Paid to restore a car.... Questions.

This is the way a lot of cars end up sitting in primier in peoples back yards.

The magazine quality place down the street from me charger $5000 for "just" a paint job
that includes pulling the windshields but no other trim.

There's a guy that works part time for a friend of mine that charges $1800 for just a pint job, and he has a really good reputation. That's paint and prep, but no body work.

By the hour and pay as you go are probably the best advice...but that also opens up..."why did it take you 4 hours to patch a quarter sized hole?"

I've seen a LOT of 64-66 mustangs with "thick paint" like that one looks to have, and most had absolutely horrendous backyard style surprises underneath.
In the 80s, people were churning out "restored" first gen mustangs at the rate of about one per 20 houses up in Ohio.

"Charger"...instead of "charges"...ha ha...must be predisposed to end that word that way...I even noticed it was done in a previous post and tried not to do it...