Hi Toby
The more you can do before the car gets to the shop the cheaper it will be
of course. But while your at it have you considered painting it yourself?
The bulk of the work is in the prep, and putting on the paint is the easy
part. Of course you need a place to work in, air, and a spray gun. Forget
the gym, your arms will get a good workout from sanding.
I paint my own cars and do a few jobs on the side from time to time. It is
possible to get nice paint working in your garage. Depending upon how
straight the body is, materials on a Sprite or Midget will run around
$500.00 for premium stuff. There will be an initial purchase for some shop
supplies, but a lot less than a body shop bill, and you will be ready for
your next job.
Does the paint really need to be stripped? Does the car need rust repair,
any dents, peeling or checked paint? How many previous paint jobs have been
done. If it's original paint and is not rusty, simply DA it, prime then
paint. Stripping opens up a whole can of worms. You can even do one panel at
a time to build your confidence, start with the trunk, remove it prep and
paint, you will be amazed at how easy it is.
The cheaper shops like Maaco really only want to do late model stuff that
just needs minor body work and paint. A lot of shops prefer insurance jobs
and use projects like yours to keep busy when things get slow, it's common
to see cars sitting for months collecting dust while the collision jobs come
and go.
Anyway if you decide to send it out, remove all the chrome, interior,
lights, windshield if possible, to reduce their labor. Everything will be
dusty and oversprayed anyway.
Look around and try to find a shop that shows some interest in old cars, and
get a FIRM commitment on cost and a completion date!
I can tell you a horror story from my earlier days, probably why I decided
to do my own paint...
Happy sanding,
John
68 Sprite
68 Impala SS
----- Original Message -----
From "Toby Atwater" <Toby at intri-plex.com>
To: "Spridgets@Autox. Team. Net (E-mail)" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 8:39 PM
Subject: body shop questions.
> I have asked two body shops for an estimate on an exterior and engine bay
> paint job, and both quotes have been sky high ($6k and $12k!). I knew it
was
> going to be expensive, and there is allot of labor involved, but what can
I
> get for 2 grand??? It seems like they won't even spray the prepped car for
2
> grand! How much prep am going to have to do, to get a nice paint job? I am
> not even looking for show quality either. A quick search through the phone
> book revealed about 74 paint shops. There has to be some competition among
> them. I was already planning on getting the trim and molding off myself,
but
> now I guess I will then have to strip the old paint off as well and really
> do all the hard prep work myself. There is definitely not going to be any
> serious rust or body work needed either.
>
> I would like to try to avoid the $99 special at AAMCO or the like, But I
> don't want a concourse paint job in and out either. If some of you could
> post your body shop bills and what work was done for me to compare, that
> would be greatly appreciated. I promise not to pass out while looking at
the
> figures.
>
> Oh and I have decided on color. What ever the heritage certificate comes
up
> as, that's my color! (I am guessing some shade of red)
>
> Thanks
>
> Toby
> who is hoping he won't have to ask what works best as a paint stripper.
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