What did a Good Paint Job Cost you???

[Studebaker Ron]

Hey Guys
I know something like the cost of a paint job is going to be all over the place but I was wondering what some of you paid for the kind of work that I am looking for. As you can see below my car looks ok but she is a 20 footer. Get up close and you can see this is a cheap black enamel job with some runs over the original dark green paint. My car is very solid and I intend on getting a good paint job. I was thinking it needs to be stripped, have a few dings taken out and then get a base clear paint job in the original dark green. I have no rust and no panels need repair past a few dings. I would also like to find a place that could color sand her after the paint job to get the orange peal free look that is a mile deep. Overall I am looking for a very nice driver. What am I looking at based on your experience? Thanks in advance.

Thanks
Studebaker Ron
1950 Champion

[StudeRich]

You are correct it is going to vary wildly, due to many things, LOCATION, Location, location! Also Quality.
But one thing is sure, it will be TOO MUCH!

[clonelark]

If you put a clear coat over your paint it will be harder to match if you get a scratch or scrape, just saying.

[Colgate Studebaker]

My sons good friend (both work in the body/paint business together) did my brothers 63 Avanti back in 2008-9 as a "side job". The result was a 392 point car, with a flawless (and I do mean flawless) paint job. The total cost to my brother was $4500, which relates approximately to close to $10,000 for a "shop" job. Some of their high quality "driver" paint jobs run in the $6,000 to $8,000 range. Again, they are a high quality shop, and their business has that reputation. Prices will vary all over the place, depending on each individual shop. It all comes down to your willingness to pay that price. Bill

[Bob Andrews]

If you put a clear coat over your paint it will be harder to match if you get a scratch or scrape, just saying.

[Bob Andrews]

One extra tip, regarding sand and buff: if I had a four-door Studebaker Champion, I would forgo the cut and buff and go with a quality single stage paint job. Yes, you will have a little orange peel, but done properly it will be minimal. And, it will look more like a factory finish. Also understand that a cut and buff finish will show any imperfection in the metal much more, which means many more hours of sheet metal prep ahead of time. As you can imagine, all this will add greatly to the cost.

I would recommend a single stage acrylic urethane. For anything but a high and show car, I feel it is the most sensible answer. It will still be striking, incredibly durable, and repairable. Just another thought.

[cobraman428]

Bottom line is the paint job your describing is somewhere between $500 (Maaco or Earl Shieb) and $10,000. Body work, paint, clear coat, color sand I've done all my life. Your definition of quality may be different than others. Don't use the word "show quality" or the price is near $10K. Say you want a good clean "daily driver" paint job and that range should be around $2K to $5K. Good luck.

[acolds]

One thing not mentioned is a lot of good shops don't want to do old cars they take up a lot of time and space even if they are used as fill in jobs. Another warning is if you get fill in job the time for completion will be longer than you think or what shop tells you. Most shops make there money from normal work. My brothers and I have all had our 5 cars painted as fill in jobs excellent work but total time from start to finished was more than planned. My job I gave to shop in early fall which helped free up my garage for other winter projects but was not completed until close to year. I had all chrome, glass , and interior off or out to get straight panels skim coat of filler then block sanded painted sanded clear coat on buffed polished was $8700 in 2010. Final results paint job much better than any new car I have owned since 1965. Most restored car paint much better than when new.

[swvalcon]

Best is to decide just what you want it to be then get three shops to bid on it. Be honest if you want a boarder line show car dont tell them you just want a driver paint job to cut cost. Because you will get a driver paint job and if that's not what you want your not going to be happy and then all of a sudden it will be the shop that messed up. I'am a retired back yard shop and my rates are half to a third of what a shop in the area would charge. Paint cost are the same no matter where you go. I bid a 2 dr car this fall almost the same as what you want on yours and I hit him at $6500-$8000. Most old cars are time and materials and the bid is just a base line. It all depends what you find when you get all the parts off and the old paint stripped off it. A cut and buff will add to your cost by a large amount if done right but makes a big difference in the final job.

[DEEPNHOCK]

To add......
I know of several body shops that have been seriously hurt by the current insurance industries efforts to squeeze the little guy out of business.
What once were thriving small shops are now scrambling to make ends meet and keep their doors open.
That brings opportunities, and risks...
Will a small shop now accept a custom paint job that they once did not have time for?.... Maybe....
Will a small shop try to make up for lost insurance business on the back of the custom paint customer?.....Maybe.
Time to be thorough, and be careful....

