Could I get a paint job for $1200.00?

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myasylum

myasylum

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I MAY have a lead on a car that "just needs a paint". I have seen pictures, and I can see the the body work has been done.
I'm kind of putting myself on a limb here... I know there is a lot more to look into... but he's got the interior out, and the bumpers and grill, lights ect... It basically needs to be reassembled. I guess the guy got sick and would like to get rid of it. (It's a '74 Duster).

If I do get my hands on this... I'd kind of like it to be just a daily driver.
If everything is taken out already is it possible just to have it sprayed quick for around $1200.00??? I have no intentions of this being a show car or anything.

Or how much would I be looking at here?


Thanks!
 
myasylum, I'm sure you can get a paint job for a fraction of that price. The question is what kind of quality you're looking for.
I worked with a guy 30 years ago that went home Friday with a 'Plum Crazy' purple 340 Duster and came in to work on Monday with it painted silver. He claimed he painted it himself using a spray attachment on his vacuum cleaner! Of course, the first question he got from a co-worker was, "What'd you do? Put some paint in a sock and swing it around over your head?"
Needless to say, it wasn't the best paintjob I've ever seen. He didn't even bother to mask over the factory stripes - just painted over them.
Seriously though, you can shop around and probably find a presentable driver-quality job for $1200.
I've found a very small local guy that will do my Dart for $3000 and that includes them stripping the car and taking care of some very minor bodywork. I've seen their work and I believe it to be better than "driver" quality.
Good luck in your search.
 
Is the all the weather stripping and stuff there? I think my bill for all the weatherstripping, firewall gasket set etc was over $500.00 What color? Think my body guy spent close to $450 for a gallon of b-5 (?), brain fart and don't remember, along with the clear coat. Seeing pictures of the bodywork and then seeing it in person are probably going to be a shock to you.
 
ocdart said:
He claimed he painted it himself using a spray attachment on his vacuum cleaner! Of course, the first question he got from a co-worker was, "What'd you do? Put some paint in a sock and swing it around over your head?"
Click to expand...

That is one of the funniest things that I have ever heard.
 
well if you find a budy or budys budy you can..

for example arround here you can find some guys arround that will paint your car for a few hundred bucks aslong as you suply all the stuff ( just to shoot)

i do it for ppl and charge between 100 to 200 plus a case of beer depending on who you are and your relationship with me .....

if you cant find a person that can do it for cash well your probly borderline with 1200

just my two cents
 
I am sure that you can find someone to paint it for that price. Quality won't be the best, but could be done. I used summit paint single stage base/clear on this fury this year and it turned out beautiful and materials cost me a little over $500. There is a ton of labor in prep work and wet sanding, cutting and buffing the clear (which you could do with an investment in a buffer). I think the car turned out great for a single stage metallic. BTW the Fury sold in 3 days.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7qtqNRIfSE&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - Video[/ame]
 
also id recomend checking eastwoods for paint i got a gallong of plum crazy for 150 shipped ...its a urathane base (witch is great for a driver and easy to paint)

carquest wanted 650 for the same gallon
 
I'm expecting it to be much worse when i see it in person. I'mm be doing some sanding and things I am sure.
I had a guy in High School that had a Opel GT. He painted it with a paint brush! It was pretty funny. You could see all the lines in it.
This Duster was Stock red, with a black top. So I'd just keep it that way. Get some stock rallys, and just drive it everyday, you know? I don't want it to look bad, but not perfect by any means.

For my other Duster I was quoted $5000.00, that was with body work being done though. They even said to make the car *MINT* it would cost around $10,000.00!
 
a body shop around here will give you a urethane base coat clear coat for $1000 if you bring them the car prepped, the paint job will only be as good as your prep job
 
I've been doing a lot of research on paint and related items in preparation to paint mine (after the bodywork is done), and you can spend anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands on just the paint, reducers, catalysts, etc. It could probably be done, if the car is really ready for paint. If it's already in primer, hopefully he knows exactly what products have been used on it already so you can finish it with compatible products, otherwise you'd be taking a chance. Either way, I'd spray it with more primer and guide coat and reblock it so you can really see what you have. Unless he can show what he did in pics, you're taking a chance on how it was done though, but for a driver, maybe it doesn't matter so much, but if it starts bubbling up in a year or so, that's the chance you took.

Of course, if it's bare now, and needs to be primed and everything, that would add a bit more to your materials cost, but I'd personally rather do it that way so you can see what you're getting more clearly and fix anything you need to before painting. Even cheap paint is expensive!!! And people do a lot of stupid stuff with bodywork, we've all seen that, I'm sure.

If you have a compressor, look into doing it yourself. Labor is going to be the biggest part of the bill unless you've got a good buddy.
 
Sorry for triple post, but one more tip... check out the forums at paintucation.com I've been reading all the posts and watching the videos too... LOTS of great stuff there. Good to know even if you're going to have someone else paint it, so you know what to look for, and so you know what they're talking about, and the products they're using.

