csherman

I answered this a while ago
A production, all over, base coat clear coat, two tone, wet sanded and polished is around 6,000.00
That is just the paint - shooting the paint - masking etc......
This is no body work and the body prepped and ready to paint
NOW
add for body work
add for fixing damage
fitting and setting and making gaps
stripping of the paint
very easy to get to 15 to 20 easy......

pwilks

I paid 11k to strip and paint, but that price was negotiated 3-4 years ago and it has gone up. I posted a while back with some details, but it sounds like your out of the market. Shooting the paint is the easiest part of the job and only takes a couple of days. All the time and most of the money is in stripping and minor body touch ups.

Kevova

If you decide to spend thousands you want it guaranteed. The insurance companies give lifetime repair guarantee. So you should the same deal, no excuses, paint gets funky or flakes 3 years later. Shop fixes it for free. Sometimes you will find excellent moonlighting painters, but you need cash. When shopping you may want a contract to state costs and completion date. So you know when car will be done.

Dan Hampton

A good friend of mind just picked up a rolling pallet Cobra from Unique. The body is delivered to the painter in gelcoat. Everything is disassembled (doors, trunk, hood). We used to build these in the mid to late 90s over the winter, proceed to drive them over the summer, sell them, and repeat the process the following winter.

We used to be able to get this done for around $3,000. Twenty years later, you are looking at $8K to $10K. No body work to speak of. Just painting an empty shell.

My advice to the person who started this thread: be sure--damn sure--that you find the most reputable and honest person to do the work. I have seen more horror stories than I can count of high prices paid and the work never getting done. A common refrain in the paint and body business. We have always paid more than the going rate, but the quality was excellent and the time frame we required was met.

Bowlerdude

Around here there isn't much to negotiate..you get told how to have your car painted. There's no such thing as a decent paint job or a factory type job..only show quality because that's what you really want, you just don't want to pay for it. lol

About 8 years ago I was in the process of restoring a 67 coupe and since I like original cars my goal was to duplicate as close as I could a a factory paint job. I know the materials are different than they were so I knew it wouldn't be perfect but I just wanted to get close. I'd seen waaaay too many over restored and over painted Corvettes and I didn't want one of those because they never looked like that even when new. My inspiration was the book Corvette Restoration State of the Art.

This is when I found out that there's no such thing as a decent factory type paint job available for Corvettes. Apparently jobs like this can be had for other cars but not vintage Vettes. lol

mike coletta

You have obviously not had a car painted recently. MAACO maybe???

hummiscorvettetaken

I don't know, I was watching the reality TV show "Dallas Car Sharks" and their whole restoration budget for a vehicle was $1500 including the paint job! AND they get it done in a week - need to find that shop

Bowlerdude

I tried Maaco..they told me I really was just looking to avoid the cost of a show quality paint job. lol They quoted me $30k to paint my old Honda.

AZDoug

I knew guy that used a roller to paint his 1950 ish ford truck. It didn't cost much and it looked lot better than it did when he started. At least it was all one color..

Doug

Jackfit

My car needed 30 hrs of sanding just for the rear end , doors back....plus paint , plus painting....$6,000.....

In Maine.....full prep and paint 7-12k......but again.....not as much demand here....

Jack

Kevova

It's all in the prep. Most discount painters cut corners prepping. Incomplete sanding, filling, masking etc. Earl Scheinb has his own paint and colors, but they would use your paint in the past. It's a driver quality sell today paint job most of the time.

Dreaming60’s

I guess I'm truly amazed that paint can cost $1500-2000 per gallon and other prep materials can raise the material cost to $6000 to $8000+ . That just sounds like extreme rape to me. I understand EPA, insurance issues and all the other BS that goes with manufacturing paint and with operating a paint shop, but material costs and labor to accomplish the job are just astounding to me. You can paint a single or twin piston aircraft for less than these numbers.

I'm 69 or would consider doing more myself. I could strip the chrome and stainless, but that's about all.

