Need Advise – Help…

[Chester Brzostowski]

The painter who I have been talking with came over today to give me a price on the paint job. Yes he is an artist and does basically hotrods and antique cars but I am in sticker shock. He was talking $10,000 to $15,000. Am I crazy? I told him I was not looking for a show winner and I was just building a good driver. I told him that I was looking at spending around $4,000 to $6,000 tops. Maybe I am crazy but I thought 4 to 6K was a lot. Needles to say.., we parted ways.

Question: who is crazy here, him or me? Please note I am sure he is an artist, but I would be hard pressed to sell this 48 stock Plymouth for what the paint job would cost. Not to mention the 4 years of work & parts I have already put into this car. :mad:

My question is.., will I ever get this car on the road ?

Very, very frustrated… :eek:

Chet…

PS.., I am away from home so it may be a little while before I respond back.

[Bingster]

Is that your car in primer ready to shoot? All I can tell you is that where I live, I asked a local body man if I brought the car in ready to shoot how much? Well, for base & clear coat black it was going to be well under a grand, if I polished the clear out myself. For a guy to basically shoot the car twice, it does not take that much time. I think you are asking the wrong guy. Because he IS an artist and does high priced work, why should he slum giving you a deal? I'm certain he doesn't need the work that badly.

Go to some local shops. Ask at auto parts stores who is reputable, does good work and might work with you. Also, go to the body shop of your local auto dealerships and ask the body men if they moonlight doing paint work. Mine did at the Chrysler dealership. Very reasonable. These days a lot of these folks are trying to make extra dough. If a dealership in your area has recently closed down, seek out the body guy that worked there. He may be itching to paint a car. Good luck.

[Plymouthy Adams]

hungry artist...get another quote..

[JIPJOBXX]

If you done a real good job of prepping than I would go to Maco and check with them. They sprayed my car for around 550 dollars. The only trick is to make sure you have prep it good.. Also check out there cars they have done. I'm quite satisfied with my paint job and what the hell if I want to repaint it in a few more years I can at the original cost. Nice work and the guys down at my Maco really like doing a speciality car as all they get usually is hot rod Honda and wrecks.

[JIPJOBXX]

PS. about my Maco paint job if and when you do have it painted you might mention to them if they do an exceptional job you will maybe hang a place car by your car advertizing there work! Good for there bussiness and good for your wallet.

[Don Coatney]

Chet;

Send me the car and I will paint it for $14,999.00:cool:. I think the painter you talked to should go pee in a cup.

You should be able to get a driver quality paint job for under a grand especially with the preperation work you have done. You talked to the wrong painter. Contact Rodney and find out who paints his cars.

[Chester Brzostowski]

Thanks all, I haven’t been on the forum in a while and need a calibration. I thought I stepped off into the Twilight Zone…

Don.., that is a good idea. Could you email his phone number, I am sure he knows a guy here in VA.

Bingstar,

Yes the picture was from October 4, right after I shot the first coat of primer filler. Since then I have sanded it down and it needs another shot of primer and some sanding. Basically I wanted to protect the metal until I could get it into the paint shop.

[greg g]

Well now we know where not to go. Depends what kind of job you are looking for. but even with dissasembling the fenders, doors hood an drunk, the reassembling it shouldn't be half of what he quoted.

[steveplym]

Chet I'm thinking 4-6 grand would get a nice paint job. I know shops around here that would do a nice job for around 3k. Keep looking you'll find someone out there. If not pull it down here to So. IL. I'll do it for half that guys asking price.

[scottyv47]

if your looking for a realy nice paint job, $4 -$6000 is a good price, your guy is out of his mind, i don't think it would cost that much to have chip foose paint it on TV, anyway, not to toot maaco's horn, but i had 2 of my cars painted there, and as said before, as long as you prep it very well, and you make sure you take off any trim, or motor chrome, or anything else you don't want overspray on, they do a realy nice driver quality job, i had a 63 plymouth they shot for me, and i won several trophy's at some pretty big shows with the car

[JerseyHarold]

My experience is the same as others have reported. If you have good prep work, Maaco will shoot the paint very reasonably ($$) and you should be pleased with the results.

