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I just had an estimate for a paint job and almost had cardiac arrest. Just curious what you guys are paying for some one to paint your cars before I get other estimates. I told the shop I did not want a Barrett Jackson show car, just a nice looking car to cruise in. The car has the usual parking lot dings, no rust and a really straight body, no paint required under the hood, trunk or door jambs, keeping the original color. I thought $5,500 was absurd. Opinions welcomed. Pictures of car is listed in the gallery section of this web site under 67Rocket. Thanks, I just had to vent.
I just had an estimate for a paint job and almost had cardiac arrest. Just curious what you guys are paying for some one to paint your cars before I get other estimates. I told the shop I did not want a Barrett Jackson show car, just a nice looking car to cruise in. The car has the usual parking lot dings, no rust and a really straight body, no paint required under the hood, trunk or door jambs, keeping the original color. I thought $5,500 was absurd. Opinions welcomed. Pictures of car is listed in the gallery section of this web site under 67Rocket. Thanks, I just had to vent.
I paid $5500 for bodywork and paint in an area where labor is around $45/hr
And I would add that the paint was good but the bodywork job was nothing great
I would have to say $5000 is a base price for a bear bones, not elaborate job. The cost of paint materials is through the roof. I will have over $2000 in just paint into mine. A show quality paint job usually starts close to $10,000.
cost me $1,650 in February 2014, just over two years ago. The shop did all the trim removal and reinstallation and also removed a few minor dents, including the one you can see in the upper photo on the front fender just behind where the bumper ends ahead of the wheel well. The paint job has held up well, and the car looks exactly the same today.
Last edited by jaunty75; March 1st, 2016 at 05:59 PM.
cost me $1,650 in February 2014, just over two years ago. The shop did all the trim removal and reinstallation and also removed a few minor dents, including the one you can see in the upper photo on the front fender just behind where the bumper ends ahead of the wheel well. The paint job has held up well, and the car looks exactly the same today.
My red paint and materials cost more than your whole paint job
The shop that did it is a two-man operation at the edge of town in a small building. They do a lot of contract work for the local university, and the owner is a great guy. I presume he doesn't have a lot of overhead as it looks like a good windstorm would blow his building down.
I had hail damage to my daily driver truck last October, and he did the repair. The insurance company did the estimate, gave me a check for the amount minus my $500 deductible, and then said I could use any body shop I wanted. I went to this guy, and he told me that the insurance estimate is more that he would have charged, so he accepted the insurance check as full payment. I did not have to pay the deductible. Very cool of him.
You got a smoking deal if it hasn't fallen off the car and you are happy.
To be more realistic for the sake of the OP, I did all the metal work, and filler, blocked to 220 myself and I have $11k into my 55 88. Think the painters rate was $50/HR for the wet sanding, prep, painting, cut and buff.
It's almost show quality and I was shooting for really nice driver.
This seems pretty normal based on the research I did before deciding how to proceed. Be careful who you trust with your car.....
Paint and body is something that you get exactly what you pay for. $5500 is lower than average. I have double that in my W-30 paint and body and I took the car apart and assembled it after he was done. I took him bare body parts with very minor rust compared to most cars.
I've recently done all of the panel repair and body work myself on a '69 442 Vert and finish blocked with 600 wet, so it was ready to spray. I did paint the door jams, underside of decklid, all edges, etc... myself, so the shop just sprayed the outside of the vehicle. Paint and striping cost $2100 where Dupont/Axalt base and clear were included in that total. This seems to be the way to go if you want to save money, and you can be as OCD as you like
Normally, a very nice paint job approaches $10K or more depending on how particular you are. $5500 seems low to me, but it depends on what they're starting with.
The materials to paint my 442 exceeded 2k. A turnkey "slick" paint job is 10k + today, and please don't tell me about some guy who does show quality jobs for less
I agree with everyone else that that is a decent price. i do body and prep work sometimes at work then we send the car to maaco since we dont have a paint booth. maaco is about $1300 out the door then another 500-600 to get it cut and buffed, which we take to someone else to get done. thats 1800-1900 excluding body working supplies/materials and my time for just an ok driver quality paint job.
That is a decent price. Here in Illinois the price of paint and materials is through the roof. This past fall I paid $5200.00 for my 55' Super 88. I took everything off the car, trim, bumpers, etc. Just remember that the prep work is everything !
Our paint guy is coming to give estimate today...'Ol Black Betty may have to stay black for a little longer by the sound of this thread. I'll chime back in when we get the quote
A decent paint job is 90% labor. Materials cost me over $1000 for everything. Do the math. I'd be skeptical that $5500 is too cheap. If you want a bargain basement price, go to Maaco or Earl Schieb and they'll even paint over the mud and rust. Sorry, but that's reality. This is also why I do my own paint and body.
This is SO dependent on the surface beneath the paint. The cost to put it right is worth it. If you can't afford it, save until you can. You'll never be sorry. If you skimp or don't get the surfaces right you will be sorry --and paying to have it done again.
So, if paint alone costs $3000, how do they sell entire cars brand new for $20k?
