Painting 78 IM -- $6,500 ?!??

I just took my 78 IM to a local Corvette repair shop. The owner was great, said he had worked on several steel bodied 356s. Told me to do it right and even fix the gaps it would be $6,500 -- any color I wanted with a lifetime warranty. He has been in business for 25 years.

Is that outragous? I read some of the posts about Maaco jobs from $500 to $2,500. I am sure they are nothing like what this guy is talking about, but . . . Just want a reality check.

My brother-in-law had Steve paint his 993. Repainted a slightly darker shade of black from factory. Removed all emblems, lights, trip, front and rear bumperes, repair some damage to the bumper, remove spoiler and top then reinstall after painting. Steve and his brother traded, for the work Steve did, he got a low-miles 3.0 911 engine, complete which is currently running in my 82. Probably given the condition of the engine, 4-5K value.

The estimate that my brother-in-law received from a local shop to do the work was over 9K.

Bear in mind that price was for same color, not a color change. Having this work done well is very expensive. Some work you can do yourself and save on the bill.

Most shops in our area, for a simple repaint, no panel alignment, no damage repair, same color as stock charge $2,000 and up. The local shops always charge more for fiberglass cars. Not sure why, but they do.

angela

Your first mistake was taking it to a Corvette shop. It's like going to a shop that specializes in Porsche cars $$$$$$$$$$$$$


Start looking around at some of the independent shops in your area. Go to car shows and speak to car owners after looking at their paint jobs. Often times, you'll find a small independent shop that does outstanding work for half the price you were quoted.

Consider that materials will probably cost almost $1,000 to paint it right.

If you do some of the grunt work such as stripping down the car, masking off area's that you don't want painted and maybe some preliminary sanding, that alone will save you labor costs.

The last (2) 1966 replica GT-350's I built, I had painted at Macco for under 2k. I had the car totally stripped, sanded and gave them the schematic for laying out the blue stripes. The cars actually came out VERY good.

On a 1957 Chevy I had about 12 years ago, I did what I told you to do, that is, asked around at car shows and found a guy that painted my 57 a beautiful Matador red color (color change) and the whole bill back then was right at $3,000.

Al Shapiro's graphite black speedster that was displayed at Carlisle. After prefitting everything, I took it to a local small shop, they did the final panel alignment, block sanded it glass smooth,shot it with urethane then clear followed by a wet sanding and buffed for under $3k..... and I had it back for final assembly in four days . The same shop will be painting my speedster project the first week of December. As Larry said, shop around for a small shop.

They threw a number out there-if you were to bite then they would have happily painted your car. A lot of shops don't make much money on cars like ours. It's much more cost effective to turn around insurance jobs, the quicker the better. Based on an hourly rate there is a lot of hours that goes into a nice, well done job. Find a shop that will (as long as you are not in a rush) paint your car "as a filler" to keep the boys busy between insurance jobs.
Remember "Everything is negotiable"

and like larry said---the supplies now a days are pretty expensive for quality paints.
My ppg base coat was $300/gal alone, through in clear, high build primer, sealer etc.....it adds up quickly.

keep in mind these are *TINY* cars. no roof, shorter wheelbase. quite a bit less paint.

Also - colours are priced differently.

take it all apart yourself. do it right and careful. unless your panel joints are waaaay out - that is too much money.

you also want to make sure he's painted fiberglass before. same basic procedure and materials, but it's not the same. for that $$ i'd expect some wicked references.

Paint prep on fibreglass cars as well is quite time consuming. Sure you can just prime and paint. But for that 6K job there was probably some hand block sanding to make the body perfect before paint.

One thing to cut costs and get the most for your money. STRIP THE CAR. Remove windshield, carpet, seats, lights (front and back), do as much before you bring the car in and you may be surprised and still have a good paint shop do the work.

My 2 CDN$'s

Sure, you can get a paint job for $1000 or even $2000, but that'll probably get you a 20 foot car or so. It'll look good outside of 20 feet, but when you get closer the warts will begin to show (and there'll probably be a number of warts). You might be able toimprove that to 10 feet or so by doing a lot of the prep work yourself, if you're good at it and know what you're doing (I know that I couldn't do that well enough to suit myself).

If you don't care about that and just want something to knock around in, then go for the cheaper price and be happy.

If, on the other hand, you want something that blows people away when they look at it, AND will make your heart skip every time you gaze at it, then $5000 and up for a Speedster is not out of line....as has already been said, it takes a lot of work to make fiberglass straight and look good, even before you spray paint onto it.

I'll swim upstream of Larry and say that I don't think a Corvette shop is a bad idea. The recommendation that he find an independent shop willing to take on specialized projects is exactly what this guy did- it's a rare shop owner that's willing to take on a project like this, and turn it around in a timely manner- most shops want to fix the rear-end of a Ford Focus for $2000 from State Farm.

Fiberglass is a different animal, and Corvette shops (the good ones at least) specialize in taking bodies as flat as the average wash-board, and making them as flat as a nice steel body. They know what it takes to get this done, unlike most "re-panel and paint" insurance shops.