I'm taking the car into Loomis Automotive in a few weeks for a post, pre-buy inspection, to see exactly what I bought. He's done a lot of knockout cars over the years, so I'll see what can be done here in OKC and how much it cost.

I have to admit the paint jobs I've seen on this forum are absolutely knockouts, but at these cost I'd be afraid to driver it!

Butch

MikeM

But all that sanding, leveling, and many coats of clear are not required on a "decent" paint job.

Mr D.

I'm in the same 2008 camp as Doug;

2008 Jacksonville FL - I delivered my car to the painter completely stripped to bare glass and all trim removed and no body work required. Paint and buff was $8,000

Fast forward to 2016 Huntsville AL - Again I delivered my car to the painter completely stripped to bare glass and all trim removed but this time I needed some body work (minor in my opinion). Body work, paint and buff was $25,000.

To this day I still have a red *** on that $25,000 paint job. I was "estimated" at $18,000. What did I learn, next time do the body work and paint myself. For what's it worth the labor rate was $65 hr.

firstgear

You are correct if you don’t mind a few sanding marks here and there....or you don’t mind some orange peel...but then don’t be surprised when you show it some place or go to sell it that people just aren’t appreciating your car. You get what you pay for. There are no free rides unless you do it yourself!

dplotkin

This response is the perfect example of why the question asked is problematic. There does not seem to be a standard we all agree upon as to what a paint job is, and, many don't have the slightest idea what goes into body work and paint when done to a high standard, which is the ONLY standard we should measure by. You don't ask your Doctor for a cheap examination do you?

If someone asked "what should an engine rebuild cost" I wonder if we would see comments like the one above..."engine rebuild? Change the bearings, rings and hone the holes, in the car, $1,000.

Or..."last time I did one (1966) it was $150 but I helped the guy."

Many people might live with a half-assed engine rebuild but I think we all agree there is only one right way to rebuild an engine.

I'm here to say, there is only one right way to paint a car. There is no good, better or best, just right. Many here may be happy with almost right, sort of right, could have been right, or Earl Scheib/Macco right. But right is right and a good body guy with pride and a reputation to uphold will do it only one way...the right way. For the average car not in need of extensive body repairs its going to be $20,000+. You can lessen that cost substantially by doing it yourself, and I know guys who have done stunning work in their garage, but even they did it right.

Doing it right includes stripping it complete, fixing the sins and damage, followed by a regimen of application and sanding that goes on as long as it takes to get it right. Not half right, not good enough for you right, but right.

We cannot talk about anything in this world sensibly unless we all agree on a standard. Paint work should be held to the standard of "right." Anything short of that, in my opinion is "not quite right."

These cars were expensive to paint, but they were done "right." If I couldn't have coughed up the cabbage for both, I would have waited until I could.

Dan

jerrybramlett

You just bought a factory-black '62 Corvette with 97% original paint. That's incredibly rare and special.

I think it would be a shame to put any paint job on it. I'd polish and live with it, or just sell the car and get something else that already looks exactly like what you want to own.

That doesn't answer your question, but it's what I'd do. If you paid a fair price for the car, you should be able to get that much for it as-is. There are a lot of nuts like me who are willing to overpay for original paint Corvettes. Especially black ones.

Kevova

Worse there are some that are supposed to have fit and paint issues. Perfect paint and fit means body was worked over and repainted.

Mr D.

I don't have a problem with changing the bearings, rings and hone the holes if that is all that is required to spec out the engine.

Also there is nothing wrong with using Earl Scheib/Macco for a 10 footer if that's what your after.

Everything doesn't have to be OMG expensive, these are just used Chevy's.

AZDoug

You can buy Imron airplane paint for $200-$300/gallon, but i wouldn't paint a classic car with it, it would look like a grounded airplane.

All those eye popping pearl metallic colors cost a lot for the pearl component, it isn't ground aluminum flakes anymore,a nd the chemistry to make long lasting paint that doesn't put a bunch of solvent in the a ir, isn't cheap either.

Doug