paint question

I will put my 2 cents in here. As a shop owner of a hot rod shop/restoration/fabrication shop. 10K would be close depending on color choice. Material cost alone will run 2500-3000K for a high quality material. Painting a car is very labor intensive as others have said. Not only to get the car ready to paint but buffing a car to a show ready finish is a ton of work in itself. we estimate around 40 hours of labor to wet sand and buff. Then comes reassembly.a good weeks worth of work for final assembly. A lot of shop including mine will not paint some ones all ready prepped car. Why, Because if the cars not right and someone ask at a show who did the work. Well I get the blame. So that is representation of my shop. Also you must consider over head. If a guys painting out of his garage then his cost would be much lower than mine. Is 10K a lot of money? most certainly. Is it not in the budget for some. Yes. Is this hobby getting expensive? Yes. Do it once and do it right would be my suggestion. Check with some other car guys around your area and see who they would suggest to do the work. Don't take it to a collision shop. Thats another story in it self. Just my 2 cents. good luck with your project. Tim