Having a shop like this work their magic on an older Intermeccancia that is completely done shrinking is a great idea, IMHO. If they are good, and they are doing the disassembly/reassembly, and are doing a color change (which involves pretty much rebuilding the car), than $6500 doesn't sound out of the ball-park. If the guy's work is good, than the reality check you are looking for is this: it's probably going to be worth every penny.

You might be able to find something for less. If you do, make sure you are getting that car really blocked flat. "Flat" means "flat", not "pretty good for a fiberglass car" flat.

You might consider giving John Steele at JPS a call- his paint guy is phenomenal, and was pretty reasonable in 2002. The added benefit is that anything speedster specific that was needed on the car, he would have.

Hey wait a minute, you're in Portland... Maybe you should PM Steve and see if he'll paint your car this winter. We finally have access to a "real" booth...

angela

Looks like Stan and I are in agreement (Hey! How about THAT!)

I did not have the time or talent to make my CMC body straight (read that non-rippled, mirror finish everywhere) but, when I had it done, I had the money and knew a place that did lots of big-buck custom Hot Rods and took it there. Body work alone cost over $2500 (one guy spent two days just on the area between the back seat and the engine cover, always a problem on CMC's) - that's before primer was sprayed on.

The final result was way North of what you'll be paying, but a few folks lurking on here have seen my beauty, Pearl, so I'll let them comment on the final finish. To get the level of a JPS finish, you'll be paying what you've been quoted. All you have to do now is get several references of cars already completed by that shop, visit the cars and question the owners BEFORE you drop off your car.

Again, if you're not looking for (or are ready to pay for) a show-quality finish, then scout around for a lesser shop and get it done there for less bucks.

From what I've heard, I would go visit Angela's hubby, Steve.

gn

The south & mid-west (SC & IL) are a long ways from the west coast. Out here, we have paint shops by the thousands. Oregon is also a huge area for car restorations as is Arizona. All of these places have body shops that will do all that you stated and more for less... You just have to look and ask questions.

$6,500 for a paint job is crazy. I'd say 3k tops...& they better throw in a free bowl of soup with those bitches!

I looked back through your posts to try and find a pic--ng. But you do previously mention
spider cracks so this isn't just a respray.

The midwest is way more money, this is true. But I personally, would want someone who has a proven track record on fiberglass. But it really depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

Lifetime warranty = PRICELESS (unless the painter is over 60 or filed for Chapter 11!)

I also looked back at Ed's posts and realized that he asks the original question then......Ed where are you in this?

You might also look around at a place that repairs and paints boats. THEY will certainly know how to work with fiberglass.

I've seen some fiberglass cars (a Speedster, several 32 Ford Hot Rods, etc.) painted with Awlgrip boat paint and they were all stunning.

Ed, send me a pm. I know a couple of guys who should be able to beat that price and are very good. Angela's offer is a good one too.

It is a lot of money to me, but it may within range. I asked two reputable quality shops in the Detroit area to give me a quote to (1) realign the passenger door, (2) do some minor repair body work on some scratches and chips from the previous owner,(3) and respray and blend Porsche Artic Silver and clear on about 2/3s of the passenger side. Both quoted me $1500. One shop is a hot rod shop that specializes in fiberglass. The other deals with high end European sports cars and touring sedans. I would imagine that both would quote me $6500 to prep, prime, and paint the entire body.

Steve touched on it...what are you hoping for, how do you want your car to look? I put up with a mediocre paint job on Butch for years and it always troubled me. No correct that, it just fuckin' pissed me off that that speedster builder rushes through one of the most critical stages of the build. Particularly on a car body whose lines look so good when done right!

If your car is a keeper go to a specialty shop that knows hot rods or vettes.

Wow, those mid-west prices are terrible. In 2004, when I had my 996, an ice chest fell from the rafters and dented the roof of my car in several places.

PJ's in Montclair, CA pounded out the dents, re-aligned the sunroof and painted with Sikkens paint and clear. Then color sanded and buffed the entire roof all for $600.00. When it was finished, no one could tell that it had been repaired and re-painted.

It's a lot of money!
Giving $1000 for supplies(being very, very, generous)
Leaving $5500 for labor.
100 hours at $55/hr
75 hours at $73.3/hr
50 hours at $110/hr
40 hours at $137.50

That finish better be dam spiffy. At those rates one should expect if not demand a happy ending!!

So.....

You can take all the exterior trim off a speedster, strip the dash and interior, spray a guide coat, prime it, block a 30 y/o car till it's flat, spray at least two coats of color and a coat of clear (more would be better), color sand the car, buff it, and reassemble everything in less than 100 man-hours?

As far as the paint and all things related to custom cars being cheaper in SoCal, Larry is 100% correct. Stuff like this is spendy in the rust belt.

$6500 is not cheap, but I'm not sure I'd be looking for the cheapest paint I could get. If I was in the Pacific NW, I'd take Angela up on the offer (as her spyder is really flat, and really black)... and if not, I'd talk to the Reverend Scott Sloan (owner of the most Righteous speedster on the SOC) about where to go.

>100 hrs--yep!

100 hours....done right....nope!!!