Not from 1st hand experience, but I'd also look into the Eastwood paints, or at least the primers. I'd be suspicious of their low prices, but all the guys on Paintucation say they work well and are a good value. If I don't go all PPG on mine, I may use the Eastwood epoxy primer.
 
LOL! Yea well... That car thing is up in the air yet anyway. Some relative wants it from Louisiana. He want to tow it down there. It think he's nuts! It's a Duster, not a SuperBird, you know??

I'm not going to get in the middle of a family squabble, but they know I'm interested so I'm just going to sit back wait and see.

I have enough going on with the other Duster anyway... So it's all good. :)
 
If you lived closer to me I would paint it for $1200 material and wetsand and polish included, body work and dent repair extra. Side work for me and I get more work offers than I can handle so you must have a local back yard body man who can hook ya up. Most guys won't sand and polish for that price. Check your local want adds under help for hire
 
I keep thinking of more stuff too... like someone else mentioned already, just the extra stuff you need to buy to finish it off can cost quite a bit. Depending on what you can reuse though. Bolts and screws you can probably re-use a lot, but who knows. Weatherstrip is hard to reuse and a bad idea too if you are going to drive it a lot especially, if you want car to last. All new weatherstrip will set you back at least $250 right there (if you need some, PM me for a source for new Metro at a really good price). For sure you'll need all new gaskets, about $75-$100 for those unless you make them yourself. A lot of the body plugs and bumpers will probably either be shot or missing, so add $40-$100 for those too. Again, depends on what it has now and how nice you want it to be and how long you want it to last. I'm not even thinking of everything here.

The point is, all that little stuff adds up... ask me how I know :)

Anyway, good luck!
 
I got my 72 duster painted at maacco 7 year ago, still looks excellent. I paid around $500. look at the quality of your local maacco .good luck
 
74duster84 said:
also id recomend checking eastwoods for paint i got a gallong of plum crazy for 150 shipped ...its a urathane base (witch is great for a driver and easy to paint)

carquest wanted 650 for the same gallon
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um yha that is some shitty *** paint.... (for an experienced painter it sure lays out funny too) I guess I am a little hard to impress since I do this for a living but it takes forever to harden, poor can to can color match ect..... don't wast your money on it. PPG makes great single stage at a very reasonable price.
 
herschel said:
I got my 72 duster painted at maacco 7 year ago, still looks excellent. I paid around $500. look at the quality of your local maacco .good luck
Click to expand...


The guys at maacco prep your car with one red scotch bright and some paint softener.... I am surprised it hasn't peeled on you.

A friend and I did all the prep work to his truck cab and let maaco prep the bed, The bed was peeling within a moth and the cab was peeling within 6. Doing this for a living I know how to prep and paint, with the same prep we gave his cab my paint jobs don't peel. The materials do cost more though.
 
res1vw21 said:
um yha that is some shitty *** paint.... I guess I am a little hard to impress since I do this for a living but it takes forever to harden, poor can to can color match ect..... don't wast your money on it. PPG makes great single stage at a very reasonable price.
Click to expand...

How about the Eastwood epoxy primer? Have you used that?
 
BlueSwinger said:
How about the Eastwood epoxy primer? Have you used that?
Click to expand...

After that crappy paint experience I have stayed away from all of there paint materials. We only use dp40 dp50 dp90 (PPG) epoxy primers, Why? because after years of using them we know they work and the customers are happy.
We also use longer set (401 I believe) activator because it seems to flow out better.
 
Yeah, I was going to use all PPG. Then I read the good reviews on the Eastwood primer and thought I'd try it, but thinking now, it's just not worth any risk after all the work. Maybe if I was going for a $1200 paint job, it wouldn't be a bad option though.
 
He claimed he painted it himself using a spray attachment on his vacuum cleaner!

Well that may sound funny to some but the HVLP paint system and the HVLP turbine is just that to some, a vacuum cleaner with a spray gun. I painted both my Cortez motorhome and my 64 Signet with a Lex-Aire HVLP spray gun and turbine. Eastwood sells them too. This photo is only the front fender but the rest of the car looks the same and this was painted 20 years ago. With those systems, you have very little over-spray as well as very little orange peel. After the paint cured I rubbed it out using 1500 to 2000 and polished it with Meguires 2 and 7
REMEMBER THIS WAS DONE WITH A VACUUM CLEANER
360conversion013.jpg
 
I sent my Fury to Maaco 9 years ago and paid $ 600, no peeling but it's amazing how much road rash 18K miles can create, but I'm still happy with it. You get what you pay for. I plan to send them my wifes Demon soon.
 
LOL OMG! Just the way that it sounds "claims he painted it himself using a spray attachment on his vacuum cleaner".....TOO funny! I seriously LOL'd when I read that part...
 
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