Any One Use Earl Scheib Painters? OT

[Charlie Olson]

I decided to find an outside windshield sun visor for my RED RYDER, 52 Chevy PU, and found one this week. It needs a little work and painting. The paint job on my okay driver PU is about 25 years old and is faded, chipped, cracked and worn. I think it would be cool to have the truck and the visor to be the same color; so I am thinking about getting a basic Earl Scheib paint job to pretty up the RED RYDER, a little bit. Any one have any comments or experiences to share with Earl Scheib paint jobs? Thanks in advance.

PS: the visor I found, or it found me, was in the back seat of the donor car we used to restore PLYWOOD back to its original Phantom state. The visor wasn't even a close match for a P15, so I asked Art if it might just maybe fit a Chevy/GMC PU. Evidently, that is what it was made for, a Chevy/GMC PU.

[randroid]

Charlie,

I never had a car painted by Uncle Earl, not even when they were $19.95, but through my short life I've met a number of professionals in his industry and what they all say is he's able to sell such cheap paint jobs because he does zero prep but needs to use high quality paint to cover his sloth. If you do your own body prep (including wiping it down immediately before the paint goes on) you can get one hell of a fine paint job out of it for cheap.

I would think a visor would be a walk in the park, even from a rattle can.

-Randy

[dezeldoc]

Scheib went out of business a few years back. It is true no prep, i remember a friend who had his 69 charger painted there and a week later going down the fwy a big chunk of paint flew off the hood(almost 2/3 of it) and the paint under it was as shinny as before the paint.

[plymouthasc]

I checked into an "Earl Scheib Type" paint job once for a modern but old commuter car. They had a sliding scale fee based on what prep you wanted. Based on how much extra you paid over the base fee they would a) wash the car, b)mask the trim and windows, c) wire brush the rusty spots, d)sand the old paint... or paint it the way you drove it in.

I agree that if you do the prep work, a decent paint application can be achieved for a reasonable price.

[P-12 Tommy]

Scheib went out of business a few years back. It is true no prep, i remember a friend who had his 69 charger painted there and a week later going down the fwy a big chunk of paint flew off the hood(almost 2/3 of it) and the paint under it was as shinny as before the paint.

In 1971 a friend of mine had a white 1964 Falcon painted green. The tires and windows all had green overspray big time on them! He was ticked. That's when they had the $29.95 price.

Tom

[Plymouthy Adams]

not sure how the paint would hold up i the southwest sun..IN THE PAST their paint was a cheaper alkyd base enamel..excellent solids for color..but these solids were also known for challking..as alkyd base is still a favorite of low cost painters..I would ask what they use, ask again if a hardener is used..this also adds a bit of cost to the overall job...you should try to get at minimum an acrylic enamel with hardner added for gloss and durability

as you seem to be in the cirlce with the old car owners in your area, ask around, most folks know a painter who will shoot your prepared vehicle with material you provide for a reasonable "bombing" fee..

[John Reddie]

I had my '49 Chrysler coupe painted in 1968 at on of his franchises. At that time, the cost was $29.95 but I had them spray on a primer/sealer first. I had wet sanded the original paint and done some minor body work. They tried to match the original blue color and did the outside visor for $51.00.There were two girls masking the cars and they were fast. I remember that there were cars lined up outside in the street to be sprayed. It came out quite well for the price. Preparation is defiantly the key.

John R

[Charlie Olson]

not sure how the paint would hold up i the southwest sun..IN THE PAST their paint was a cheaper alkyd base enamel..excellent solids for color..but these solids were also known for challking..as alkyd base is still a favorite of low cost painters..I would ask what they use, ask again if a hardener is used..this also adds a bit of cost to the overall job...you should try to get at minimum an acrylic enamel with hardner added for gloss and durability

as you seem to be in the cirlce with the old car owners in your area, ask around, most folks know a painter who will shoot your prepared vehicle with material you provide for a reasonable "bombing" fee..

That is good advice; I'll start asking other car guys, for a reliable, affordable paint shop. If I ever want to sell RED RYDER, a relaible paint job will be a good selling point.

[Young Ed]

The paint that's on it currently looks quite presentable. Why are you wanting to repaint?

[49 Dodge Dude]

My first car was a '73 Chevy Malibu. I had Earl Scheib paint it cherry red for $99.95. It actually came out very nice. I was so proud of that paint job until one day when I was leaning over the engine compartment and slid. My belt buckle went EEEEEE down the fender. That paint came off like a strip of masking tape. It was a decent paint job, but you sure don't want to scratch it.

[Bingster]

I would go into a car dealership auto body shop and ask if the painter moonlighted. I know a guy did that near me. You'd proably get a much better paint job than Earl and for less than a body shop.

Quite often these guys do classic and custom cars on the side.

