If I want a decent paint job on my '69 and a paint job that will last at least 10 years, what would be a fair price to pay?

I know Macco (a production shop)will paint the car for $600.00 and give me only a 2 year warranty. But, I'm willing to spend a few more dollars to get a good quality job. I can remove most of the trim myself (saving some labor costs)

If you have had recent experience in painting your Bird, then I'd appreciate some feedback on cost and what should they do to prepare the body for painting?

Also, if any of you guys are in Orange County, California, perhaps you could recommend someone to do the job? Thanks for any help you can give.

Save your money..Maaco sucks. Plan on at least 2-2500 on a final prep and paint job. You will have to remove all trim, bumpers, old paint..etc. Sand to bare, epoxy coat, prime, block sand...block sand..block sand..wet sand..etc. Make sure the pre coats are compatible with what the shop uses..PPG, DuPont, etc. I saved my money ($5k) bought a paint setup, gun, compressor, drier, DA sanders and still had 3k left over. Painted it myself..never painted a car before. Read the directions, tested on a few scrap panels and read books. Worth the $$ I spent.

Got tired of spending 4k on paint jobs when I thought I could shoot it just as well...and I was correct.

Frank,

I live in So. Orange Co. and am a member of the So. Cal. POCI. Send me an email at trmjr1@msn.com with your phone number and I will call you Friday evening or Saturday. Otherwise email me and I will give you my cell phone number.

Tom

$2,500 or so is reasonable for a car that doesn't need much work. I have about $5,000 in mine,for body work, new doors, hood, and Amber pearl metalflake base coat /clear coat. get what you pay for.

Do what Banshee says. It will be worth it in the end. The Macco jobs are trash! Good if you want a 20 footer but thats about it.
See if you can find a reputable local guy too. You will save a bunch if you get a guy that does it out of his garage or on the side.

Joe ,it depends on the Maaco shop...I beleived just as you ,until we saw how Maaco painted Drews car....excellent job... see his car at the online show , car # 642, I think ,or check last name "Helm"

Mine's a Maaco paint job. It's not show car quality, but it makes for a pretty sharp driver. It's about an 8 footer, mostly due to my bodywork. I did all the prep and they just sprayed it. They did an excellent job taping it off. I was expecting a bunch of overspray but was pleasantly surprised. I don't have the multi-thousands it would require for a "real" paint job right now so this is just a tempory paint job. Someday I'll do it right.

As with ANY paint job it's ALL in the prep. I used to think the same thing about Maaco, but I learned that every shop is different.

I did all the body work, prep, primer, etc myself. I took it to Maaco to have them do the final blocking. the shop manager took my car under his wing and wouldn't let ANYONE else int eh shop drive the car. At one point every person in the shop had their hands in the sanding of the car. The body guy walked around the car and found imperfections that I had missed and would've obvious once the paint was sprayed.

At the time this shop had a 74 corvette, a 71 Chevy truck, a 67 Mustang, and a 66 Mustang being done.....along with a 55 Chevy 2dr HT that had just been painted in single stage yellow and white. It was near perfect.

Seeing their work and how well they took care of my car I decided to let them shoot it with BC/CC. It turned out great. Better than I anticipated. I still need to do a final cut and polish of the clear, but it looks great. See signature below. I took the car to them with black primer where the dark blue is and grey primer where the pewter is.

It all depends on the shop. I paid $1200 for the final prep, minimal body work, and paint. It's comparable to a LOT of 3500-4000 paint jobs I've seen.

From my experience it's impossible to get a price until the car is completely taken apart and stripped down to bare metal. Interior must come out to expose floor pans as well. Since you're in CA you probably won't have to deal with what I just went through (rust!!!!!), but you never know what's hiding under the paint. Is it a coupe or conv? Taking off the trim on a conv is very difficult to do without damaging it (which happened when I did mine) so be prepared to buy new trim and it ain't cheap I'm going to be in around $10,000, but this is going to be one nice looking bird when finished! I'm going back to the original color of my car Windward Blue Metallic. Alexis, I saw your car in this color and think it looks awesome. Not many cars were painted this special option color:

http://firstgenfirebird.org/show/closeup.mv?CarID=371

Sorry, I didnt clearly state this but I was saying a 20 footer with no prep work done. Just a scuff and spray. If you take the time and prep the car, it will come out very nice.
BTW, Drew I sent you a PM.

Joe,

I sent you an email with lots of pics and info....to the email you sent in the PM on the 4th. Did you get it?

Drew

How did this get picked up from 2002?

I think Sanford being new here was going through different posts and saw something he wanted to reply to and try and help and probably didn't see the date of the post.Thats my guess and i'm sticking to it

David

Still was an interesting thread.

I dropped $5,500 in mine including new convertible top. It's 2 stage polyurethene, base coat, and one gallon clear coat.

The higher cost was largely ensuring the sheet metal was perfect because the one gallon clear coat would show the slighest imperfection.

I visited 5 shops before I picked the one. He was an old timer with a steady insurance busines too.

**** spell checkers