Paint and bodywork

[RLF Cuda]

I can't say enough good about Cars Remember When in Englewood, CO (Denver area). I brought them my '68 FS FB that I owned since '69 for full paint after AMD replaced rear quarters and valance. The rest of the car was rust free. The bulk of the expense was in exacting panel fitting for proper gaps and prep for paint. They used an industrial grade primer used for scaffolding on tank farms good for 50 years. Hard, but does not move. As this is a black 'Cuda, all body lines are flat and must remain so.
The painting went well but they purposedly don't try for a perfect glass finish. Cut and Buff takes the raw paint to mirror smoothness. All this is spendy, but the results are a perfect finish that will last.
I couldn't be happier with the end result, other than a thin wallet.

 

[ir3333]

...and a show car is very different from a restored car. With a show car the "anti" goes way up

 

[Oldiron440]

Not much difference between the over restored car and a show car.

 

[69dartwant]

Relatively speaking yes. When I had my paint and body work done a few years back I really shopped the area for a reasonable price for quality work. Most good shops with high reputations had quite a waiting list. So I went with a painter that was referred to me on this website. He talked a great game and his work looked good but when it came time to have the work done it took much longer than he quoted me some parts were rushed other parts were done right but by the time he finished the price had gone up about $3,000 and not everything was done that we agreed on.. My experiences expect to pay a lot of money for quality work and really check out references. One other note my car was about as solid as a 1970 340 swinger can be no major rust repairs just a few minor ones that we had discussed before he started.

Different subject matter but same exact result. I was new to area and just wanted another good carpenter to help me frame up my garage. Hired a guy who spoke perfectly about how to do it, but when it came down to doing it, he was a total hack. Asked him to leave when he couldn't lay a straight line of shingles. I made out with a lower cost of same materials I estimated, and just took me longer to finish it alone. Sorry that besides the stress and headaches you went through watching bad happen to your Dart, that it cost more.
In regards to body shop work, I've run into the same problem my entire life, and today's culture is really worse. A lot of thieves!
Sorry this is long!

 

[melcardona]

Not much difference between the over restored car and a show car.

cryin out loud o440...ive never heard of...(over restored )....nuts...now i know what my builds are......underestored....and almost proud of it!!!!

 

[ir3333]

yup...different strokes. Cut and buff or factory style orange peel that you can only see from some angles.
There is a difference between a factory style build or show quality. Show quality does require a lot more
labour...and money.I have seen a few show quality paint jobs that leave you speechless, especially in black!

 

[CFD244]

yup...different strokes. Cut and buff or factory style orange peel that you can only see from some angles.
There is a difference between a factory style build or show quality. Show quality does require a lot more
labour...and money.I have seen a few show quality paint jobs that leave you speechless, especially in black!

Whoever has the most money wins.

 

[barbee6043]

Back decades ago, the guys with the top top high end "rare"and most desirable models restos wanted a paint job JUST like it left the factory. I think they called them Gold Certified or something, way back before clones, restomods, and everyone wanting the shiny bc/cc to try to win the $5 plastic trophy at the local dog and pony show.

Like the handful of guys today that build the 50s era Model A hot rod, local guy built a nice one and painted it with a brush like they did back in the day!!!!!

 

[1WildRT]

As my buddy says " the fun is in building them" If you have a finished car it's a 2 or 3 week a year hobby if you
add up the hours....but building is not something everyone enjoys.

Really? That may be his opinion but I drive my cars a lot more than that... Always have... I use to enjoy working on them, these days I'd much rather go for a cruise....

 

[ir3333]

...and then there are guys that drive their cars all the time!

 

[memike]

Never paid for body and paint , do it myself.
But I do agree that some people need to learn and go watch a body shop work, they bust thete buts.

 

[melcardona]

Whoever has the most money wins.

not 1 car show ive been in when voting..did i ever vote for my car /cars or any high end stupid money trailer queen..........my vote went to the very best self build...and at least 1 youth starter car......