[warrlaw1]

I did it wrong, but the result was worth it. $7500 to undue the damage my first guy did and another $20,000 to have it done well. "Done well" included fit and finish on a black car with lots of trim.

[PackardV8]

Most restored car paint much better than when new.

Agree with acolds. Some years back at the AACA Museum, they had an exhibit of '50-60s low mileage survivor cars, including a '53 Stude. All the cars exhibited, Cad Eldorado, Stude, Lincoln, Mustang, the panel fit was bad and worse, the paint flat and thin. We forget just how bad the quality was back in the day. Today, any Korean econobox comes with better exterior fit and finish than the top-of-the-line-luxocruiser back when.

So that's the first decision - driver or show. A new-off-the-line Stude wouldn't be a 400-point car at an International Show today. The paint and panel finish would be much worse than the best trailer queens.

The first Stude I had painted was in 1964 and it cost $95. The two most recent were body off show quality with some custom body work and they were each $10,000. Your results may vary.

The one caveat - there are many horror stories of an owner taking a car to a shop, asking for a CASO price by saying, "Just work on it when you have time between collision jobs," and years later the car is in pieces, the trim has been lost and it's only half done, the shop is in bankruptcy and no one can find the owner.

jack vines

[DEEPNHOCK]

<snip>
The one caveat - there are many horror stories of an owner taking a car to a shop, asking for a CASO price by saying, "Just work on it when you have time between collision jobs," and years later the car is in pieces, the trim has been lost and it's only half done, the shop is in bankruptcy and no one can find the owner.
jack vines

Doesn't have to be a CASO job, either...
I got a call on my paint job saying "Your truck is painted, come and pick it up"...
(But he added "We need your help to put it back together")
Good thing I had it apart years before and knew what to do...
But, it added 4 days to my "Come and pick it up" trip

[FlatheadGeo]

"to get the orange peal free look that is a mile deep" Am I the only one who happens to like orange peel?

[48skyliner]

I am a retired engineer, and I started buying wrecked cars back in my college days, just to get nicer cars than I could otherwise afford. I learned painting just by hanging around the local body shop, getting a little free advice and proceeding by trial and error. I mostly did lacquer for years which is really easy to work with. Eventually I restored some airplanes and painted several airplanes with old fashioned alkyd enamel, which is not so easy to work with, but holds up pretty well with time. I started building some custom cars in the 80s and used acrylic enamel, which is fairly easy to work with and has the advantage that it can be easily repaired, runs can be sanded out and buffed, etc. Now I am using urethane basecoat/clearcoat because everything I have done recently is metallic. If I painted another car in a solid color, I would prefer the acrylic enamel - If you can get a good spray with minimal dust it looks pretty good without buffing.

When I was ready to paint the Stiletto three wheeler in 2008, I went to the local auto body paint store and bought a gallon of acrylic enamel for $150. This is the EXACT same paint I could buy for $15-20 a gallon back in the early 1970s. I painted it and then several months later did a wet sand and buff, looks great. In 2012 I was in the same store to buy something (definitely not paint) and asked what the cost was for another gallon of the same paint -$480. I believe it is about $800 now in 2015, assuming you buy the "good stuff", PPG or Dupont. It should be pretty obvious that this level of price inflation has NOTHING to do with the cost of making it. I have spoken to several painters in body shops and they tell me they are buying a lot of their paints now from on-line sources. There are numerous "alternative" sources for acrylic enamel paints, including this one :

http://www.paintforcars.com/ I have not personally used this source. I should point out that these on line sources offer a wide variety of colors, but mostly do not sell paint to match the original factory colors on most cars. This is no problem if you are doing a full paint job.

In the last 3 years I have painted four cars and a motorcycle with the metallic base/clear urethane from the following source and I am quite pleased with the results:

http://www.shop.thecoatingstore.com/

My 48 Studebaker Starlight Coupe is finally going to the paint shop in the next few days, and I am supplying the paint which is called Sparkling Merlot Pearl from the Coating Store. The price is $220 for a kit for which comes with a gallon of basecoat, a gallon of clear urethane, two quarts of reducer for the basecoat and one quart of activator for the clear. I have always painted my own cars since 1958, but this is the first time I have spent months preparing a car for a show quality paint job, and I have never done pearl paint. My local body and paint guy has stopped by several times and given me helpful advice in preparing the car. I will report later on what he thinks of this paint.