little Sticker Shock on Cost of Paint Job

[palerider94]

Had a guy I've been talking to off on for a couple years now came by and give me and estimate on painting car and putting back together. Lot more expensive than I thought it would be. Guy has a small mustang junk yard and is known thru local cruise areas as a good body guy that does work out of his home. Basically estimate he gave me was $7500 which include.

1. Stripping to bare metal
2. Putting new skins and lower qtr patch panel
3. Putting cowl back on
4. Putting body panels on and aligning gaps
5. Paint/clear coat and wet sanded and polished (jambs, trunk, etc)
6. Included transporting car


Guy does not have a paint both but does good work seen a couple cars they came out nice.

What do you think?

 

[suki243]

Sounds like a nice deal. I paid 6k for mine that included new bumpers, stripping the whole car down, straightening the panels, repainting the car and replacing trim stuff.

People consider that a good deal.

Edit:
Yup, this all took place in southern california

 

[19simmons65]

What part of the country are you in? I paid a lot more for my 65 but I was living in Cali at the time. Sounds like a good deal...especially if you have seen his work.

 

[palerider94]

Hmm - feel a little better. I'm in Northwest Indiana. Nice thing is that he does basically only mustangs and knows his stuff. He pointed out a couple things on the car that I never noticed.

 

[jb1dsl]

Does not sound too bad for all that work, especially if you have seen his work and are satisfied with it. I stripped my own car and had alot more hours in it than I thought it would take from paint to metal to epoxy primer. Cost per hour stacks up real quick

 

[zookeeper]

That's a bargain for what he's promising. Here's my rule of thumb: paint and interior affect the value of a vintage car by at least 60%. Therefore you should budget 60% of your restoration funds towards paint and interior. If you think you'll spend $20,000 on your full-on restoration (not at all unreasonable these days) then you can count on spending $12,000 of that on paint and interior.

 

[jlangholzj]

sound about right, since i really didn't need any bondo, body panels, metal work (jealous yet? ) done on mine, a guy over here estimated 4-5K to block and paint the whole thing.

 

[tweet66]

I paid $6000 12 years ago for paint and body work on my 66 coupe. I was suposed to get new quarters, lower door skins and fender patches and a replacement trunk lid, and down to bare metal. I got the car back with a week to look over it and load it on a trailer for Florida. About a year later the doors started popping, the quarters looked super wavy, and the lower fenders just about fell off! I wound up replacing everything myself in the garage and repainting the entire car. Found the quarters had been patched in three seperate areas each and the doors and fenders bondo'd up over 3/4" thick??? The trunk lid had more rust than my original and there were at least 2 other paint jobs on the car that were only scuffed and sealed... I tried to find the guy when I moved back to Jersey but he closed shop and moved two towns over. When I found the new place, he'd been closed by the local code enforcement for complaints and non-compliance to state regs. I put my name on the list of compliants but nothing ever came of it. If I knew that $7500 would get me all that I'd spend it in a heart beat

 

[SadbutTrue]

wow, that shows me the value of having my dad paint my car...

i guess for a quality job that isn't out of line. hope you're getting some nice shelby stripes or something, lol

 

[truck90278]

cheap price - assuming work is done correctly. The paint on our car, just for the base color, not including activiatiors, clear etc. runs $150/gal. It's not unusual to have a couple of grand in materials alone.

 

[tweet66]

wow, that shows me the value of having my dad paint my car...

Sad, the guy's sister and brother in law live 2 houses down from my parents. I always keep an eye out at holiday's and family get togethers so I can have a "friendly talk" with him....:fairyfight:

I started working at a few restoration shops in central Florida and learned alot (good & bad) about body work. That's what gave me the cahones' to try it myself. If I knew half of what I learned I'd have done it myself the first time

 

[blandq]

I paid just over $9k; 4 years ago, Sacramento Ca. I tore the car down myself to just rear axle and welded two legs on the cross brace to hold up the front end. (There were no bolts left to unbolt, no glass, no wiring, no interior....nothing. Zero rust on the car, He stripped it, all body work was focused on making it straight, welded up all engine bay stock holes for custom along with front antenna mount. PPG White diamond pearl, 3 step process, color, pearl and clear. Engine compartment same color as the car.

Based on the results, I got a smoking deal with certified PPG warranties to back it up. I'd expect to go 12K or better for that same results today

 

[65FBE2]

Just the cost of the primer, paint, clear coat and under coat material on my car was over $3,000 Labor was a bunch more. A BIG BUNCH

 

[NewStangOwnr]

I just got a quote from a guy who does restorations for a friend of the family. He quoted 5Gs for stripping it down, some rust repair, priming and painting. Going to get a few more quotes tho.

 

[CraigMBA]

I just bought the paint and materials to paint my car. It was $2500.

I have about 8K in labor so far. I'll be about $12K when I get done. This is a side job that has taken two years to complete. If the shop who did it ran it through the front door, I'd be out at least double.