3,000 bucks to squirt paint? What is the "20 pieces" bit? Open the doors, mask, scuff, squirt. Let paint dry. close doors. Mask, scuff, squirt. Hold out hand for money from sucker.

Scott

joewill

buy a good painting book, read this forum's threads on painting.. then read them again. prep your body, buy supplies and paint the car yourself.

yes, hard to find a good painter that will do it for cheap.. the body shops get the insurance work and they get good margins for that.. most don't want to do your car but will if they can get their price. plus way too many customers expect perfection and won't pay until they get it.. eating up all margins.

most of the prep work ( removing bumpers etc, masking etc), they get the 12$/hour kid to do and charge you 120/hr.. and you never know if you will get their master painter or an apprentice doing the spraying and buffing. its a crap shoot.

augiedoggy

I'm sorry but if you pay $3,000 for paint,primer, filler and sandpaper to paint a little corvette you are doing something wrong...I realize the going markup for paint and supplied in this business is usually about 100% but even $1,500 cost to a bodyshop is high. we are talking about simple one color paint jobs here not the mona lisa painted across the hood.
you can buy good quality primer base and clear all for under $500. and it will hold up and last just as long as some astronomically marked up stuff.... much of that is in custom colored paint you cant find anywhere and supply and demand. I hasve painted a few cars now and used ppg and the coatingstore stuff... my last paint job was tokyo drift color changing chameleon... cost me $400.00... the bodywork and proper surface prep makes almost all the difference...
body guys get used to how a certain paint lays down for them and they grow comfortable with that paint and then thats all they sometimes will use.for some its like some of the docs in the medical business, the paint distributors give them discounts and gifts for "pushing" and advertising only thier brand... it doesnt mean all other paints are inferior they just might spray different with different reducers in different temps.
on the 84 below I had made a huge mistake not knowing the clear coat had to be all be laid down withing 15 minute increments and I waited 20 minutes between the last two coats of clear... it ruined the paint job and I had to repaint it again. the coating store gave me all the paint for half price because they felt bad for not staing this in their instruction sheets...
the car was filthy and very dusty in the pics below.

zwede

Car was done in 1.5 weeks. He honored the original price. I've taken other cars to him after that, he does good work. The $3K included $1,200 of paint (I checked, that's how much it cost with jobber discount). It also included 4 days of color sanding and polishing.

This was a high quality job. Each piece that was painted was painted separately.

Thanks for calling me a "sucker". I should have called you first. You're obviously a pro.

augiedoggy

I can tell you about 4 hrs with a razorblade and $9 heat gun works wonders for stripping the old paint off...

Jeff_Keryk

Painting these cars is big bucks. I paid 8 large; we had to do an ACI door-to-door front end due to poorly repaired damage. But the result is awesome. Believe it or not, it was more then fair.

ajrothm

Yes I agree this stuff is out of control these days.. I also have been starting a search for a good painter. My dad just recently had his 67' coupe painted back to its original Cortez silver from maroon... Body on, drive in, drive out... Paint/chrome/weather stripping was $15k..





I'm not going to say its a 100 point show paint job but...its pretty damn near flawless... So I take my 71' to the same guy and get an estimate for the same drive in/drive out, color change paint job, he told me $18-20k.... It took all I had not to laugh in his face.. My car needs virtually minimal body work...mainly just stripping/prep and repaint..

Needless to say, my search continues... My car is a driver that gets a lot of miles, gets raced quite a bit and even sees rain from time to time...(imagine that...)... $10k I could swallow... double that? no freakin way... Maybe if it was a 67' 427 convertible or something but..

So if anyone has any leads to a good, REASONABLE paint and body shop in/around Houston area, let me know...

scottyp99

I never called you a sucker. Although, after re-reading your first post, I see that I was a little hasty. You did mention that he color sanded, polished, and completely disassembled and re-assembled your car's body. Doors, bumper covers, mirrors, headlight covers, and a few things that I can't even think of if he got 20 separate pieces. So, I apologize. For misjudging the contents of your post. Not for calling you a sucker, because I didn't. I made a comment about how many people in many service industries view us all as suckers to be fleeced.

Also, I gotta say, it sounds like you have found a great body guy, don't lose his phone number!

Anyway, in the theme of this thread, yeah, having a car painted can be expensive. If you drive down to Mexico, you can have a car painted pretty cheap, I've heard, because they have a lower standard of living down there.

Scott

Kacyc3

I know prepping these cars for paint is a PITA but damn that's expensive, looks like I will be doing my own work and calling in a favor when mine gets painted.