Hi guys!

Well, this summer, I may (emphasis on "may") be about done with the interior of my 'bird. Next would be to paint it. Now I am not doing a restoration so don't need a 10k paint job. I have looked at the "one day paint and body" type of paint and to be honest, figuring that my car is outdoors in Las Vegas and will suffer fade no matter how good a paint job there is, it sounds almost like what I want. Unfortunately, there is always the matter of overspray since they only tape over things, not remove them. But for 1800 it isn't too bad. What I would like is a paint job where they sand the car down and remove the glass. Anyone have any idea how much such a job should run?

Jerry

I would remove all the stuff yourself, you'll get a much better detailed job and it should be cheaper since they don't have to tape off everything.
You can remove the windshield molding and that makes taping a breeze. Side glass and the trim over it can be more tricky. Taping Louvers will doubfully come out right. Tail lights, bumpers, and about everything else can come off in a good Saturday and Sunday.
You'll be much happier in the end. It'll give you some time to detail all those parts as well before putting them back on.
If this is your daily driver, look at renting a car for the time it's down.

I think paint and body prices vary quite a bit around the country....but when I painted my car (convertible) 6 yrs ago, my friend who used to restore cars gave me a good tip...to avoid the pointer (unless you use Maaco or such) to think he is going to have to have a classic car owner being almost unrealistic in perfection, you`ll do a 'repair job'.... my car needed some rust repair (patch panels on rear qtrs) , it got a new used blue hood (different color than car was) , car already had a red fender in a different red color than the rest of the car...but the car was in a fair shape re trunk lid , door jambs etc...so I had the car done in two trips, not ding jambs or inside of trunk, but got a "matching" paint as to what was on the car...
my hood, front nose, fenders valance, cowl with some metal work under to the inner fenders (rust holes), was $1240....then I drove it foe 5,6 weeks took it back, 'repaired' the doors, rear body plus the patches, it came to another $1280 or so...matches fine...its a 'fair' paint job ,not a show job...but looks good....
then a friend of mine had a $1000 Maaco job, two tone , that also looks great...thats going to be depending on the shop, this shop had a forman that was very interested in doing this job...some are not...

some overspray is not a big deal, on chrome or rubber you can remove it, on underside ,inside fenders etc you can 'cover' it with black paint....
not sure I answewred your question ,but hopefully you`ll get more and can by several answers get a good idea

If you remove all the emblems, bumpers, glass, weatherstripping and trim yourself, plan on saving $400-450 for R&R. If you do all the old paint removal yourself, that is roughly $1500-2000 for materials, PPG DP90LF and catylist and rent a paint booth for a day to do the final prep coat. 95% of a paint job cost will be prep as well as 95% of the final outcome of the paint will be the prep..

If you can follow directions, have decent aptitude, prep it yourself and have someone shoot it for $1000.

A great book is "How to Paint Your Car" By Dennis Parks ISBN 0-7603-1583-3. Got it at Borders.

If you spend $2000 in parts and material and prep it yourself and have a supposedly 10K paint shooter laying on the paint, you will essentially have a 10K paint job if you have thoroughly and properly prepped the car. Prepping is laboreous and time consuming, but very simple. 85% of a paint job cost is prep work.

I plan on doing all my prep work for all three cars and when laying down primer and guide coats, the environment should be somewhat clean and dust free, but not anally "clean" as to lay paint and clearcoat. So you can shoot all the prep in a garage given proper respiration and ventilation.

Thanks for the info guys! Most of the exterior chrome is missing and my side louvers are toast anyway, so that's not a problem, I'm planning on using new chrome after the painting. I can probably remove some of the items left, but unfortunately, since I don't have a garage to put the car in, or store parts in for that matter, I'm kind of limited on what I can do here at home. I'll probably take off the tail lights and certainly the bumpers. As for finding a paint booth to rent...Banshee, be thankful you live in an area that has a lot of car-related people living there. Here in Las Vegas, I can't even find a garage to rent when I want to work on the car. No one wants to rent a space for less than a three-year lease, believe me, I've tried :-(