CorvetteMikeB

I would NEVER take my corvette to a car restoration shop ever again for painting unless for insurance work. An estimate is giving them a blank check, it's just an estimate. I also got an estimate for a full body paint job at a car restoration shop. My C2 did not have any cracks or body repair needed. The paint was just faded and scratched. They went $7,300 over estimate.

I would take it to a Chevy Dealership that is used to painting non-metal bodies. That's my plan next time. A Chevy Dealership will give you a firm out the door price to paint your car. Most people don't want or need a show paint job for $25,000-$30,000. Waste of money!


Charging $20,000 to $30,000 for a small two door corvette is a " Major Rip Off" So are car restoration shops going to charge $60,000 for a large 4 door 21+ foot long 1965 Cadillac?
Once the Baby Boomers are all gone, these over price restoration shops will also be gone. You think someone under 40 years old going to pay those Prices??? THEIR NUTS! NO WAY!

bg725

Well I think I'll just drive mine the way it it is. I paid $35k for it 10 years ago, I've spent just over $23k making a reliable driver out of it, basically new from radiator to fuel tank.

Audiophobe

My car is close to being finished.
I can tell you that getting a paint job on a 65 year old car is a misnomer. Yes, if it's just a paint job the $7k-$11k prices being thrown around might sound reasonable but there's allot of evil under the existing paint on these old cars.
Cracks, warping, holes, missing mounts and reinforcements, gaps and so on. "Why did Bubba do that? "?
That's why an estimate is really a loose guesstimate. No one knows until you get at it and under it. And then there are what I call the "while ya's":
"While you're at it" and the car's apart, you might as well do this or replace that. "Cheaper now!"
That's how $11k grows to $25k fast!
That's also why, I think, you're way better off going to a restoration type painter than a dealership who been down this road before.

c2performance

A dealer ship are you nut's. Let a bunch of young kids work on a 60 year old car that they know nothing about RELY!!! I spent more than 25 year's in Chevy dealer retired in 97. NO WAY!!!

mike coletta

Nothing coulld go wrong here. Cars (even the "long" ones) are not painted "by the foot". I'd suggest that you have a little more understanding as to "how it works" before you drop your Corvette at a Dealership body shop.

Railroadman

Sure wish we could hear from DUB.

joewill

buy you one of those inflatable booths and a ventilation suit
sand or remove the top coat, block out all the imperfections, primer it to seal it all in...
then paint and clear away, buffer it out.. a light coating at a time for several coats over a few days.
then sell your booth and your suit
it will last 5-6 years until i sell.
and the above procedure beats the factory quality... with rust and bubbles percolating out after 5 years

i wouldn't even take a 20K paint job out in public, too many idiots, rocks to kick up, sun and rain and hot and cold to worry about. so no way i would pay that.

Vette5311

When I did my 69 Camaro the guy (a retired A/B) insisted on this and a full month wait when done and ready for bc/cc work. The shrink thing is real and even small sanding scratches will show up at 30 days.

bodaboom69

Railroadman.... I'm with you on this comment.
He would certainly weigh in on this topic.
For Dub, there was only one way to paint a Corvette. That is to get it naked, completely apart and fix everything to get it right. We once spent 32 hours on just headlight buckets! ( but, they were perfect) and that customer wins trophies everytime at a show.
Not everybody wants that level of paint work. and without X ray vision you can't see what's under the paint and how the fiberglass is. AND you always find stuff that isn't good on 50-60 year old flexible car.
estimates, are just that, as mentioned above. fiberglass is just too finicky to trust after so many years. it can have micro cracks, big cracks, holes, poor repairs and even dry out. there is no way around the work needed to make it right
there are quite a few really good home shop painters/ body men out there. finding them is the issue, their waiting list is the other.
some shops / people will be ok with you stripping or partial dissassembling your car to cut cost, but cutting corners or going cheap just isn't worth the results.
communication is everything, talking it out and understanding what will be done, what you can do yourself and how deep you want to go will yield good results.
anywhere from 15k to 30k is in the ballpark
.

joewill

and the paint shop is going to do nothing but put the apprentice on your car, and still charge you 100/hr. the master will probably do the painting and the buffing.

Railroadman

They used to say "Fast, cheap, good. Pick two."

I think these days it's "Fast, cheap, good. Pick one - and hope"

Factoid

Yes, but I trust @mike coletta to provide a solid and reasonable perspective I can believe.

