Body work and paint price

Just an idea:

If you're at a school with a decent technology program, why don't you try posting an ad on a bullentin board for someone with some welding/body work experience.

If that doesn't work/help, spend some time researching how to do body some body work. A lot of people don't know how until they actually do it.

Something I did when I was a teenager was ask a body shop to help me fix the rust on my car. I told them I would like to do the actual labor to learn, but I need direction. I would work in the body shop after school cleaning and running parts for free and the owner spent 3 hours every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night teaching me and letting me use his shop & materials for free. I ended up working (on the payroll) there for 3 years after graduation.