I am in the same situation. The problem that I am finding is that no reputable restoration shop wants to do a daily driver type paint job. The places that I have visited do not want to put their name on an inferior product because it can be bad advertising. Therefore, the price always seems to start around $15-20k (with minimal bodywork).

You might have to find yourself an up and coming shop that is not yet full of themselves.
If anyone knows a place like this in the DFW area, please PM me

Dcubedus

 

I see you are in DFW, any luck here with paint, I have a very straight 69 mach1 R 428cj which deciding whether to paint or not.

 

Don't knock the MAACO paint job. If you do the prep work it can be more than acceptable for a daily driver. You might even be able to supply the paint and have them spray it.

 

$10k can be reasonable if you're using a metallic paint and if the paint shop is having to completely disassemble and reassemble your car. Labor costs really add up.

However, if you send the car to them already stripped of trim and other components that get in the way of a paint job, then that usually should save you quite a bit. Even better if you strip the old paint off of the car as well! You can save a lot of cash with some legwork on your end.

Without seeing the car it's hard to know what work it needs, but since prices are higher in the PNW, I would think that $5000-7000 is probably more ballpark for a driver job where you do some of the disassembly yourself.

Paint is definitely not $1100 per gallon though!! Even my highly pearlescent PPG paint was only $865/gallon.

 

Having completed all the mechanical upgrades and rebuilds, the final task on my '66 is paint. My car is a daily driver and was only repainted once in it's lifetime. It is very straight and totally rust free. I'm looking for what I would consider a "re-paint"(similar to what you describe). I want the very stable materials on the car block sanded to remove most of the the minor imperfections and re-shoot it the same color. The estimates I've received range from $6500 - $18000. I will say that I am having a very hard time finding a shop that will even do anything less than a full restoration. Many have told me that they just aren't interested.

 

Well . . . this is a tough question. Most of the body shops I know make their money on insurance / collision jobs. Many have been "roped in to a classic restoration" and have lost lots of money, had hard feelings and had folks not satisfied with "driver quality" that has their name on it. If I were you I would check with others in you area (hit a cruise night or show & shine) and talk to the owners of the finish you are looking for and see what they paid and who did the work. It will not be cheap. when I redid mine the paint cost about $2,500. I just checked and the local jobber is getting $600-$800 a gallon for Dupont - chroma base coat PLUS hardener and reducer. It's not cheap. Mel

 

It really depends on your definition of a "paint job". 20-30 years ago a paint job was just that, a paint job. Today's definition seems to be a complete body restoration. Sounds like you want the old fashioned paint job with a few extras. Find a body man to do it on his off hours or an advanced hobbyist but you'll need to do most of the grunt work and the paint doesn't need to be the top tier line.

 

Check with the local paint supply store, they know everybody that buys paint and usually know their reputation and quality of work. You will be surprised how many great painters DON'T work at commercial body shops! That's an inside tip at no charge! Lol!

 

X 2........ get a guy that works for cash and do the removaval and sanding (if you can). Unless you know FOR SURE, forget about stripping, you might find a lot of bad things--I'd highly recommend just blocking it out and making it straight (and that came from a pro painter after looking at our car with the thought of paint in 3-5 yrs and our car looks great from 2 feet). Having said all that.....I'd be shocked that you need to spend more than $3K if you get it ready to spray for the painter.

Just a thought....have you thought about learning to paint yourself.....I am kinda self taught (although my dad was a pro body/paint guy) am close to feel good about tackling a full job. I really enjoy spraying and it usually comes out well. AND, if you go that route.....Summit sells full paint kits.

 

Join a Mustang club. Chances are they will know or have a painter in the club. BTW, MAACO was listed in Mustang Monthly a while back as one of the best places for paint jobs. Personally they would be not my first choice, but they wouldn't be my last choice either.

 

I've always thought if people brought their cars to me prepped and ready to spray I'd make some bank because there'd have to be a huge line of people wanting this. This is the age old question, $10k is reasonable and typical.

 

I usually don't chime in on paint, simply because I'm no painter and would never claim to be. However, it appears to me (and any of the painters on the forum can feel free to correct me) that the major cost in a paint job is, wait for it, the PAINT!! I own a business in the petroleum equipment industry and have often thought about the money made on any given liquid (gas, diesel, etc.). Well, paint ranks WAY up there. As the OP stated, $1100 per gallon of paint (and that may very well be "cheap" paint).

