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Hello. I’m looking to paint my C3 back to it’s original color.
I was told by a Corvette specialty shop that it could run up to 20 k. Replacing weather stripping, strip paint down to bare fiberglass, disassemble car, , some frame repair etc.
They are reputable and do excellent work.
Does this sound reasonable? What has your experience been? I appreciate any input.
Hello. I’m looking to paint my C3 back to it’s original color.
I was told by a Corvette specialty shop that it could run up to 20 k. Replacing weather stripping, strip paint down to bare fiberglass, disassemble car, , some frame repair etc.
They are reputable and do excellent work.
Does this sound reasonable? What has your experience been? I appreciate any input.
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.
Definitely in the ball park for todays Vette paint jobs. I'm almost done with the paint work on mine and they hit me for $26k for paint/body work and materials, no parts. Just the paint supplies alone was $4800 at the PPG store. That was drive in, strip to bare fiberglass, body work, paint (color change), reassemble...show quality. Then tack on another $4400 for chrome/stainless work and about $5k for additional parts (glass, fasteners, emblems, marker lights etc etc)... Repaint costs can get up there REAL quick, and this is not even for a body off. I was pretty sticker shocked myself.
Back in the early 90s dad had his avanti ( fiberglass car ) stripped and reshot white pearl,
He had one of the nations top avanti guys do it and it was a stunning show winning job,
He paid less that 5k,
In 89 my 81 wide body got a show car job done by a top vette guy and it was about 8k just the paint part,
The vette brand has always drove the price up there,
I doubt a good hired vette job can happen for less than 10k, today
Strip and shoot and it should be a show finish for the tall money.
But on the flip side jim oldgto painted his car at home himself, its a show quailty job even though jim is super modest about it.
He did it very cheap,
Ive seen lots of great home jobs even good macco jobs as far as driver condition goes, just depends what you want...
In the case of my 81 wide body, layer after layer wet sanded buffed up lacquer, like a black mirror,
And in my case scared wasnt the right word but it dig take all the fun out of the car for me,
I soon flipped it to a buddy LEO i worked with.
Then i bought my modded 66, most fun car i ever owned miss it badly,
Black primer.
My current 69 will be satin black, not the cup o tea for most but i will love it.
Greg,
In todays dollars at a corvette speciality shop where every nut bolt and part with have both corvette tax and corvette shop tax, then corvette shop corvette labor tax, sure i can see it hitting 20k.
Another reason if i didnt do the work i wouldnt have a c3.
1971 LT-1: drove the car to the body shop, they disassembled, stripped to bare glass, few small repairs made, sprayed, re-assembled, all new weatherstripping, striped the hood. Show quality work. Total bill; $9,000. This was late 2017, so pretty recent pricing. Connecticut area.
18 years ago my paint was $7,500 for paint and labor only. I bought a new windshield and weatherstripping, they stripped the paint by sanding, removed doors, hood, all trim, etc. After they removed the bright work, I sent the bumpers off to be chromed and the stainless straightened and polished.
Unfortunately I had already rebuilt my front end and rear end and the shop decided to paint the wheel wells black which got all over my new parts. Plus all the sanding dust was inside the car and inside the instrument clusters. I spend hours and hours cleaning the undercarriage of over spray and replacing the interior.
That's a reasonable price for a quality strip refinish & paint along with the other work. Don't listen to the rattle can paint crowd. Good prep takes a lot of man hours so don't listen to the cheap quickie people as they are the ones that are on here wandering why there paint is bubbling falling off or looks like it was applied with a brush & the paint removed with ZIP STRIP. The cost of material and the pollution restrictions down draft paint booth ETC. have increased the cost a lot.
That's a reasonable price for a quality strip refinish & paint along with the other work. Don't listen to the rattle can paint crowd. Good prep takes a lot of man hours so don't listen to the cheap quickie people as they are the ones that are on here wandering why there paint is bubbling falling off or looks like it was applied with a brush & the paint removed with ZIP STRIP. The cost of material and the pollution restrictions down draft paint booth ETC. have increased the cost a lot.
Did all the work myself and wouldn't do it again, provided I could find somebody I trusted. You really want to check your shop out throughly and make sure you know what they are quoting in writing. Materials alone cost me $5K and with labor I can see $20K for what you describe. As to doing it yourself, only if you have done this before and know what mistakes to avoid. It is somewhat harrowing and you need to follow the paint mfgr's process.
You didn't mention the color, metallics are tricky. Also here in CA in my area, water-based paints are required, which put me off considerably as to who did what.
There are 3500-5000 in supplies to do the job CORRECTLY... Catalyzed products by Spies Hecker or AXALTA
.I have about 200 hours in the body and paint work with ONE 5" x 5 " patch welded into the dash corner.... do the math... No disassembly NO reassembly. is included in those hours.
Not to poo-poo a great paint job, but is the car really worth it? Seriously, sell what you have now and buy the car you really want in the best condition you can find.
Just finished going through this process. 20K here in Illinois is what my shop charged.. Complete total strip down.I did have some wind shield pillar work down that added a little bit to the cost. Almost a year at the body shop prepping the car for the final paint. The body lines are laser straight, all gaps perfect! Worth every bit of the $$$ to me. Came out show quality!
Not to poo-poo a great paint job, but is the car really worth it? Seriously, sell what you have now and buy the car you really want in the best condition you can find.
That's the best advice on the forums...
I tell people to buy the best car that has a born with drive train, solid lifters, 4 speed, and original paint, you can afford... in that order...
my best friend owns a body shop, all custom stuff. he tells everyone- its $10k minimum for a paint job.
I painted a truck last summer, and buying top of the line PPG through his shop discount, I still had over $4k almost $5k in material. quality PPG basecoat is over $300/gal for certain colors.
if you are adding in removing body from frame, and then frame repair- $20k is not out of line.
Price is relevant to the condition of the car going into the shop and what the end result is when it is completed.
You made very general statements "disassembly", "some frame work".
Does that include pulling the body to repair the frame or did the shop tell you the birdcage needed to be repaired or replaced.
How much body work?
Was the car ever in an accident and is the shop having to fix someone else's poor repairs?
What type of paint?
Just changing the type of paint can save you $$$$'s.
I wanted to paint my 33 hot rod Corvette yellow and just changing over to the new Camaro yellow saved me several thousand.
Some paints are single stage, other type paints are three stage and the car is essentially painted three times.
Give us some more details, you could be getting the deal of a lifetime depending on the work needed and the man hours to complete the job.
Check out rvzio's 71 and 69 project threads (which are awesome) and see the work he did himself.
You can probably get a good idea of the work involved for what the shop is telling you what needs to be done.
Greg,
In todays dollars at a corvette speciality shop where every nut bolt and part with have both corvette tax and corvette shop tax, then corvette shop corvette labor tax, sure i can see it hitting 20k.
Another reason if i didnt do the work i wouldnt have a c3.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my Vette, and I spend the money on it when I can. But 20 grand. Really. Was looking at a nice 69 vert today in the for sale section. 16 grand or best offer. If I had to come up with 20 thousand for a paint job, thinking I would find another hobby. 20,000$ paint job = Ludicrous
10-26-2018, 12:12 AM
Cost of removing old paint & new paint
Ditto brother.
