Having had no luck with a couple of local body shops (they won't call me back), I'm asking the group if anyone knows of any decent ones in my area. I got a quote from the nearby MAACO, and the guy seemed like an OK dude, but I'm still wary. I'm located in Milford, Delaware. For anyone who doesn't know about this area, you have to drive somewhere else to get almost anything done. I don't mind a bit of a drive to find a decent shop.

What I need is a some minor body work (no serious rust problems) and a purdy paint job. The car has been painted a few times over the years and needs to be stripped, too (so I'm told). This isn't a show car, just a daily/weekend driver.

It would be nice to have this teener lookin nice for Hershey in April!

Thanks, all.

Any help would be appreciated. Anyone in Maryland, southeastern PA .... anyone?

I'm just northwest of Philly (25 miles). I'll check around, but I know of one P/A dealer (once highly recommended) to tell you to stay away from - Holbert. They made a piece of sh_t out of my wife's Passat. Only went there because of the reputation of the Holbert family - mistake. The Als' are both gone & the dealership is crap. Stay away.

I'll ask around.

Have a budget?

I keep my eyes and ears open as you never know when you need someone.
Unfortunatly, I've not gotten any leads in this area(SE PA).
Usually listening thought......

My buddy (pro painter) knows a guy in Reading, PA if you are interested. I trust his recommendation implicitly.

Thanks for the heads up on Holbert. Luckily, I don't know where they are anyway.

Yesterday I got a promising lead from a nearby VW shop called Dick's Autohaus in Wye Mills, MD. Dick referred me to a guy in Church Hill, MD who told me to come up sometime this week and he would take a look. The shop in Church Hill is called Snap Auto Body. Dick told me that this guy did a couple of bugs for him and did a fantastic job.

I'll try to get over to Snap on Thursday or Friday, then give a report here.

I appreciate your eyes and ears, okieflyr.

what quote did the nearby maaco give you?

i just want paint mostly stripped and a decent coat of low budget paint.

how tough is it to get a 914 to pass inspection in DE ??

jim

Before I posted this thread I did a search on the site like a dutiful nube. I found your post about the guy in Reading and I'm keeping him in mind. My whole intention here was to try to find a few shops and start with the closest one, then work my way out. If the guy in Church Hill doesn't work out I'll seriously consider your man in Reading. Thanks for the response, Dr. Evil.

The quote I got from Maaco was for repairing some dings and small rust spots, chemically stripping the whole car ($1000), fixing the front turn signal holes that had been filled ($800), mounting a new front spoiler and spraying the exterior and two door sills with their best base/clear paint job. The whole enchilada was about $5400. I've since done most of the work on the turn signal holes myself. I'm also not sure if the door sills really need to be sprayed right now - they're still original and it would save me $200. I did get a good feeling about the owner when we met, so they're still in the running.

So for stripping and their low budget paint you can probably get out of there for no more than $1500, assuming there's no body work to be done. I think their cheapest enamel paint was around $299 and the most expensive base/clear was $799.

And I'm not sure about inspecting the 914 in DE, as I've not had to do it yet. Mine is currently tagged in Maryland. I'll probably have to get it switched over later this year. I believe for older cars you can get a waiver of some sort if you can't get the emissions to pass after a couple of trys. I'll see what I can find out.

Thought I'd post an update for anyone interested. Last Friday I visited a Snap Auto Body in Church Hill, MD and had the owner give me an estimate for body work and paint. His quote was HALF of what the MAACO in Dover quoted me. So I had him schedule me for the 26th of March. He said he needed about two weeks to do the work, which means I'll be ready in time for Hershey. I have a few other mechanical odds and ends to fiddle with in the mean time. Wish me luck, folks.