Advice from the pro painters?, Lead times. Options

[mbseto]

I'm hoping to have a professional paint my car, and now that I am on a more strict schedule, I should probably get some information on going about this...

So my hope is to send it out to be blasted and painted. What kind of lead times should I expect? How far in advance should I be talking to a shop about getting the car in and done? What kind of schedule creep is typical?

Thank for the input... If it matters, I'm building a daily driver, not a show car, and my goals for the paint job are first to have modern rust-proofing, and second to have something nice but able to see normal wear and tear of driving to work, etc.

[76-914]

Waiting on painters is what drives many of us to paint our own cars. After you paint your own you'll wonder why it takes so long at some shops. Answer: poor business management. It's no wonder why shops like Maaco & Earl Schibe stay in business. Quick turn-a-round. Rant over.

[Olympic 914]

Waiting on painters is what drives many of us to paint our own cars. After you paint your own you'll wonder why it takes so long at some shops. Answer: poor business management. It's no wonder why shops like Maaco & Earl Schibe stay in business. Quick turn-a-round. Rant over.

This is one reason I am attempting to do the paint myself. I talked to guys at two shops and the first thing they wanted to do was tear off all the work I had already done.
Sure I understand they might not want to put their name on a paint job on top of someone else's work, even though I used top quality materials.
what really got me was when I saw the same MGA under a tarp that was there a year ago when I had stopped buy for something else. no progress that I could tell.

So however my paint job turns out, I'm driving it. then if I don't like it, in a couple years I'll have it redone.