Quantity discount when you buy paint by the train car?
Have you seen what a crappy car $20K buys these days???
And yes, a tanker car full of paint has a lower cost per gallon by a lot. Also keep in mind that a lot of the cost of consumer-size containers these days is EPA compliance. That's not as much of a component in quantity buys to a major manufacturer.
I towed the H/O from storage after a front end wreck to the shop I picked. I had a donor car front clip shipped up from NC. The shop- did all the body work on the donor clip, the door, stripped the whole car, did all the body work, primed, painted, decals..hell they even changed my oil..$3,500 and the car looks great. Keep shopping. When they gave me that price I looked them in the eye and promised to fill their shop with business and I kept my word.
This is SO dependent on the surface beneath the paint. The cost to put it right is worth it. If you can't afford it, save until you can. You'll never be sorry. If you skimp or don't get the surfaces right you will be sorry --and paying to have it done again.
For sure. The previous owner had mine painted sometime within the past 4 years & she needs it again. Peeling badly on trunk & other places have flaked off in bigger pieces. Don't know what he paid but he paid too much. It probably looked great at first, but as time has told, looks can be deceiving. Go for someone whose reputation is stellar.
Red lacquer applied over a striped to the metal car, body left on frame...$2200...1990. Adjusted for inflation 7K. Included the vinyl roof too. I knew the guy, I stripped the trim, had all panels lose and delivered him the rolling shell. He pulled the front n rear glass, stripped the car to metal and performed the body work. Many parking lot dents needed to be pulled and someone riveted side moldings on it so those holes were welded too. One small patch welded in behind the rear pass wheel. Car didn't require any rear panel grafting etc...He delivered me a car ready to assemble. $2200 was a deal then. It should have been 6-7 all day in 1990. So 6-7K then =17-18K now! Yes thats almost 20K for a condition 2 quality paint job. Now add chrome and all the other needed do dads...Break out a rotisserie and double that price, easily. Thats why if you cant do the work yourself buy one already done. Cheaper.
$6000 US dollars transformed my 87 442 from before to after.
The car had door dings but otherwise straight. Trace of rust in the door seams & a dime sized spot of rust on each quarter panel. All glass out, door jams & trunk seams painted. This is multiple coats of base & 4 coats of clear with quality paint.
I dropped the car off as you see it in the 1st pic & picked it up painted & polished. I did not turn once screw or bolt nor did I do 1 min of clean up, reassembly or detailing.
I paid $25% down. 25% when the car was all apart & in bare metal. 25% when it was ready to go in the booth & final 25% payment when picked up.
Here in my shop today (3-2-2016) is a 71 W-30 that is in the process of being painted. The body (only the body, no frame) came to us media blasted and primed. Extra work was needed because the media blaster warped every panel on the car. The price of fixing and painting to a show quality standard is close to 30K. 75% of that is painting labor and materials. I'm proud that we can produce such fine paint jobs, however I'm not getting wealthy doing this. I can't afford to do this to my own cars. ~BOB
Last edited by Carshinebob; March 2nd, 2016 at 11:29 AM.
I have a minimum of over 5000.00 in paint & materials alone and thats on a white or black and more dependent on how much work the body needs to be paint ready.
my friends and my boss are constantly on me to get my car painted, the current paint appears to be a 20 year old amateur paint job, it looks ok from 20 feet but up close its full of imperfections. As a result i have no problem driving and parking anywhere including nearby where my kid plays. If i put in the effort and had it painted i know i wouldnt be able to enjoy the car as much as i can now. so in short if it did have really nice paint i would still enjoy it but stress more, as it is i still love the look and have no issue w the paint !!!!
I painted the 75 Vert in my avatar myself in my Dad's two-car garage. It was a very straight southern body. I wasn't looking for a show car finish... just a decent cruise night appearance. It's only the second car I've painted.
This car, as I did with the first car I painted, was done with top-shelf materials. I feel the quality of the materials helps a novice appear like he knows what he's doing. I spent over $1600 in materials alone in 2010: color, clear, catalyst, reducer, sealer, primer.... EVERYTHING. Once done, I spent TWO-WEEKS of evenings scuffing and buffing the acres of sheetmetal.
The end result has had countless onlookers at cruises ask me who painted the car. When I tell them I did, they want to know where my "shop" is located.
For sure. The previous owner had mine painted sometime within the past 4 years & she needs it again. Peeling badly on trunk & other places have flaked off in bigger pieces. Don't know what he paid but he paid too much. It probably looked great at first, but as time has told, looks can be deceiving. Go for someone whose reputation is stellar.
That looks like a nice car.
Just to clarify, there is a big difference between surface preparation and surface development. It looks like your paint suffered from poor prep and poor quality materials. I was referring to surface development, or the quality of the surface beneath the paint.
Originally Posted by rcktdoc
I get over 20,000
Greg
I've seen your work, and for a customer that wants that level of quality it is worth it.
March 1st, 2016, 05:20 PM
Our paint guy is coming to give estimate today...'Ol Black Betty may have to stay black for a little longer by the sound of this thread. I'll chime back in when we get the quote
