daniel77350

Well I made the commitment, I picked a body shop. Al's All Pro Collision. The owner, Al, is a really great guy, and he ownes a couple beautiful 75's. Which is a plus because he will know how to remove things like bumpers, and he will know of all the nooks and crannies that are missed by "back yard" painters. Because of the stress damage on the car, as well as some mishaps(those curbs around here are really high, it tore my underside of my nose up), he is going to strip the car to the 'glass. He is supposed to avoid using bondo at all costs. He is then supposed to re gel-coat the car. This makes me happy because when/if I repaint 20 years down the line, I shouldn't have to worry about that. Then he is going to prime, paint, and clearcoat it. When I drop the car off tomarrow Im going to get him to write down what he is going to do to it, and sign it, along with the cost...this way there will be no "suprises".(I get worried that people will try to take advantage of me cus of my age)...and for $2500(what he quoted me), I need to make sure I cover my rear. Also, Im going to make sure he plans on removing everything(like door handels, locks, etc)...Im going to have him fill in the holes at the rear for the emblem, because I am looking at those pontiac syle corvette letters that look like part of the light system :cool:(plus the holes are a little rough) Even if I decide not to use those, I can just redrill the holes...no big deal. I also told the guy that I would be at the shop once or twice a week with a camera...I told him it was for my "scrap book"...but the real reason is so I can make sure hes doing what im paying him to do(repair w/fiberglass, not bondo). Im sure he'll need to use bondo some, but not to repair stress cracks.

I have 2 questions(if you've read this far):
1)did I cover everything? Will I be safe? He's giving me a garontee on his work.

2)What color, light Pewter Metallic, or Silver Mist. I think both are awesome...What do you think? perhaps you know of a color I didn't think of, that will look really good...I want a light color.

Thanks
Daniel

Jughead

My favorite "lite" color is Cortez Silver(986) or Warbonnet Yellow.

Can't help you with the other qustions.

yosshimura

I am going through a similar issue...getting estimates to paint my car. I would address the following also:
1. How many coats of paint / clear (I guess primer too :confused: )? I have read you need 2-3 coats of paint and 2-3 of clear. Make sure he puts enought clear to be able to wet sand it, and there will be clear left over afterwards.
2. What paint? I have been quoted a range of prices on different paint manufactures. I was quoted by a shop using Omni ( the less expensive PPG line), which is used for production work (ie:regular cars). I have also been quoted by one shop using Sikkens (one of the best). FIND OUT WHAT THE MFG of the paint is.
3. As I go to more shops, I learn to ask more...The last shop that quoted me, said he would guarantee IN WRITTING the paint for 5 years. I take this with a grain of salt b/c he could be gone in 5 years
:rolleyes:

As for color.... That's a personal choice. If it was mines, I would paint as per the paint code that came from factory!

How long did he say it would take?

I have only gotten two quotes ($1200 and $1250), but they weren't taking the car apart. So, the price you were quoted sounds about right for the extra labor. I am going to get some quotes myself on taking the car apart. We'll see.

:cheers:

LAvetteman

Hey Daniel, sounds like your on top of it. I painted my vette light pewter and I love it.
1. I thought it would cost more than that to regelcoat a vette. And others have told me it is not necessary.
2. Even without the gelcoat, that price is cheap compared to what I and others were quoted.
3. Vette filler should be used in the place of bondo.
4. I am sure he knows the trick to painting the rear upper fenders and the backglass arch if he has painted before.

villare

RED RED RED i am a little bit biased

daniel77350

he said 6-8 weeks. I asked him the process and he said:
1) take it down to bare glass and fix stress crack and other things
2) gel-coat it
3) fix whatever imprefections are left
4) prime it
5) let it sit a week(something about the chemicals in the primer and the gelcoat reacting creating a gas that is said to make paint bubble if applied to soon(which is what happened last time))
6) paint it. He said that most problems he sees with people painting vettes is that they put to many coats on. He told me that they would try to cover improfections with more and more paint, which is BAD. he told me the reason mine was cracking, was because the glass and paint expand at different rates, and if you have a heavy coat of paint, cracks will occure. He said he would put enough paint on there to cover the primer...no more. And he said 4 clear coats. he told me the type of paint, but I forgot...I will ask again, then I will go somewhere else and see if that is good paint, then I'll go back.
7) let it sit another week to make sure the paint will be alright, no immidiate bubbles or cracks. If all is well then he'll give it back. I don't know how long my garontee is...but I know he has been around for a long time, so if its 5 years, Im sure he'll still be here...maybe it'll be for the life of his buisness...wouldn't that be nice :yesnod:

Daniel
PS. No red, bad enough Im a "kid" in a vette...if it where red, I may as well hold a sign that says "pull me over". Also, the thing with the light color...I have no AC, and it won't be fixed for another year or two, I need something that won't make me loose weight with a 20 min cruise in the summer. THere are a lot of C3's around here, and I don't one painted the same as another..I want people to see me and be like "there is dan"...not "is that dan?".

daniel77350

Oh ya...origional color is some greyish color. It origionally had a brown interior too. :U . Not bashing my car, but whoever ordered it like that was ca-razy :rolleyes: . Plus its not numbers matching, so I may as well do it my way. My 2nd 'vette will be numbers matching and factory correct...This is my "my way" vette

Daniel

Chris Fowler

light pewter sounds like a great color!

