HyperX

I am about to buy a brown C3 (from a corvette forum member). My wife is asking me to repaint it to black or red or some other color. I really like the brown since it was just painted. What am I looking at, in terms of cost, to repaint it? Keep in mind, this C3 is not stock at all. I am getting it for the looks (love c3s) and it has a lot of cool upgrades. The owner took immaculate care of it.

Anyway - I am not looking for OEM, near stock kind of paint job (not looking to win any car shows).

Thanks!

BPHORSEGUY

You can pay anywhere from $1000 for a scuff and paint at Maaco to $10000-$15000 for a show quality job!

HyperX

Yeah this is what I am afraid of... the 10k... Thanks!!

dar322

Hey HyperXXX, get in touch with Freddie Zee in Rockford. He should be able to take care of you reasonably. He's been doing vettes for over 40 yrs. Great guy. Great service.

24695bob

I normally used to figure on $10,000 for a Show quality paint job DONE RIGHT.. at a show that has painted dozens of Bloominton Gold cars ... but I have a funny feeling that it may be more then that today...

Major reason I buy cosmetics...

Bob G

vettebuyer6369

Buying a car that has just been painted with plans of painting it right away doesn't make a ton of sense. Unless the price was extremely low, which I suppose is likely if it is non-stock as you say, as well as brown.

SanDiegoPaul

you don't do that kind of paint on a 'driver' - 2500.00 to 3 grand

THefley

i was told the other day here for a sand and paint $400. to $500 plus parts/paint etc.. to $4000. to $5000. to do it right. course I wouldn't use them as I have seen their work in the past.

Easy Mike

You two need to talk about purchase and color.

Derrick Reynolds

As others have said, it depends on what you want, but also, how much of the work you are willing to do yourself. If you are talking about a driver, you can get a good quality job done in Jersey for $5000 where they do EVERYTHING. Meaning, they take the car apart properly, strip and sand everything, take care of any body work that needs to be done (minimal stuff, I'm not talking about a wrecked car here), prime, paint, sand, buff, and re-assemble. So that should be your top end.

When I had my last car painted, the guy took $1000 off the price because I took the car apart and put it back together. He wanted to take more off, and have me do the stripping, but I didn't want to do that. Not everyone is going to be interested in doing that though, as I did the disassembly and most of the assembly in his shop, and some shop owners will not like that. But if you can find someone to work with you, you can save a lot of money in exchange for some sweat and hand cramps.

I would definitely NOT recommend the Maaco "scuff 'n squirt" for a color change, since they won't do the door jambs and other details, you'll still be able to see the old color in numerous places.

highschool67

Garage paint job # 5.
Cost was under $700 stripped and painted myself. PPG Omni bc/cc.
If you have some skills try it yourself.

BBCorv70

Sounds rather low... I was quoted $20K easily by a general body shop when I had my car looked at. That struck me as extreme.
I often hear of quotes around $8K to $12K. A local Corvette shop whom I do business with offered to let me strip the paint at their site during the off season, they would supervise. I don't know what the ultimate cost may be until the paint is stripped to see what's underneath. I've figured if I stripped the car myself, disassembled as much as possible and did what ever else I could to cut labor charges I'd be doing well to finish at $5K. No? I'd love to get a decent paint job under $5K...

Derrick Reynolds

Sending PM.

qwank

tell your wife to go pound sand, or buy another car.

Hardway

Great job HighSchool67! Your roadster looks beautiful.

For stripping the car you may want to look at having it media blasted, usually plastic, NOT sand. Depending on the year you would need to remove the rubber bumpers if it has them. You could buy a soda blaster but depending on how much paint is on it soda will take a while and it goes EVERYWHERE. Unless you already have a really good air compressor, paint guns, and a garage you can properly seal and ventilate I would recommend having a professional paint it.

If you partner up with a painter he or she will guide you on what you can do on your own, getting it media blaster, removing parts, etc. Whatever you do, get it in writing! I would not mind taking parts off my car but once its painted I would elect to have the painter put it back together.

24695bob

Gheeze Paul... I guess it depends on what you call a driver...I personally call all Corvettes drivers ..some just look better then others...LOL I'"ve only had 3 Corvette's painted but I had show quality paint done on all three...

BTW... I believe we both share a few hobbies... I see you on Cloudy Nights Astronomy Forums quite frequently .

Bob G
64 72 and 98 Covvertibles
76 79 and 88 (ANC) Coupes

talltxin

[QUOTE=Vettebuyer5869;1577766692]Buying a car that has just been painted with plans of painting it right away doesn't make a ton of sense.


Buy one that is the color you like or atleast you can live with for a few years.

Good luck

vetman1

2 years ago my shop did a complete repaint on a customers '77. We stripped it all the way down, repaired bonding seams, installed custom headlights, fiberglassed in a new front bumper to look seamless and did a complete color change for $5500.00 . That included sanding and buffing, removing doors, hood etc. for doing the jambs. The only thing we did not do on that paint job, was install the rear bumper, door internals (door locks, windows and regulators) and weatherstrip. If this car does not need stripped and you want to put in some sweat equity we could do it for less. Feel free to contact me and if you want you can see what kind of work we can do for you.

joewill

why spend 5K ( plus or minus a couple) on a paint job on a car that doesn't need it?
just for a color change?
that is 5K you could put into the car itself on something it may really need..

Easy Mike

How long were you married?