 

[Oldiron440]

I’ve never been a car show fan, I’m more of a cruise fan and especially a larger cruise fan. Sometimes I will get into the beginning so I can pull over and get out the chairs and watch the cars and people go by. The one thing I don’t care about is for is the idiocy of doing burnouts in front of kids sitting on curbs and then galling *** for a city block with people lining the curbs.
I guess I’ve drag raced to long because I’ve seen to much **** happen at the track. But I do like seeing the cars in motion and I like herring hot they sound. To me cars are an automotive are form in motion.
Some cars look better at twenty five feet rolling down the road some not so much.

 

[harrisonm]

I agree with this being the most expensive portion of your typical build. When I bought my first classic around 2017 I shopped local body shops for prices for minor rust repair and an overall paint job for a cruiser not a show car and most were in the $20k range. Once I learned of this I decided to teach myself how to do it. I painted my first car twice before I was happy and spent more time doing body work to make it right than I should have but my time was free at that point. Now I have a spray booth in my shop and have done several restorations. With that said it is a lot of work and I’ve learned a lot over almost 9 years of doing this for a hobby. I do see why it isn’t cheap to get done because there are a lot of hours into a restoration and we all know what hourly rates have done in the last decade. Photo of my last all over from a do it yourselfer.

View attachment 1716484493

Very nice job. I painted my first car about 48 years ago. It looked OK. I just had someone show me how to adjust the gun and briefly show me side to side spray technique. That was it. With every car I painted, I got a little better. Most of my paint jobs were in my garage. I have done about a dozen paint jobs in a real paint booth. I have access to one now. Try it. It isn't that hard. The prep is the hardest part. I rather enjoy the prep; body work, priming, block sanding.
Here are a few pictures. The Black truck is my 98 Dakota that I painted in my Garage. The green Barracuda is mine, I painted it 11 years ago. The Studebaker belongs to my friend Mark, and I painted it in his paint booth. It just takes practice.

 

[melcardona]

Agree on paint and body being the most expensive. I suspect a part of that is that the vast majority of paint and body shops only do insurance and collision work now. When I was ready I went to six P&B shops I had heard good things about and none of them did "total repaints." I hauled my Duster almost two hours away to a guy who had a big shop. He normally didnt do repaints, but he's a car buff and I convinced him to take on my project. To keep costs down, I told him he could work on it when collision business was slow. He put one of their older guys - who still takes a lot of pride in his work - on the body work. He had it 4 months and there was more bodywork than I expected, but it looks good - and it should for $15K.

we all have our push points...things we drive forward on....for you 15 k just for paint/body was doable and made sense....and in truth ..the network needs guys like you that can and will push into those #s....ive known many like you that support the uper end of the craft with flawless works of art...of course most are trailer queens...and with all due respect...if i ever ended up with such a gem i would just sell her as i would never drive her...the freek show would start with any on coming trafic tossing stones...would move to bug juce paint eating acid...merging cars/trucks closer then 1 mile in front of me hurling 80 lb boulders at mach 10 right at my bumper or windshield or front of hood oh my..calgon take me away...and and oh all the sand on the road eating away at the under paint ......the sin of all sins........has the 67 rain storms cleaned off all the salt from the road.i better do a lick test!!!..oh no way i taste salt.....she is not going anywhere....its a bad summer...ill just keep running her in side...doors open of course , dont want exhust acid eating the clear coat..ill use my 18 ft hemi turbo blown tri power 5 speed posi track blade system shop fan to give her a real breeze of fresh air !!!!.....hey honey..did you check the ac and air ride on the 40 ft 5th wheel car hauler??? baby needs 68 deg @ 45% rh.and i dont want her shocks being wor out on the trip into town......oh and remind me that stinkin calafornia duster is to old and used up..1 year is long enough i know i know its the one for the trunk.......i really dont think that ceramic wax ronaldo put on was as good as he says i saw a streek when the moon light came thrugh the shop auto roof while open last night ...i think i left it open to long ..i hope i did not fade the paint...you remember what leonardo van gogh told us at la motor creations...the sun will kill baby and she will need to be resurrected again....even with all the concessions he gave us to expedite baby's last make over...i could not endure 27 more years of vacancy under the moon roof.....oh noooo is that a flat spot in the tire??