Paul 75 L82

I think that the price that you were quoted is very, very low. I am stripping my vette myself and the prices that I was quoted for stripping was more that you were quoted for the complete job. Stripping a corvette is about 100 hour job. The cost of the job that you detail is about $5,000 to $7,000. If you can get it for $2,500 good luck.

daniel77350

I was under the impression that 2500 was about right. he said if gel coat was still on most of the car, he would only re-gel what needs it(like the hood, and around my stress cracks). I was told that quotes will be different for different areas, and the type of shop. There isn't a "corvette specialty" shop anywhere near here, closest one is probably 8 hours away. Even if he doesn't regel the car, and only does what needs to be done to make it look GOOD, is 2500 about right? Im having him wright it down so I don't get a $4,000 bill when I go to pick the car up...There is a place down the road that does show quality cars for $3500. A guy at my local club has his car painted for $1250(it was stripped to primer)...the paint isn't perfect, but from 5 feet it looks GREAT(its when you get up w/a mignafing glass that you notice the inperfections)...

So whats the deal? Do I just live in a place that charges low for vette painting, or are all the body shops around here taking people for a ride(with low quotes, but undone services)?

Daniel

daniel77350

oh ya...they are changing the color too(as you can see from my sig pic)..its going from black to.........

So they are doing the jambs. I was told by another shop that if I strip and prime the car, they'd lay down the final job for $150 plus paint...Which would be under $600...

Daniel

Chris Fowler

Man...where are you? 'Cause that's cheap! :eek:

daniel77350

eastern NC. I live in a military town, so the paint booths are always full of rustangs and camaro's getting they yearly rust repair. :lol: kidding.

But seriously, the GOOD paint booths do get a lot of buisness, so much so that there is a high damand for body men around here. I think they get so much buisness the prices can drop some??? Another thing is, all the respectable shops(such as al's) turns out a lot of vettes each year, mostly C3's. There are probably 30 in this area(lucky me)...there are very little C5's...but also a lot of C4's...have only seen 1 C2, and no C1's...plus raleigh has a ton of vettes that come this way for their paint jobs, so maybe thats another reason...they have done so many they got skilled, and can do the job quickly...who knows...

Daniel

Smokehouse69

Daniel,
I hope he doesn't spray your car with gel-coat! No C-3 was ever gel-coated from the factory. There are newer more modern sealers to keep the glass in place. Slick Sand is one that comes to mind right away.
Check out this thread in the "Correct Restoration Forum

Warren77

RED RED RED :D
Mine goes in soon. :chevy

daniel77350

according to that threat, a couple guys have gelcoat on their cars and they don't mind it. Im not looking for NCRS...if I was looking for NCRS, I'd be in for a ride, I'd have to hunt down an engine block, along with about every other part on the car...I wan't something thats like glass, that I can see myself in(not that I am that good looking or anything :rolleyes: ). Plus, about 10 years ago the car was painted white by some...BOAT painter or something. I about :U when I found this out. But anyway, the paint was chaulky(sp?), and god only knows why that is. But I believe when that joker did it, he put gel-coat on the car, because when it was painted 3 years ago(long story...Im mad It needs a new paint job already), but anyway, when it was painted by this guy, I spent a good amount of time up at his shop, and I actually saw the gel coat..., and when I took it to al, he looked at one of the holes in the paint(the bubble cracked and ripped off...primer too), and he said it was gel-coat, and he pointed out another spot that was bare glass(strands where noticable)...I'll ask him about slick sand, and see what he says.

Daniel

Tomi72

I just had mine painted Pewter metallic and I love it! Here are two pictures I took yesterday. When I get the wiper door and all the emblems on, I'll post some more.





rgds Tomi

LAvetteman

Wow Tomi, your car and mine look similar. I'll be taking some better photos soon.

daniel77350

I think Im going to go with the pewter metallic too. We could start a club :lol: we could call it PMS(Pewter Metallic Silver). Even though silver isn't really a part of the name, we still need people to know what its similar to :yesnod: .

I also am having the body man fill in my emblem holes in the back of the car, because the origional rear emblem is broken, so I am looking at those pontiac style corvette letters, as well as a couple otehr things. If I do decide to go OEM, I can always redrill my holes. I also considered a baldwin stripe, he said it probably run me another $100(whats another 100 after 2500). But I doubt I will have him do it. If later on, I want one, it can always be added, no biggie.

Daniel
PS. I got some pictures today of me dropping the car off, I'll get more on saturday, and get them developed/scanned, and I will post a few of its before photos, and photos after 1 week.

LAvetteman

Yea, we can do that. :lol: