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Quality Paint Job Cost these days

16K views 90 replies 49 participants last post by  Tackelbarry 
#1 ·
I've been hearing crazy "my neighbor who restores cars" rumors about absurd prices for paint jobs. My thinking was the best paint job in the world should be $10k-12k with most guys spending $5-7k for a decent paint job with clear if they do all the assembly/disassembly themselves. Some guy just told me he was quoted $60,000 to do his Stingray. Not sure on the year or trim but there's a 1969 427 Tripower Stingray on Ebay for $80k now. So how is it possible that anyone could ever restore a car anymore if it costs $60k to paint? I say get a new ****ing paint shop. My friend also said he was quoted $20k to paint his Jeep. I am simply not buying it.

So who has had there car painted recently and what did it cost? Especially curious about higher end models, the idea being that you wouldn't skimp on a Mach 1 big block or something.
 
#80 ·
Geez, in 2003 I was looking for a local shop that would take on my restoration. My max budget, at the time, was $3500. I had completed all of the rust repair, primers, the car was apart. The problem I ran into, finding a shop that would paint a car that was, basically, in parts. I was looking for a good street paint job, not a "show stopper". After 3 months of searches. I found a shop, who's owner and his painter came to my garage, saw my project and gave me a price of $2800. Two months later, it was finished. Throughout the time, I had visited the shop taken pics, I saw where they did a bunch of body panel blending. After all of their body work, I was expecting the $3500 budget would be blown away.....NOPE! still $2800. I was "blown away" to the point I gave the owner and his painter a $100 gift card to Texas Roadhouse (a local steak eatery). This was in in the fall of 2003. As recent as 2011, I won a second place in the modified division of a National Mustang Show.
To this day, it still looks great....14 years later! I hate these latest numbers y'all are mentioning........
The key to cost, I still think, is how much sweat equity one puts into their project.
 
#81 ·
I guess I stole my last paint job.
In February 1995 I was hit in the driver side rear corner.
Left quarter panel, inner and outer wheelhouse, trunk floor and dropoff, fuel tank, tail light panel and rear valance were replaced. I took off all the chrome and lights (still had FoMoCo bulbs in tails and reverse lamps), and I bought all the metal. I dropped it off and when he hadn't touched it for 3 months, I picked it up and stored it. Called each month.
Took it back to him in August. Called to check once a week. Told me to come get it in September. I picked it up, drove it home and fitted the valances, lights, and cleaned up the dust etc under the hood and below.
Was still waiting for the new bumpers and guards when I drove it to a local Mustang show at the end of September.
Took home my first and only first-place trophy.
I spent about $1000 on metal.
Paint and body work cost $2500.

Here's a BIG THANK YOU to Jim Summers, now deceased.

It wasn't / isn't perfect, but I've made it last 24 years, living in places with no garage or carport until 2002 and driving it at least weekly, often with my kids. I've taught them how to watch the seatbelt buckles and backpacks, pick up the feet instead of dragging over the sills and how to close the doors without slamming. I think I got my money's worth.

It's time I get it done again.
 

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#85 ·
I hate to bring the hobby down... but who is going to fix these cars anymore if you have to spend $6K for a paint job, $1,500 chrome and trim, $2,000 for an interior, $3,000+ for a stock drivetrain rebuild on a $10,000 Coupe you are lucky to get for $4,000 anymore as a basket case?
 
#86 ·
I see a lot of folks posting about how the cars are disassembled and the majority of metal work is done... why not take the car to a place like Maaco? For less than $500 you can get a paint job... of course you would want to mask the majority of the car yourself...

I plan to paint the car myself, been out of painting for 20 years back when I used Lacquer and Acrylic Enamel... I recently helped a buddy paint a 69 Firebird using base/clear... I did the trimming and under hood/trunk.. the stuff went on easy and yes we had some runs and dirt... wet sanding and buffing took care of that
 
#88 ·
The problem I ran into is most restoration type shops are extremely expensive (at least in my neck of the woods). I couldn't find a shop to quote me less than $10k and all said "but we won't really know the cost until we get started". Shops that focus on insurance and corporate clients (car dealers) don't want these projects as they take longer to complete, take up shop space and don't pay as quick.

I narrowed my search down to two shops. One ran a body shop by day for a dealership and did body repair/restorations at night in his own garage. I am not knocking the guy, but his garage was not the most ideal body shop and he was still $10k+. The other shop, which I went with does a little bit of everything, insurance, walk ins and resto's on an occasion. He has a nice facility and understands what I want/expect. He came in around $7k. He was upfront and told me he would treat the project as a regular job and not filler work as it can't tie up his shop. The only catch to that is he wouldn't start it until he knew he had an opening. Intentions were to fit it in over the winter at some point so I could complete the build in the spring. Well its spring and the car just got started. If all goes as planned I should have it back at the end of the month.

The common statement by everyone I spoke with was they want to take the car back down to the metal repair. All metal repair had been previously completed and filled, but no one would touch the car if i didn't agree to let them remove all filler. They did not want me coming back down the road if there was an issue where metal had been repaired. It was a tough pill to swallow, but i didn't have a choice. I would have went to a Maaco as a few members on here have suggested, but they all closed up in my area. There isn't one within a reasonable driving distance.
 
#87 ·
I spoke to Maaco about painting my 71 C10 and they were closer to 4k, that was with me doing all rust/body work, media blast, and epoxy primed. They would do some filler/block sanding, light body work on top of that. They offer several different packages/qualities. The Maaco by me had done several classics and had a 72 camaro they just did that looked great. From what I've read, it depends on the Maaco franchise.

For both my truck and mustang, I am looking for a factory quality paint job. For that I am not willing to spend 10-15K.
 
#89 ·
Yeah... I see nothing at all wrong with a new factory quality paint job on a car that’s not going to compete in concours shows. The body and paint shops I’ve talked to either just flat don’t do anything resembling restoration or custom work, or won’t take on a project like this unless they can milk it for a concours show car bill.

I could keep looking, but honestly the last time I found a guy to just shoot paint for me, I waited six months for a so-so job that I could have done myself in the garage.
 
#91 ·
None of this is as cheep as it used to be. A lot of it also depends on how you want it to turn out. My painter is using the German paint, Standox, which is expensive on my 65 fastback. Of course, there is an etching primer, two coats of high build primer, sealer, multiple coats of color, the painted stripes, etc.
 
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