RichNJshore

I live in NJ. How much do you think a paint job on a '64 roadster would cost? Has anyone painted their vette? Experiences are welcomed.

Bluestripe67

Good paint jobs cost good money, but you need to know exactly what you want and what your getting if your not doing any of the work. A show job= big money, street=less money. I mean every little detail to include, removing all trim, chrome, hood, doors. Make sure it's in writing!!! Are you changing color? All the paint will need to be stripped, and that my include the original primer. Does the car have any old body work that may have to be redone. What about new weather stripping, all new emblems, what about your bumpers, will they need to be rechromed after all new beautiful paint is laid on. This can go on and on. Don't mean to scare you, but this can be a classic case of "project creep". Now if you can do all the stripping, disassembly, purchase of your parts and reassembly you can save $4-$5K , but still need to pay out about $4K. Get in touch with your local Vette Club and ask who has had a car done and go to the shop that did the work. Seeing the finished project car, and the owner is living proof. A shop that specializes in Vettes is a good bet. Dennis

Talisman51

Kinda like asking what you would have to pay for a 1 carat diamond....it depends. My last 65 roadster with some panel replacement ran about 10k. This was with the body stripped. Some locals have done all the strip work and then had quality paint only done for about 3k.

Twin Oaks in Iowa is one of the best! Let me know if need contact info.

toddalin

Just paid $14K to have my '64 painted. That's just the paint and body work and doesn't even include the R&R of the parts.

Kensmith

You need to give a little more information on what you want. A paint job can range from $2K to $15K depending on what you want and what the car needs. If you want to strip, repair stress cracks, remove all trim, fit panels and re-gap doors, headlights, hood, and make a skim coat to bring up low areas, $15K which would include color sand and polish. Maybe a little more if you are doing a color change and all the hardware needs to come apart for painting. That would be a show quality job. If you just want a scuff, fix stress cracks, not changing colors and don't need inner jambs etc done, maybe $7K to $9K for quality job. And if you want a factory looking re-paint with a little orange peel, $4K to $5K also no stripping and same color. Budget job masking, scuff, $2K to $3K.

Trophy Blue

Mine was about $8,000.00 for the body work and paint. I spent many hours working on it to keep the costs down. I was fortunate to be able to do that.

Dennis Beck

Stripped to glass and diassembled, new BB hood, new weatherstripping, windsheild gasket, window felts and polish all stainless trim. Started 11/25/05 finished 12/31/06.







$11,000.

66jack

As mine sets in the pic below, i have roughly $9072.96 as of 2/5/07 paid to the body shop...not counting parts which is $1500.00 for a total of $10,572.96...and more to come
jack

macdarren

I am just finishing the paint on my 65 convertible. This is for a 2 stage base/clear paint job. This is to be a nice driver paint job. I removed all the chrome, glass, gutted the interior and pulled the motor etc. myself.

I paid to have the body work and paint done. I choose a shop that does mostly new car repairs (they do alot for the local auto dealers repairing cars damaged in transport) They have some experience with fiberglass and corvettes (the owner has one and painted it.) They are not a trailer queen / show car shop (they were much more expensive) but do a few older classic cars a year as fill work. (assuming they finish this weekend they will be just shy of 6 months on my car....I think this is one of they longest jobs they have done taking much more prep than say the normal classic mustang, or 57 chevy both of which are also there for similar jobs.

Body was pretty much in original no hit condition needing a few wheel wheel cracks repaired and some rebonding here and there especially up front. Original paint was pretty cracked especially on the tops of the front fenders and hood (heat damage I presume) Body is only loosely attached to the rolling chassis just to provide support and ease of transport.

Body was stripped to the fiberglass, Doors, hood, headlights, exhaust panel and decklid were pulled and hidden areas all painted as if this were a color change.

The original estimate was about $4500, but has increased to about $6000 due to work that had to be done to get the fiberglass up to snuff. The painter is still not totally pleased with the fiberglass even after alot of sealing, sanding and primer, but we have pretty much done what could be done without going crazy.

