My 75 Finally Gets The Attention It Deserves(This Could Take a While)

That’s frustrating but nicely done sticking to your requirements. Last thing you want is to take a short cut which leads to years of regret afterwards. And what you’re asking for isn’t impossible. It’s not like you are asking to fly to Mars.

There are still shops that do quality work just fewer of them. That’s the case where I live. Since I had my Scamp restored in 2007, a lot of the smaller, quality one off shops have closed down (including the one that did the metal work on my Scamp). Most of the shops left now are part of chains/franchises who focus on the volume work and don’t want to deal with a side project. And based on the number of vehicles I see rolling around with mismatched paint and/or terrible prep work, it seems like a ‘good job’ 30 years ago isn’t the standard anymore. I can only guess that most folks, when picking up their cars after a fender bender, either don’t notice the mismatched paint or terrible sanding work or just a terrible application of the paint and think it’s ’good enough’ and don’t refuse accepting it. I also think some of the body shops wet the car down before the customer arrives since that makes it more difficult to spot crappy bodywork. And the customer isn’t aware to ask for the car to be wiped down/dry when they pick it up.

What customers want has changed over the years and what some of us consider below average body work is considered perfectly fine now.