Railroadman

csherman

Guys
You know I do ALOT of painting - I have one 54 in paint right now and a 57 on deck and a 59 right behind it
My paint jobs are running 15k plus
Paint and clear and primers are skyrocketing
1 gallon of PPG K38 is 555.00 !!!!!
I will use 2 gallons ! That is 1k in primer alone.
NOT INCLUDING the hardener or reducer
Paint is all in the prep
My average car has 400 hours of body work - I have one with over 600 WITH NO PANEL REPLACEMENT
We saved a fender and a lower rocker - but it takes time
I have one in the shop that is getting 12,000.00 just in new panels - Does not include LABOR - yet !!!!!
Pin holes / jam work / panel gap / panel fitment / panel jams
It take alot of time -
ALOT
Right now I am telling customers to budget AT least 15k plus for paint at a min
Yes - Shrinkage is a real thing
Body work shrinks / Primers shrink
New panels shrink
The longer you can let a body set the better
I had a 54 and 59 sit in primer for a year - (for various reasons) and that was the best thing for them
The other is sun - stick that body in the sun and let bake !
Car trailers are great ! - heat up like an oven and cool down at night !
There is no cheap paint jobs - unless you dont care about quality or long life

bodaboom69

Well said csherman

Dan Hampton

I have to agree with Mike. $20K to $30K is not unusual for top-end paint. There is no rip-off if done correctly. The idea that Chevrolet dealerships know how to paint "non-metal" cars because they are a GM dealership is like saying 2 + 2 equals 5. That logic is tantamount to saying that we should all take our repair work to a GM dealership because they originally sold the cars and the parts to service these cars. I don't think so.

SJW

If you saw how the paint work that was done by a Chevrolet dealer for the previous owner of my Blazer looks today, you wouldn't take a wheelbarrow there for paint.

Live well,

SJW

polo91

If you want a 21st century wet look, no factory body waves, perfect gaps, ect. be prepared to spend big bucks and a long time without your car. With enough money that will happen, and you will have a car that you're afraid to drive because perfection doesn't last long on the road. That is one end of the spectrum. The other end of the spectrum where I live is a car with a factory fresh look, factory gaps and waves that you can drive in the rain. With time and average talent, you can accomplish that for way under 2K by doing it yourself. In between these two there are many options. Consider disassembling, striping, priming and block sanding the car. That is very time consuming but little skill required. Then pay someone a couple of grand to shoot it. You would have the car back the next day so you could color sand and buff it if needed. Painting is the easy part, it's all the prep work that we unskilled can do that can save you a boatload of money. The internet is brimming with information about prep and paint work.

mike coletta

Chris Sherman pretty much sums it up above. (well said, Chris). This topic ALWAYS brings out the varied opinions. Some are experienced and educated, and some are not. The problem is that none of us knows what the "other guy" sees as acceptable. Over the years, as I have taken on new jobs, I was often told by the customer........"I don't want a show paint job, I just want a driver, and I'm in no hurry. Just fit it in when you can". I'm not really sure what that means, like "3 bugs in the hood, one sag on each side, a little dirt, off color/texture on doors, cheap paint, spot primer, etc.". What I tell them, is that it's not going to happen here. No respectable body shop is going to "scuff and squirt" a Corvette. Take it to Macco. Prices start at $300. They use a cheap acrylic enamel, purchased in 55 gal drums, with limited colors.

The cost of material, and the labor are what make the total price. It's that simple. As Chris noted, material costs are crazy, and I can't control that. Some red basecoat paint exceeds $2,000/gal. Nothing fancy, just RED, to match your 63 riverside red. I use only PPG, Dupont, and Sikkens. You wan't to buy a "B" level paint on line, or use "shopline" paint, find someone else to spray it. Some body shops only use cheap products to keep the price down, so you pay the same labor rate as the high end shops, and get **** for material. Good for you. Labor these days at a licensed shop is averaged at about $75/hr, depending on your location. Think about the time, and then "do the math.

I'm one of the fasted "guns" in the south, and if a shop tells you that they can disassemble, sand and scuff, repair minor body imperfections, prime, fast block, paint, cut and buff, assemble, in less that 200 hours....then, well they're lying to you. So that is 15K just for labor, and for a car that needs very little work. I've been doing this my whole life. Painted my first car when I was 16 years old. Done hundreds of paint jobs. I've seen it all, and my experience tells me that it is ALWAYS bigger than you think. There was recently a thread, where a member painted a midyear car himself. He did a great job, and I think that his cost was just over $1,500, with no labor. If your looking for cheap, and you don't want to use Maaco, then maybe that's the way to go.

I have stopped building cars, as I have sucked up enough bondo dust, paint fumes, and other unhealthy stuff in my life. Let me conclude by saying that "Charging $20,000 to $30,000 for a small two door corvette is a " Major Rip Off", is a misstatement, depending on what you want, also, "Once the Baby Boomers are all gone, these over price restoration shops will also be gone" is angry, and not true.

RIP Dub, and thank you Factoid

Dan Hampton

Excellent presentation, Mike. I think much of this thread can be easily distilled to one sentence: "you can't get something for nothing".