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I tell people the same thing all of the time. Stay away from cars that need any kind of paint and body work, unless you are a paint and body guy yourself. Otherwise you will quickly get upside down on most C3 purchases..unless it’s a #s matching BB car. Investment wise, you’ll lose your *** if it needs paint. However, if it’s a car you really want for whatever reason, then go for it and don’t sweat it, just know it’s gonna be high and you’ll be upside down. C2s are another story...
Truth...
I tell people all the time you are better off repairing the paint that is there or else you may as well restore the car top to bottom...once you take it apart to paint it where do you stop?
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Man I wish I had that kind of money to throw around. I do most of the work myself, strip, repair, paint prep only because I can't afford to pay $10-20K for someone else to do it. I have a '75 Vette, the whole car in nice condition isn't even worth close to $20k. lol My vette is all tore apart and I'm preparing to strip paint. This is my '66 Plymouth Fury, I did everything except shoot the paint (PPG) base/clear coat and I was into the whole job for $2200! (and a lot of man hours!)
John; You're going to find the prices in this tread all over the place.
It depends where you live and how much bodyshop competition there is in your area. Then there is expertise. On top of that there is a lot that even a ham-fisted owner can do to lower the price drastically.
To whit:
I stripped the car myself....4 coats of laquer....cost less than $100. About 50 hours of tedium....but it came out terrific.
You can pull the weatherstrip yourself and scrape off all the trim glue.
Then Living in PHX (home of cheap bodywork and upholstery) I got the car schpritzed/ colorsanded for $3500.
I spent 11 months of Saturdays working on the car with the bodyman.
Did the whole job myself, stripped, repaired the glass, and painted all for less than $1500 and that includes buying a decent spray gun from the US. 3 months to get the body prepared. The more time you put in the preparation the better the outcome.
Don't get me wrong not perfect but very respectable for a driver.
Your list of work and the “some frame repair ect” suggests a lot more work than just a respray, so running up to $20K from a good shop shounds about right.
It's funny how you wrote "some frame repair ect" in quotes and not only is it NOT a quote, you typed ect and the OP typed etc.
I just bought a 71 BB frame off restored that has close to 55k dollars in receipts for parts and labor. that doesn't include what previous buyer paid for car. you will get upside down really fast doing it yourself. your better off buying the best car you can afford that is already done. scott from buffalo ny has a 69 small block vert in the for sale section that was also a frame off restoration and is beautiful asking 42k. if I didn't just buy mine I would be buying his. its so much cheaper and easier this way. JMO,Nutsy.
I would suggest to do all you can yourself. To strip the car to bare fiberglass is not hard at all. I did it back in the winter of '06 and it took me about 2 months. I used Captain Lee's stripper and sandpaper. The stripper took mine down to the last coat of primer, and I hand sanded the rest of it to the fiberglass. I took all the trim off myself and delivered it to the painter in that condition. He took it from there, It was not a color change, the car was not disassembled, and it was shot in single stage urethane. I paid right at 3K for mine and got a very nice driver quality paint job. I win some local show trophies with mine and get lots of compliments on the paintl
I am in the process of doing a frame off on my 75 coupe. I have stripped and disassembled both nose and rear bumpers removed glass and doors my estimate came in at 25,000. That no parts just labor and paint. I believe it’s the I don’t want to it price.
I just got quotes from shops near me.
$25k is in the ballpark for a good paint job.
Most of the shops I received quotes from charge around $110.00 per hour for labor plus materials.
I just got quotes from shops near me.
$25k is in the ballpark for a good paint job.
Most of the shops I received quotes from charge around $110.00 per hour for labor plus materials.
It's the plus materials, that's where the cost can soar!
11-12-2018, 01:24 PM