Some areas also have budget-priced body shops that advertise in the local newspapers. You may want to check them out.

Another possibility is to speak to a local used car lot or cab company and see who they use for their paint work.

[Plymouthy Adams]

go to your local paint and body supply stores..odd are there will be a list of people capabable and willing to shoot your car..odds are some have access to professional booths of their 9-5 employer and will knowck your car out on the weekend....the thing to consider after you have done the prep is material and the man's time and booth rental. We used to get a booth for 35.00 a day..odds are he even has better prices for paint...

[Don Coatney]

Don.., that is a good idea. Could you email his phone number, I am sure he knows a guy here in VA.

PM sent with the phone number

[james curl]

I know a shop that builds cars for people who try to win the Ridder Award and to have over 200 hours in bodywork and final finishing of the body before painting is not unusual. The paint can be over $2,000 for custom mix. The artist might have been working for some of the same clients. There are people who have over $1,000,000.00 dollars in their cars in an attempt to win Americas Most Beautiful Roadster or the Ridder Award for the other cars and not even be in the running. Its all about ego.

[JIPJOBXX]

I do not know what your after in your car but personal satisfaction. As you can see I have one a few prizes for my old Dodge with my 500 dollar paint job. I always point it out as a point of interest as you do not haft to pay thousands of dollars for a beautiful paint job and my car is the proof. I kind of wonder how close my paint job comes to be like the one that it would have had when it first came out of the factory? Body work and prep that is the key word! Oh yes even if I didn't win a few prizes I really wouldn't care as I just enjoy the idea of having a object that over 60 years old and is from a much simpler time.

[dezeldoc]

That price he gave you is pretty close for a frame off job!! but for a outside with jambs it is a little high. my paint jobs start at 3500 and go from there, i have about 1200 in materals for top of the line paint. and as those of you that have done your own you know how much labor you have in it! as others have said prep it your self and take it to one of the production shops or check with a local body shop and ask how much they get for spraying a car with and without paint, it may be cheaper to buy your own paint. one thing about the production shops is, the guy is donig nothing but spraying cars all day long also ask to talk to the painter and flip him a little tip if he does an extra nice job on it.

[Chester Brzostowski]

As usual you guys are right on. I will let you know where this goes but for sure it’s not going to this painter. Well maybe more time and more prep is in my equation for this summer, but my goal is to get her painted before winter sets in.

Thanks to you all,

Chet…

[desoto1939]

Here is another suggestion. Is there a vactional tech school in your local school district that has a body shop.

The kids are alsways lloking for work and with the help of the instructor they might beable to provide you with a great job and also you might get to over see the work.

My father in-law had theis done on his 64 Impala and the kids did a great job for a driver. There were a few runs but these car when they came out of the factory had runs they were not perfect show pieces. The object from the factory was to get the car out the door and they were not putting them in a museum. Even the older Model A and T's had runs. Our cars are over restored and we hear this constantly at Hershey in the fall. These car never lloked this good. Do the best that you can with the dollar figure you want to spend. Its your money a good painter should be able to provide you with a qaulity job with all of the new wer paints and guns that are out on the market. For the 4-6K I would even thry to do the job yourself. If you can find a good garage that you a mask off the car then go for it.

Rich Hartung

[blueskies]

Paid $2900 for my paint job... I delivered it to the painter completely stripped and ready for the body work. The car had a couple of dents in each fender, one in the passenger front door, and some surface rust under the front fender to body seal area. All of this was taken care of in the price, along with sand blasting and painting of the inner front fenders, and under coating of the front and rear fenders.

I did all of the re-assembly myself.

Looks great for a daily driver.

Pete

[dezeldoc]

Hey Pete, what is all that white stuff around the car and on the hills, some kind of dust control? us desert folks don't have that kind of stuff, where do you get it eastwood or somewhere like that. nice loooking car!

[blueskies]

...what is all that white stuff around the car and on the hills...

Round here, there are two seasons, winter and August...

Drove my '50 for the first time this season, today. Finally feeling like spring even though it was only 35 this morning when I left for work.

Pete

[dezeldoc]

Yep getting up into the mid 90's here oh boy looks like it is gonna be hot this year!

[Bingster]

Your car looks great! Could it have looked any better when new?