Cost of Paint and Bodywork?!

I got my Dart painted 18 months ago. No rust but some significant dents. I disassembled and stripped the car and the shop did the body work and shot the paint. $12000 - - old Plum Crazy in Base coat clear coat. I haven't seen a paint shop yet that wanted to do the disassembly/ reassembly work or strip the old paint so they will charge big to do it. You can save a bunch if you do the work that doesn't require their specialized skills - or just take out a second mortgage.....
When I had the Chevelle done I had to have it stripped and dismantled. I suspect even almost 20 years ago someone would have charged an easy 10k. Very time consuming and you can make the body worse if you aren't careful. I used a Sandblaster but had done other cars so there was no damage to the metal.....

JW