Whatever happened here, anyway?

 

After much deliberation and handwringing, I ended up going for it. In 3-6 months I should be ~$15k poorer, but have a freshly painted 442.

I found someone else to vouch for the guy that gave me the first quote, but wasn't able to get a second estimate. One shop I called stopped me mid explanation and said they had done something similar recently ('71 Hurst Olds clone). It ended up costing $30k and they "would probably never take on another one again." A few other people I found online just never called back.

I pulled (and will be reinstalling) 90% of the trim, the interior interior down to the sheet metal, windows, regulators and tracks, door handles, mirrors, front and rear tail lights, marker lights and housings, wiring harnesses from the dash back, windshield wipers/motor, grill, bumpers, heater and ac boxes, and a few other things. I'm also sourcing parts and going over to his garage to pull the dash before he starts on the cowl. We agreed on a few other particulars (including the exclusive use of butt welds) and I will be going by regularly to check in (and drop off checks).

It's going to be a long road putting it back together, but I'm looking forward to it. I might start a long restoration thread when I have it back, but I'm not great at making regular updates. I am going to need a lot of help though, so I will be posting often enough for that.

 

I'm sure he will do an excellent job. Look forward to seeing the updates.

 

Had a guy I know in the SF Bay area pay $50K for paint and body work. It was real nice..

 

I painted my old truck in my backyard last year. Cost me about 10k in materials, new Iwata gun, blow up spray booth, new compressor, new electronic air cooler, polyester primer and B/C, tons of sand paper...Oh, and 2 years out of my life welding, grinding, blocking, prepping, wet sanding and polishing. I would gladly charge someone 40k and likely go broke trying to pull it off. Tons of hours, I feel for every custom painter out there trying to meet peoples expectations and a $2000 budget. Rant over.

 

for a driver try Earl Schieb good for a year. if it needs body work, rust out fixes, ete etc sky is the limit brand name urethane topcoat paint alone is like $4K. go from there bring $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

First things first, your truck and your work is nothing short of amazing. The colour you chose makes it.
Yes, long gone are the days of 2000 dollar paint jobs. When I told my buddies what it cost for just a paint job they thought I was crazy. But the painter must include ALL his costs, that includes rent and his time, supplies, employees wages, and a markup on those supplies. It must be profitable for him otherwise why would he do it.
Again, your truck is amazing.
Those of us in this hobby must understand its not 1980 anymore, and we arent 20 either!!

 

Resto paint work is very hard, time consuming work. Materials are expensive.. many shops don’t do resto work, they can make more money with less hassle doing collusion work. Yea you can do your own work if you have plenty if time, the desire,the shop and the patience and knowledge to make it look the way you would want. Just paint, reducers, paper, filler and supplies can run you 3-5 grand.

 

I was in this business daily for several years ('78 - '85), I have no idea how many show cars and restorations we did. Depending on what needed to be done, average was $5k. We did not skimp on materials. Based on total cost estimates back then and todays dollar amounts, it would put an estimate probably over $80k and remember that would be an estimate. Time estimate, 4-6 months or more. New replacement panels, rust replacement panels, panels you have to create by hand, the repair on the replacement panels to make them proper. Yes, it isn't cheap and it isn't easy, it is very time consuming, if you do good work. This shop was maned by three employees, owner, his brother (both older by 8-10 years) and myself (learned a lot from those two).
It isn't one of these TV shows you watch today.