50k for a paint job? I think I’ve said this before… I apparently went into the wrong profession.
50k could of gotten a lot of hookers and blow lol.
Cost of Paint and Bodywork?!
- Thread starter DentalDart
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50k for a paint job? I think I’ve said this before… I apparently went into the wrong profession.
50k could of gotten a lot of hookers and blow lol.
TrailBeast
AKA Mopars4us on Youtube
Ouch, but so true.
Heck, just the pebble chips inthe paint and glass suck.
Fortunately I do my own paint and body work.
It's all just hours... the 25K is a guaranteed maximum and since nothing major was found after stripping the passenger side (compared to the drivers side mess) it should be less. Hood needs some work. But consider that there is also a nose, headlight buckets, wing and a bazillion loose parts that also have to be stripped and painted I bet we come out close.
I'm sure the body work was where all the expense is on an old pickup truck.
How much would it cost for you to clean, fill cavities and make my teeth perfect and paint and clearcoat each tooth?
Remember I want perfection.
How much would it cost for you to clean, fill cavities and make my teeth perfect and paint and clearcoat each tooth?
Remember I want perfection.
If you want to make a ton of dough..........sell people what they want, not what they need.
harrisonm
Well-Known Member
As usual, someone beat me to it. What I am going to say is a combination of what others have already said.
I am not a professional body and paint guy, but I am a very good body and paint guy. Like ToolmanMike said, Materials will EASILY be $5,000. Besides paint, there are primers (epoxy, high build), sealer, cleaners, hardeners, reducers, spray gun liners, mixing cups, clear coat, sandpaper, masking supplies, etc. If you go with a budget paint system (I like TCP Global's house brand), you can beat that $5,000, but if you go with a major brand, it will likely be over 5,000. As mentioned, most shops charge at least $100 +/- per hour for labor. That means that if a guy spends 6 hours masking, priming and unmasking your car, you just spent $600. Then he spends 6 hours block sanding the primer with guide coat and cleaning the car off. There is another $600 in labor. Then he applies glazing putty to the flaws he found, blocks them and sprays on a little more primer and sands that. 8 more hours and another $800. Then, once the body is perfect, the shop will either wet sand the high build primer as final prep or apply a final coat of another primer to wet sand. Either way, they will have to wet sand the primer with several grits of paper (320, 400, and possibly 600) to get rid of all block sanding scratches to prepare the body for that perfect paint job. Then he has to thoroughly clean the car. Wet sanding is a messy proposal. There is another 10 hours, $1,000. So JUST to spray and sand primer you are looking at about $3,000. Wow. That does NOT include ANY body work, rust repair, disassembly, assembly, pre primer prep, prepping and painting the backs of fenders, doors, hood and decklid. Plus the time it takes to prep, mask and paint door jams, engine compartment, etc. Plus, do you want the bottom of the car sprayed with something? Any amount of rust repair and major body work is EXPENSIVE, and repair panels are not cheap. So you can blow through $20K very quickly even with minimal body work.
Now it is YOUR responsibility to find the right place. @barbee6043 is right when he says to go to a car show and ask owners. Then talk to the shop and try to get some references on their previous restoration paint jobs. Just because a shop does competent collision / insurance repairs doesn't mean they are the place to paint your classic ride.
MOPAROFFICIAL
Oogliboogli
Those 2 in the 1st post are **** boxes.
The paint is terrible.
I'd rather be in rattle can black than boast of garbage. If ya needed to take a piss and couldn't find an open portopisser..just hang it in the window of either of those rolling turd heeps... maybe toss that left over fast food box in as well. Lol
The paint is terrible.
I'd rather be in rattle can black than boast of garbage. If ya needed to take a piss and couldn't find an open portopisser..just hang it in the window of either of those rolling turd heeps... maybe toss that left over fast food box in as well. Lol
Phreakish
Well-Known Member
Most customers come in wanting cheap, then ***** when the cheap job they requested isn't perfect. Then cheap gets done again, but a little better. Suddenly, the bill is $15k, and then they scratch something or need a touch up after assembly.
Now it's $20k.
The smart shops add 5% every time the customer says something like "it's just a driver", "I doesn't need to be perfect", because those customers are the ones who will bring the car back when they find the underside of the rocker has more orange peel than the door panel..
Find a qualified shop, let them do their work. Pay the bill. The more interference there is, the higher the costs soar.
Now it's $20k.
The smart shops add 5% every time the customer says something like "it's just a driver", "I doesn't need to be perfect", because those customers are the ones who will bring the car back when they find the underside of the rocker has more orange peel than the door panel..
Find a qualified shop, let them do their work. Pay the bill. The more interference there is, the higher the costs soar.
I have 40K [2004-2005 dollars] into this body and paint. That doesn't include the 2 donor cars, for metal. Also, done 18 years ago. It still looks like it did at 2006 Autorama.
The car has held up well, and hasn't been wheeled or sanded since the original paint was finished. Great people, doing great work.
The entire car was chemical-stripped bath, e-coat bath/baked, and front sheet-metal is acid dipped for weight reduction. That was 5-7K of the 40.
The car has held up well, and hasn't been wheeled or sanded since the original paint was finished. Great people, doing great work.
The entire car was chemical-stripped bath, e-coat bath/baked, and front sheet-metal is acid dipped for weight reduction. That was 5-7K of the 40.
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junkyardhero
Well-Known Member
all of this. there is a WILD difference between "production" work and "custom" work. the latter of which would be pretty much anything on our cars. production work is general crash and splash collision repair. i have a production guy that does good work and it would be fine for a driver. the last car i had sprayed was about 8K and required very little body wise. the glass stayed in and i prepped the car by stripping the chrome, grille, handles and whatnot.
but if you want a show car paint job, you're gonna pay show car money. in major metropolitan areas (or california) you can count on that number being even higher.