Allen

 

And that is JUST PAINT! Not to mention the necessary reducer, and good clear isn't free either...when we painted my 69 BOSSSVT in 2010 the paint and supporting chemicals were over $1800....and that is my wholesale account cost!

 

Where are you located at in the Pacific Northwest?

 

I'm in Portland, so I'm sure the recycling costs, business fees in Portland (the 25k place), green fees (not talking golf....), coffee fees, and other herbal requirements could have something to do with it.

 

Isn't the minimum wage like $15 per hour in Portland or is that Seattle?

One component of the paint job is the labor involved to make it look good, and that takes time, and sometimes a lot of it. If you figure a shop rate of about $85-$100 per hour to do the body work you can see in just prep alone it could cost you $4K if not more, and for that the car better be taken totally apart, and have minimal body work to be done. Factor in the actually painting with the number of base coats, flash time, respray, then the clear coats, flash time, wet sanding, buffing, etc. you can easily have another $4-6K in labor if not more. Right there we are at about $10K.

The car shows on TV make it seem like everything gets done in a few hours, but in reality it is so much longer. When I had my car painted 10 years ago I took the entire car apart, and every piece that was taken off was media blasted before taken to the painter. I trailed the car over and had a large truck take everything else. It was a huge undertaking.

So if you want a cheaper paint job, take the car apart, and have the fenders, hood, and all the small pieces media blasted by someone reputable. You might just have to get a MAACO paint job. Stop in and talk to them and explain what you will be doing and can they do the actual painting with some body work. Get a quote. Shop around.

Good luck.

 

Look at these cars, All , except the last,were done for under $10K and that included a lot of metal work, along with a lot of body work.The last one was over that amount, but included a tremendous amount of parts and floor work.

 

I'm having my 65 painted now. I found a shop who looked at the car and gave me a quote of 6g for a complete body panel removal paint job that included 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of color, and 2 clear coats with wet sanding. Unfortunately, rust was discovered and I'm now looking at a 12g job. It'll be done right, but you hAve to know that you may be opening a can of worms once they peel away the old paint and find what's underneath.

 

we are a Restoration shop in Canada and your looking at $20000 + canadian$, metal work would be extra, We dont do driver quality paintwork, We always get someone saying i just want driver quality paint, (where do you want me to cut corners for that "drivers quality?")

 

I'm sorry but $20,000 Canadian is ridiculous for paint unless it's going to SEMA.

I've become a proponent of "do the bodywork/metalwork yourself" due to circumstance. There's not really "driver quality" bodywork. There's doing it right and there's doing it wrong. And as my grandfather always says, "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all." I couldn't afford $9000 for bodywork on my car but I could afford a welder and a hammer.

But driver quality paint is one that isn't mirror like. It may have some orange peel but it'll be durable and stand up to abuse. My car has 3 or 4 layers of clear over the paint and I didn't pay to have it color sanded and buffed in order keep the cost down. It's got a few specs of dust in the clear, there are two small paint drips, it's not perfect. They didn't go over it with a fine tooth comb, a magnifying glass, or an electron microscope. That would be pointless for a daily or even regularly driven car. But that's not cutting corners. It's going as far as it needs to knowing full well it's going to get scratched and chipped and dirty.

 

I was getting crazy quotes as well. I was on a STRICT budget and ended up going to MAACO. They painted the car original Silver Frost and did some minor body work. It was around $4600.00. It's not the greatest job in the world, but great as basic driver. I have attached some photos. Also, has a 5 year warranty.

 

The paint absolutely is not the largest factor of a paint job. And $1000/gal paint is crazy in my eyes. Search here about it, I have posted many times what paint really costs, and I have said many of you are getting scammed. Flat out, scammed. Now you can spend more than $1000 gal if you are so inclined, but it does not have to coat that much. Most paint materials for painting a Mustang is under that figure. . . TOTAL. I'm too bored to get into this again, search and let my previous posts speak for me. Just like every thing sold in this world, you can be had. One actual case, then I'm over and out . . .customer wanted a certain color , it was $1100 gallon. Customer wasn't happy, nor was I. Totally too much , crazy. Same color, mixed in a lower line ( not as expensive pearls ) was about $360 I believe. Considerably less ( Don't remember exactly, mind going . Out in the sun, we couldn't see $700 difference. So make your decisions and go from there. But again, $750-$1000 will usually do an entire car with typical paint colors.

 

This is a restoration my wife did a couple of years ago. $2000 a gallon and the customer bought 2 gallons. $1000 a gallon is not that bad. Just depends on the color and how well it covers.

