i own a paint & body shop here in tx. what i do is quote the paint job & damage that i can see. so he knows going in the price & let him know that there might be hidden damage ? if found i would call him have him come by the shop so he could see the damage & we would talk over the steps needed to take & price. you need to check around & find someone who is honest & that you trust!!!!! there is good & bad in this business just like any other!! good luck

 

Yes that is my car in frame four. What is wrong with the paint? Because it is driven it has the usual stone chips. And it is faded in spots but not seriously. I would say it's a five-foot car, perhaps 8.5/10. It is an older paint job (>10 years) albeit well-preserved.

Here is the dilemma. I intend to have a BB hood installed. The hood is now red and will obviously have to be stripped. My fear is that the colour match will be difficult. Both in terms of the actual colour tone and the type of paint (lacquer, apparently not now available). The DuPont colour match machine is apparently very good and this concern may be unfounded. For 2005 I can live with "close", and just the hood, but eventually I want the complete job done. That is the question for myself: is this the time? The car is in dead storage and a shop would have five winter months to work on it.

I have a line on four shops that I will be speaking with shortly. I cannot do the stripping myself for a number of reasons. My fallback position is just to have the hood painted.

Thanks to all for the various comments!

 

Paul,
Have you considered asking the local Corvette club members for a recomendation for an honest body shop that has a good reputation. The local club should offer a few good leads. Check out the shop and talk to the owners. One will probably rise to the top. Get several complete estimates that are based on what they CAN SEE NOW with the understanding that additional work will be priced as it makes itself evident. That way if nothing does show up under the current paint, you know what you can expect. The added cost for the extra work will not be riduculous if the shop is honest. Reputation is everything here.

I had damage to my Vette once. I knew who the local Vette specialist was and who the best custom paint shop was. The local Corvette club had nothing but good things to say about them. They both gave very close estimates that were very reasonable to repair the damage and paint the area in question. The Vette shop got the job as they knew Vettes inside and out. The owner listened to what I wanted and he said to me "I know what you want". He was sincere and that sealed the deal. Once the job was in the rough, he asked me to come to the shop and talk about the job. He said that the car would have 50% new paint for the quoted price of $3000 and agreed to in advance but that he would give me a show quality complete car paint job in laquer over 100% of the car for an additional $1000. I jumped at it and was thrilled with the result. It took about 10 months to complete the work. I picked up the car and took it directly to the Chevrolet Tonnawanda engine plant where they were having a car show that day. I was one proud papa. This was probably 12 years ago so the prices will adjust but you get the idea.

-Mark.

 

If the pictures do the paint justice... Very nice paint!

 

stingr69,
I have three leads from my fellow Club members. One is active in NCRS and owns a 1967 L79 convertible. Another hit a deer on the highway last summer with his 1964 convertible and is having that repaired to his satisfaction at the moment. The third is a licensed mechanic with good contacts in the automotive field. The fourth choice is mine: the shop that painted my 1979 in 2000. So I have a good solid base to work with. We shall see....

 

Yeah, I'm having my car painted right now. Its hard to find someone who can actually paint a vette for a reasonable price. Painters are scared to give an estimate and strip the paint off to find the fiberglass cracked all to hell. Its costing me about $4500 to strip, do body work, and paint my car. Good luck.



Austin

 

Actually that's a pretty good price!

 

When I was shopping for paint I had three different shops tell me they wouldn't even touch it! And my body was in good shape.

Ended up painting it myself. I belong to a Hot Rod club with a nice spray booth and a couple of good body men...

 

your paint looks fine.