SLOPAR72
Well-Known Member
In 2003 I paid about 10K total for a ton of metal work and base/clear on a 66 Chevelle. The car came to him completely stripped and everything primed so he had a clean slate. The car turned out really nice and certainly had it's flaws however more then one person told me I was crazy to have it at the Strip lol.... Whatever with that theory but my point is where did all this jump off the tracks?
It still comes down to your financial horsepower. If you have the money and will shell out the dough, the sky is the limit. But for the average Moe who can't do the work (or in more cases than not, have no desire too), then you are just window shopping.
When you can buy a nice vehicle (late model with all the amenities) that will rip in the 12's on a strip it turns into a no brainer. Old cars are time and money eaters and now paint and body exceed drivetrains which use to not be the case......
We are now a society of impressing people with money we don't have. This topic falls right in line with that mentality. Unless you have the disposable cash in which that doesn't apply..... Me personally, it's get it to a driver status and enjoy it.....
JW
It still comes down to your financial horsepower. If you have the money and will shell out the dough, the sky is the limit. But for the average Moe who can't do the work (or in more cases than not, have no desire too), then you are just window shopping.
When you can buy a nice vehicle (late model with all the amenities) that will rip in the 12's on a strip it turns into a no brainer. Old cars are time and money eaters and now paint and body exceed drivetrains which use to not be the case......
We are now a society of impressing people with money we don't have. This topic falls right in line with that mentality. Unless you have the disposable cash in which that doesn't apply..... Me personally, it's get it to a driver status and enjoy it.....
JW
SLOPAR72
Well-Known Member
"Good", is relative.@MMissile that car looks fantastic! Beautiful car. Like dadsbee’s cars they are perfect and more of the “yeah this is my car and I got big balls…”
I want the “my balls are small and they are lost somewhere in my wife’s purse… but I want it to look good…”
Is this possible?
Those $299 Maaco paint jobs weren't too bad in the mid 70's.
I didn't have 299, so I spent 35 on a gallon of acrylic enamel and shot my first paint job. didn't turn out too bad for a 16 year old.
I didn't have 299, so I spent 35 on a gallon of acrylic enamel and shot my first paint job. didn't turn out too bad for a 16 year old.
Well I’m not spending 20-50k on a paint job. But if I’m spending 10-20k I expect it to be better than my 20 year old paint job….
My neighbor paid 3500 for a Maaco paint job last year and I’d spend that before the 20k job if we are comparing the quality.
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...
SLOPAR72
Well-Known Member
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
Steve welder
Well-Known Member
This car had body and paint over 8years ago
I disassembled it completely
It was brought down to bare metal had quarters and complete trunk floor replaced
Trunk extension piece as well as lower windshield frame needed much work
Under hood door jambs and interior were also painted
Lead was used on all repairs
The guy you did it was lifelong auto body man and now retired who works out of his back yard garage
Soup to nuts I was into the body for somewhere between 15 and 18 grand
Today this same job would have run over 35 easily
Two months ago I took the car back to the same guy and he installed the rocker moldings, touched up a few areas and wet sanded the car with three different grades than polished and waxed
He also installed a new trunk gasket
This work alone cost me 2500 which I think was cheap
The car looks as good or better in person as it does in pictures but make no mistake although the body work is arrow straight it’s still no show car and I drive it whenever I can which I think is the way it should be
All in all I got bargain price and great work done by a honest guy
I disassembled it completely
It was brought down to bare metal had quarters and complete trunk floor replaced
Trunk extension piece as well as lower windshield frame needed much work
Under hood door jambs and interior were also painted
Lead was used on all repairs
The guy you did it was lifelong auto body man and now retired who works out of his back yard garage
Soup to nuts I was into the body for somewhere between 15 and 18 grand
Today this same job would have run over 35 easily
Two months ago I took the car back to the same guy and he installed the rocker moldings, touched up a few areas and wet sanded the car with three different grades than polished and waxed
He also installed a new trunk gasket
This work alone cost me 2500 which I think was cheap
The car looks as good or better in person as it does in pictures but make no mistake although the body work is arrow straight it’s still no show car and I drive it whenever I can which I think is the way it should be
All in all I got bargain price and great work done by a honest guy
My Dart was nearly rust free. The painter found a few pinholes from the vinyl top, easy fix. It had a few door dings and stuff that needed repaired. It's almost ready for paint.
I am buying all materials myself. He tells me what he needs/wants. He is charging me $3k labor. I disassembled the car myself and will reassemble it myself. I paid ~$550 for the door jambs, window channels, bottom of the hood and trunk, trunk gutter, etc to be sand blasted. He quoted a month and a half to do the while job. It's been 11 1/2 months so far.
We didn't discuss the inner doors above and below the door panels or any of the interior metal. That will cost me extra.
I am buying all materials myself. He tells me what he needs/wants. He is charging me $3k labor. I disassembled the car myself and will reassemble it myself. I paid ~$550 for the door jambs, window channels, bottom of the hood and trunk, trunk gutter, etc to be sand blasted. He quoted a month and a half to do the while job. It's been 11 1/2 months so far.
We didn't discuss the inner doors above and below the door panels or any of the interior metal. That will cost me extra.
@str12-340 I don’t have a mortgage to take a 2nd from lol.
I’ll fit right in here in the Ozarks… lol
I'm still waiting for my estimate. My teeth are not straight and they wobble. lol
I don't want new, I want restored.
I don't want new, I want restored.
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