Phil:
> This will apply to LBCs, but it concerns my main transportation, a 1987
> Subaru, purchased 3 years ago from---a little old lady. ....I hate the color
> of the car. It's just >not me<. Do I spend the money at a "legitimate" body
> shop and leave the car in the original color, or do I have the car
> >inexpensively< repainted in a color I like?
Phil, if this was a car you cared about, it might be worth doing a respray right
-- i.e. *not* MAACO. But the car's worth $2K or less -- SWAG based on Edmunds, I
guessed your LOL bought a 4D sedan -- so your realistic options are a cheap
respray or to repair just the damaged panels at a legit shop.
I recently looked at a '70 BMW 2002*, a really tight low-mileage original (in a
good way) car with $2K in recent mechanical work, plus a new interior. Really
nice EXCEPT for the cheap respray from a MAACO competitor. There was no prep;
the shop actually painted over dirt! There were drips under the trunk lid and
the paint was already glazing on the trunk lid and several panels. Don't even
get me started on the orange peel, it was more like cantalope. The car could
have brought in $4K, but the "new" paint made it worth 1/2 that to an
enthusiast.
Granted, there aren't a lot of mid-80's Subaru enthusiasts out there, but I
think you'll decrease the modest stored value of the car with a cheap respray --
which will only last a couple years at best. You hardly want "Annual Repainting"
to be a recurring expense for what is otherwise a nice low-cost daily driver.
IMO, this goes for classic british cars too; it's better to have oxidized
original paint than to have a cheap non-original respray.
Steven
*I bought my own '72 BMW 2002 from a little old lady -- better yet, a retired
schoolteacher -- but then, her *first* car was a Barracuda. ;-)
--
Steven Newell
Crave Technology, Denver, CO
303.675.0777 / 303.675.0999 (fax)
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