How much to budget for a complete repaint..?, A tough question I know but I got to ask... Options

[Nozzle]

Well after doing the standard Spring clean-up on the old girl last week, it looks like the valiant efforts of the 36 year old Saturn Yellow to protect the body are starting to fail. But before I start putting together a serious savings campaign for a full-bore repaint I need to ask what I should plan for as this is very new territory for me. I would be having a professional shop do the prep and repaint as I've got zero talent in this area. I figure rust repair costs will just have to be one of the unknowns at this stage so I'm really looking for a paint-only figure.

The 914 in question lived almost its entire life in Santa Barbara, CA and was never in an accident so far as I can tell. A hell-hole repair was done by AA two years ago right after I bought the car and now the windshield base on the drivers side where it meets the fender line is starting to bubble. No doubt there is more to be found but that's what I know for sure.

So the main goal is to get the car repaired and preserved before the rust gets any worse. The plan would be for me to disassemble the entire car and then have a good shop do a presentable repaint in the original color and take care of any rust issues found. In other words I'm looking for perfect metal not perfect paint.

So any help on what I should plan dollar-wise for for the prep and repaint would be MUCH appreciated. Of course any help with locating a good restoration shop in the MD, VA or PA area would be very cool too...

Thanks everyone,

John

[scotty b]

There is alot of talk about gouging and TIPS. First off I have never heard of a body shop being given a monetary tip, thank you for letting me know this is a custom. I wil now have higher expectations of my customers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

Gouging is kinda of like when my doctor asked me how much pain I was in. Pain is subjective as is the claim of gouging. There is nothing easy about rust repair, body work, or paint, and as some have stated, if I have an issue, I have to eat it. I have put twice the time into some cars than I am getting paid for, just to make it a little nicer, or because there was an unforseen issue. Jim McCloeds car for example, I had to completely reshoot the whole car on my dime. Paint and time, due to not having enough base to cover fully. I didn't realize this until I hung the removable panels and saw they were a different shade than the rest of the car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) This meant the whole car had to be dissassembled, sanded, reshot, re-wetsanded, rebuffed and re-assembled. Nothing at all to do with the car, or Jim. I simply couldn't tell that the removable panels were thin due to the way the light hit them in the booth.

I realize I am in a business historically dominated by unethical snakes. That is why my door is always open to my customers. I also photodocument every step of my jobs and burn the pics on a cd for the customer. That way they can see what has been found, what has been done, and what they got for their money in the end. Anyone that takes a car to a shop for restoration work should ask for this to be done. If the shop refuses to, or whines about do so, should be walked away form IMO. You are paying a fair amount of money for services that you don't see performed day in and day out. It is very easy for a shop to tell you they are using high dollar materials, and put cheap paint on. How would you know the difference ? I can make Nason at 120.00/gallon look just as good as Spies at 350.00/gallon, but there is a huge difference in the paint and it's longevity.

Also when you go in to have your car worked on, sit down with the owner and or manager, and go through COMLETELY what your expectations are in the end. What work you expect them to do, and at what quality level. I and most other restoration shops, can do anything from a cheapo patch and paint up to a full blown show car. The price difference in the 2 is astronomical. So if you have an 8000.00 budget, don't start flaming when there is a ripple in the body work, orange peel in the paint, or a less than perfect gap somewhere. Put things into a perspective you can understand. If you are a lawyer, are you going to represent a client with a 10,000.00 budget as well as you would a client with a 100,000.00 budget ? Of course not.