Need a Reality Check, please

Safari repaint, basically zero bodywork, strip old paint off, primer, repaint, in IIRC '02 was just under 10K. A nephew is having a hotrod he's built for a friend painted with one of the Ridler Top 8 winners (a couple of years ago) and the hotrod is a 29 Model A - 1960 show car being returned to show condition - price is $40K. Yep, no joke, 40K. And interior on the little truck is 10K

Ditto on that

See my response above - yes, it seems that if you have a specialty vehicle, regardless of what it is, you are a target. To them you obviously have the ability to afford the car, if you are coming to them then you don't have the ability or desire to do it yourself, and are ultimately going to cave in and get it painted (or restored or......). Very unfortunate for those of us who do this on a budget, not so impactful on those who do it themselves or are willing to give it a try.

My suggestion - go find someone in a smaller town with lower costs, smaller client base, and who might be more cost effective for you. Maybe run an advert on CL in some of the smaller areas nearby and see if you get any responses. Just a thought. Kijijji might also be an option if it is popular in your area.

 

If you have automotive paint stores in the area, try going by a few of them and asking if any of the guys working there do paint work on the side, or if they know of any good places to get a reasonably price good quality paint job. You might get with some good leads. They tend to know all of the area shops because they are their supplier, and will probably be able to point you in a good direction. Whatever you do, do not go in there quoting any previous estimates, just let any of the guys you talk to tell you what they would do it for. And check out their work!

David

 

I own a classic car restoration shop and the reason you can't find a good paint job for $4500 is the shop would lose money on painting your car. I mostly do rotisserie restorations on Mopars and by the time I buy paint and materials I've already spent 3-4 thousand dollars. Yes I can buy cheaper materials but where is the savings when it looks horrible in 2-3 years. Granted your car isn't going on a rotisserie or won't have to have the undercarriage painted but a gallon of quality basecoat will be $400 - $1000 depending on color. $500 for a gallon of high quality clear with the hardner and reducer, $300 for a gallon of good fill primer plus all the sand paper, tape, plastic filler etc will wind up well over 2 grand. As far as labor to properly prep and paint doing a color change including door jambs and cut and buff you're looking at about 100 hours labor. At $48 per hour (what insurance companies are paying) that's $4800 labor and $2500 paint and material you're at $7300. I know that $7300 is a lot of money to the customer but believe me I'm not getting rich charging that. In fact even though I'm busy all the time I have to work 7 days a week 10 -12 hours a day to make ends meet. Unfortunatly the price of paint and bodywork has risen dramatically just like groceries, health insurance and going out to resturants to eat has.

 

The reality check is that dark green is a very common color to find on a '70's Country Squire, so you really would be wise to just set your sights on finding the best one you can for a reasonable price, and sell your cream-colored one. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

David