I had mine "repaired" rather than re painted , on a suggestion by a restorer friend,...I had front end rust repaired (minor) and painted to the doors, 13 yrs ago, at a cost of $1250...bought enough paint for entire car , single stage paint , then drove it 3 weeks ,then had doors , rear quarters, trunk etc painted w patch panels in rear qtrs., another $1350....so for a total of $2600 whole car painted (convertible)...vs a bid on entire car "painted" for $6k.(as one job vs two jobs)..'repairs seem to get cheaper than whole car paint, as the painter worries less...just make sure its a good paint job and you have matching paint.
how much you should be paying? probably also depends on where you are....and if vert or coupe...but most likely in the 5 to 7 k range
Depends on what you start with and what you want to end up with. $3,000-4,000 will put paint on a clean straight body. A car like Gus68's where he's goin all the way could take 300- 500 hours to get it to paint ($20,000 to $35,000 ). If your car just needs some minor work maybe just add 2-3,000. The trick is to buy with good paint already if you can or do it all yourself. Gus, does your wife read these posts?
Depends on what you start with and what you want to end up with. $3,000-4,000 will put paint on a clean straight body. A car like Gus68's where he's goin all the way could take 300- 500 hours to get it to paint ($20,000 to $35,000 ). If your car just needs some minor work maybe just add 2-3,000. The trick is to buy with good paint already if you can or do it all yourself. Gus, does your wife read these posts?
I am doing it all myself, hence the reason I am behind schedule.
Engine Test Stand Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoxyUwptUcdqEb-o2ArqyiUaHW0G_C88 restoring my 1968 Firebird 400 HO convertible (Firedawg) 1965 Pontiac Catalina Safari Wagon 389 TriPower (Catwagon) 1999 JD AWS LX Lawn tractor 17hp (my daily driver) 2006 Sequoia 2017 Murano (wife's car) 202? Electric car 203? 68 Firebird /w electric engine 2007 Bayliner 175 runabout /w 3.0L Mercuiser__________________________________________________________
I did all my own metal work. Brother helped me do the body work.
I had the final spray done profesionaly and done in three seperate times because of being sprayed while dissasembled.
That being said my red paint/clear and spraying was over $1000 back 7 years ago. I would guess even if it was a quick scuff and spray it may be closer to 5K for most.
There are a lot of details needed in how much it may cost. Starting condition being the biggest question. Such as rust/metal repair. Staying the same color? Painting the jambs? Will they be masking off trim or removing. Are you going to do any dissasembly yourself?
Most shops are around 70+ an hour so if you can take 2 days to remove everything from the car you would $1100 right there you can save.
If you are planing to do a paint be sure to take care of the little things so you don't have to remove panels after words. Like heater core and fan, Sub frame bushings,any engine bay painting, door bushing and panel alignment.
I have seen to many modestly priced paint jobs this past year that looked great the first month or two after they were done. But now 7-8 months later you can see all the sand scratches and all the places where the body filler has shrunk as well as all the other hidden sins.
Most "variables" have already been mentioned. My biggest issue was, I had my car for 23 years and though all I needed was stripping, some filler and a show quality paint job. I had a California car! I did not want to do it myself do to lack of time and patients when it comes to body work and paint. Not into that. To find a body man that is willing to do an old car and knows what he's doing is a huuuge challenge. No one you'll find wants to touch the car unless it's time and material!! - they will NOT give you a out the door price ahead of time!! That's the other thing you'll face. As previously mentioned figure 400-500 hrs minimum at min. of $60-$80/hr. - labor only! He'll find things you had no clue were bad, mikey moused by some one else, or plain rust! These guys do awesome work at a industry standard price. When I was done I began to understand how you can spend $30k on a restoration. Never believed it before. The results will make you happy and satisfied when you know it was done right from the ground up, better than new, and you'll have a car you will be proud of for years to come.
