you got that right, I couldn't agree more with that statement I looked into getting mine shot the way I wanted it and they were crazy prices 8k for a 66 dart??? I don't think so. even done I don't think the car will be worth more than 8k tops if that. now if some one wanted to pay me that for it I'd probably tell them I want to drive it first then I'd sell it so I could do another one!
I didn't want the super exensive PPG paint. even though you do get good paint I just can't seem to wrap my head around a grand for cool vanilla paint and some clear for PPG and the price for a red or a metalic just goes up from there. yeah I went cheaper and shot a couple of coats of nason paint+hardener for 150.00 and 150 for the clear+hardener, 14.99 for gold pearl(from paintwithpearl) and I had some intercoat clear that I had used to paint my 75 goldwing and cover some decals before I cleared it . I used almost a gallon of hi-build and a quart of white sealer. another 100.00 or so. did it come out show car quality? nope not quite it's close though. but I wasn't looking for that I wanted a nice solid color with a little bling added to offset the solid color and I plan on driving the heck out of the car. show would take another coat or 2 of clear and flattening it out completely.
what took the longest was the prep and blocking, painting was a snap but the prep sucked big time. I probably have 100+ hours in sanding/blocking and just generally straightening up the car in order to shoot 2 coats of color ,2 intercoat with pearl and 2 coats of clear. (minus the oops's that occurred) so yeah I've got 3 grand in it if you give me 20.00 an hour for blocking. and the cost of the paint and primer. I've seen some great 3k jobs and some lousy 10k jobs. in a production shop they have to make money so the price is gonna be about double what I have into mine. can't fault em for that and if you can't shoot it yourself then you'll have to pay the piper and he's playing high! 10k for an abody in paint is just crazy in my opinion unless it's a 1 of 1 and very much a wanted type of car. our a's are not that rare yet. E bodies yep A's nope. I'd say 6k tops on a good paint job with no body work at all and it in hibuild but them blocking it to get ready to paint. then your so far underwater on the car that you'll have to eat a bunch of it just to sell the car. if it's a forever car that your going to keep then spend the money.
but that just my opinion and it's probably different than everyone else.