 

$2000 a gallon and the customer bought 2 gallons. $1000 a gallon is not that bad.

Proof positive that a customer's money and taste are always right, even when one (or both) of them isn't. >:wink:

 

Maybe the guys that just want a"driver quality" paint job are overlooking craigslist. I just had my 67 painted. The trunk lid needed a bunch work and I eliminated some trim so holes had to be filled. The body needed some sanding prep work but no dent or rust repair was needed. I paid $3500 for everything including the metallic base and clear coat and he also wet sanded and polished. AND this is in the worst state the world ( according to internet) California.

 

These prices seem crazy to me. My barometer for this is admittedly out dated, but when I had my car painted in 2004, I got connected with a friend of a friend who was a one-man show (and maybe a meth head, not positive) who painted the whole car and did the flame job for $1,500.

I did all the prep myself and basically delivered it as disassembled as legally possible (ok, there was no way it was legal to drive it with no turn signals) and ready to spray.

I'm not necessarily advising this path, but it got me a result that I love for a great price and it's held up amazingly well since then.

My point is that beyond big collision centers or Maaco, there is a third option. Little shops that love old cars and just might have a substance abuse problem, lol.

 

http://rs880.pbsrc.com/albums/ac7/eldog22/20161210_164942_zpsxyqpzm3a.jpg?w=480&h=480&fit=clip

 

The painter I found was so interested in my car, he quoted me only $3k to paint it. That includes about $1k for the Dupont Chroma paints (primer and top coat), block sanding and re-spraying the entire car with primer and top coat. As he is blocking the car he is finding that my body work is not to his standards, and from what I can see, he is correct as he has found most of my problem areas without me saying anything. So now he has to do extra body work. I agree with him and agreed to give him another $1k for the extra work. But, in the meantime, he needs to make money and that means doing insurance work, so my car sits a lot.

 

This guy is being more than fair especially if he is supplying the paint materials. The last car I had painted, my 66 GT worked out like this. Bodyman charged $1500 to do the car. No crash damage, nos hood, fenders, deck lid. Painter charged $1000 to paint the car in pieces. I did all the priming, blocking and supplied all material. My brother used to be manager at dealership body shops and I still had a hard time getting the work done. Some painters are crazy on their prices. As with everything else, the most expensive part of a paint job is labor, not the cost of the paint...

 

Just went to a paint supplier in my area and my color what I want any way is 525 a gal that's a high pearl Illusion Blue which is a Honda color anyhow that gallon turns into 2 gallons sprayable give or take mixed one to one did not know a car to take 4 gals to paint but I am no painter lol just a hack learning as I go.
I think by the time I was done clear and primer I was a little over a 1000.

 

If you are not a do-it-yourself guy/gal and/or in the business and have connections you simply MUST consider the likely fact that you can get upside down financially, especially on most coupes very quickly and even a fastback these daze given the prices for a rust-bucket - you may break even if you are really smart - considering all the money you already likely have and plan to have into the car. These daze for most carz I am looking at, I either buy one with a paint job I can live with or flip it before paint. Frankly most people don't know how much paint costs and there is an arbitrage there or money to be made.

There are just so few cars that can tolerate that kind of investment and if you search around in the archives there are several "how much do you have into your car" posts. The majority of the posts - people are seriously upside down (not unusual over $10K) experiencing a consolation prize of driving the car they have dreamed of completing. This can still be quite rewarding as long as you are not living with stink-eye from SWMBO. The good news is that time has a way of healing these wounds if you have a decade or two. I had a Harley I was even on but 10 years later doubled my money, however I sweated kids bicycles and basketballs for those 10 years...

What I have learned over the decades for the cars I keep is that you don't need a bitch'n paint job to have a blast driving a car and get complements. All you need (for muscle carz) is something presentable with a decent cam and exhaust tone to get attention unless you spend your weekends in a lawn chair amongst the elite classes of owners...

 

It is not the "paint job" that cost so much money. It is the labor that is involved when you want it done right. Stripping the car to bare metal and fixing the rust issues, NOT laying bondo over the problem areas, removing the Hood,bumper,doors ,glass and general disassembly and assembly, Fitting all the panels and fixing the body gaps and doing the body work and all the masking. That is a lot of labor. Also factor in a minimum of $2000 for material with paint to do a Mustang the actual spraying of the car is cheap once its ready for paint and I mean actually ready for paint. I have seen so many cars that people say "its ready for paint" how much to just spray it then you tell them it will be another week or two of work done correctly before its ready for paint.