For comparison I had estimates from really scarey places as low as about 2k, and the better rod, custom and corvette shops wanted 16 to 25k. With other estimates all across the spectrum to do the same basic job though I assume some would have come out alot better than others. I chose the shop based on price, by looking at some other work, recommendations of local paint suppliers, and car owners and by who seemed to actually care about what they were doing. I could not have done the top dollar job and even if I could would have been afraid to drive it.

I'm is SoCal, which is probably not the most expensive place to paint is probably up there near the top.

TEP061

I know of three top flight cars that have maaco paint jobs. This is no lie and all within the last 3 years. The car that cost the most was 2400. Something to think about.

Tintin

I think it depends upon where you live. I have been quoted $7,500 for a show quality paint job plus the cost of any repairs and I have been quoted $3000- plus the cost of repairs for a job comparable to the original factory job. Both include stripping the car chemically and changing colours. Since I plan to drive the car a lot, I am going with the factory look in a standard colour, i.e. no weird House of Kolor or pearl or flippy paint. Why? The real world has stones that chip your paint and it is impossible to match the fancy stuff...


Check on the web with body shops for a basic strip and paint, everyone in the body biz should be able to tell you how much. It is not like you want a binding quote until you commit so you can get a ballpark that way..

macdarren

I did find some Macco and similar shops, some didn't want to do fiberglass but the ones that would were all in the 2500 range. I actually considered going that route but I just could not get the trust level from them. I am sure they would have done it faster, and I think also a couple would have done a decent job, but decided that another 2k was reasonable to get a better feeling and in the scheme of all I have done not too much more to ask. Of course it ended up being almost 4k more all said and done but that does include some stuff that would I am sure been skipped over at Macco.

toddalin

This is not that difficult. I know a midyear that top flights and doesn't even have the original color. If everything else is right, Top Flight is attainable even with the wrong color or type of paint.

Also, a "factory quality" paint job is easy compared to a concours quality paint job.

geo65

I was quoted 30k today with no disassembly or assembly.

alps66

Yikes!!! Hope that wasn't the guy I recommended to you in your prior thread...

AZDoug

THAT doesn't surprise me at all.

heck, i think you get points deducted for not having wavy body work, no orange peel or having body seams that are all nice and uniform.

Some of the C1 cars I see for sale at CnV in Tempe look like they were painted in junior high shop class, though I do not accuse CnV of painting said cars.

A good paint job is all about preparation.

Do you mind waviness? or do you want the body so straight that interference patterns from the wavength of light won't show up on a polarized filter? Wavy is inexpensive, straight can add a $1000 to $5000 or more, depending on how straight you want it.

Body work? Filling stress cracks and aligning panel seams? All adds $$.

How perfect do you want it?

I figure $10K is about the minimum I will end up paying for a paint job like I want, and that is with me doing the R&R on the trim, bumpers and interior, AND doing the fiberglas stress crack repair, to make sure it is done right. they will make the body straight and spray the color.

Doug

Woodie

A couple of years ago I had local Maaco paint two different low dollar Vettes. Both were already striped and I did reassembly. both looked good at first. Tiny pinholes appeared in one two weeks. They repainted but still never good. The other was just augh......, more like a old back yard job. but better than they were. cost $1400 for one and then $1800for other. These were cheap drivers and sold quickly.
But not ever worth the heartache of looking at them again.

Tom/99

I have a high dollar paint job on my 1965 coupe. It's full of pin holes, runs and blemishes. If it's ever repainted again, I'll go with a Maaco type paint job.

crw41

Figure between $4,000 and $15,000

Factors that figure into the equation:

- who does the disassembly
- who does the re-assemble
- body work - what lurks under the old paint, bondo?
- parts?

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Products - high quality primer and paint can run $1,000

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That being said - alot of times it just boils down to the guy doing the work. Is he clean, meticulous, and does he take pride in his work? Does he treat your car like his own

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Remember:

$20,000 paint jobs can fail in a year

$4,000 paint jobs can last a long time and look great.

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I wonder how many of those high gloss paint jobs at the BJ auction still look good after a few years. Most of those were likely done to meet a deadline.

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Best way to protect yourself - ask for referances and follow them up. ask around - guys with bad work develop reputations quick.

lovevettes

RichNJshore, I sent you a private message.I live in NJ also.