[busycoupe]

I had my coupe painted at Maaco in Dedham, MA in July of 2008. Maaco is a quick, cheap, body shop franchise. They have different package deals, but will also do what you want. I took off the bumpers and as much trim as I could. I took off the hoods and the visor and brought them to the shop in the trunk. They did the prep which included some bondo body work, prime with feather fill, then color coat followed by clear coat. They did not strip the car to metal. That would have been better, but cost was a factor. The whole job took just over a week and cost $3100. This was a much lower price than I got from other shops. The car looks good, and so far the paint is holding up well. It is not a "show quality" job, but for driving around and going to cruise nights it is OK. I am happy with the results. Long story short, I guess you get what you pay for.

Dave

[Young Ed]

I brought my coupe to Maaco and got an estimate of 5k. I have a lot of dents! The same maaco did a 499.99 special on a CJ7 that Dad and I sanded bondo'd etc and it came out quite nice. Looked great until the day he sold it.

[Plymouthy Adams]

what happened on the day that he sold it that made it not look so great?

[Charlie Olson]

The paint that's on it currently looks quite presentable. Why are you wanting to repaint?

It is a thirty yard paint job. Actually I can live with it as I apply plenty of polish wax to RED RYDER. If I don't paint RED RYDER, I'll paint my new visor a light, semi gloss grey, to match the interior.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Charlie Olson

[Young Ed]

Well I highly doubt you'll get any kind of an upgrade unless you spend a lot more $ than Earl Scheib or Maaco cheapie jobs. I'm sure you could take your truck and the visor to a body shop and have them match it.

[Charlie Olson]

Well I highly doubt you'll get any kind of an upgrade unless you spend a lot more $ than Earl Scheib or Maaco cheapie jobs. I'm sure you could take your truck and the visor to a body shop and have them match it.

\

That is a good idea. Instead of painting the whole presentable truck, get a very close match on the visor only and save a bunch.

[bobostski]

I had a friend that worked at one if these places. He was given 1 sheet of sand paper to prep the car.

[JIPJOBXX]

Have you ever tried Turtle Wax with color? I used it on my maroon 78 Olds Cutlass and it looks great! It really does a good job of covering small scratches and hay it only cost about 10 to 15 dollars on e-bay. Give it a try and you might find out a big surprise on well it works. Jon

http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-T-375KTR-Color-Magic/dp/B00062ZIOU

[JIPJOBXX]

Have you thought about using Turtle Wax with color? I used it on my 78 Olds and worked out great! Really does a good job with hidding scratches and swirl marks. Jon

http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Wax-T-375KTR-Color-Magic/dp/B00062ZIOU

[rpmgarage]

I have completed the prep work for three friends who couldn't afford to have me do a complete paint job on their vehicles. Each took his vehicle to a local MAACO when I finished and was actually allowed to wipe it down himself with wax and grease remover before the painter rolled it in the booth. If you prep the vehicle properly and do your own fine line taping (just let them do the big stuff as they hurry and don't get close enough or overlap with the tape in many spots), you will usually end up with a good paint job. You can actually tape the vehicle in the parking lot yourself if you get there early enough on the morning you are having the job done.

It's giving away a secret, but most of these shops' "prep" consists of "washing" your vehicle with Formula 409 and a green ScotchBrite pad. They do a wipe with wax and grease remover (often just denatured alcohol), spray "adhesion promoter" in the worst spots, and then paint.

Most of these shops use seasoned painters and actually pay them pretty well. This often means that the guy takes pride in his work.

They actually use a quality paint, but it is single stage. ANYTHING you need extra adds to the price.

If you go the MAACO route, I would suggest that you pop for the hardener. It adds a little extra shine...but TONS more durability. It can make your final job last up to 3 times as long. It's worth it, even for garaged vehicles.

If you go with the single stage (alkyd enamels, etc.), I suggest that you park the car in the sunniest spot that you can find and away from any trees or area where birds congregate, for at least two weeks after you get it back. It really needs to cure out fully, even if you pay the extra $190 for the "baked on" option. This option usually puts the car in their oven at 140º for about 20minutes. The only problem that I have found is that you don't want to be the first or last job of the day if you are going to bake it.

Here's the hard part: DON'T DRIVE IT FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS and DON'T WASH IT FOR AT LEAST A MONTH.

If you can prep it right, fine line it yourself, wipe it down at the last possible second, and don't drive or wash it, you can get a top notch paint job that will last for low $$$$.

Sorry for the long response, but I've been painting for 16 years and have seen it go in all sorts of directions.

PREP, PREP, PREP. That's the key.

[Charlie Olson]

Today, 5/12/2011, I went over to Art's shop, in PHX, to look-see how and if the sun visor he had would fit on my RED RYDER, 1952 Chevy pickup. It lined up up real nice like and I said that I wanted it. When I asked Art "how much" he said "well, since it came in the back seat of the 48 Plymouth donor car and your insurance had paid for the donor car, you can have the visor for free". Just another reason why I shall never have the little bitty hole in my left front fender filled in, as long as Art can see the car , after Art had restored PLYWOOD because of my September crash and over looked filling in the hole.