[A Snake]

In the world of painting cars, you truly do get what you pay for, if you use reputable people. The better you want it, the more it will cost.

Look in my gallery at the picture titled "Evolution of the Cobra" Not just the thumbnail. Although it is partly in shade, what you see cost just over $15K.

No, I didn't get took. The shop that did it is Steve's Auto Restorations of Gresham, OR. Steve's is responsible for quite a number of Best In Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance and other Concours events in the nation. They truly are in a class by themselves and no, they don't do insurance work except on valuable collectible cars where cost is not an issue.

In my case, I went in expecting about $6-7K. The shop bills weekly until the job is done. It is strictly time and materials. At $5k, the car was still in primer.

With all of that said and it sounds scary as heck when I write it, the finished product was not just good....it was perfect! No matter how or what kind of light was shined on the car, there was not even a pin prick imperfection......anywhere.

Now to explain what sounds completely nuts. In order to get that kind of finish, parts of the basic fiberglass work was completely redone to repair poorly thought out work on the part of Contemporary. At least six joints and gussets had to be restructured to eliminate ripples showing up later. The doors, hood and trunk lid were reworked to fit properly and have the closure lines match. The engine compartment was as completely finished as the outside, including a fill of gel coat on the inside of the hood to get rid of the choppergun look. The stripes could not be felt at all.

All through the process, the car was baked in a gas fired oven (not just heat lamps which give hot spots) with each coat of primer and each coat of paint, which was in turn color primed and block sanded. As I understood at the time, there were more than forty trips to the oven, including the first trip for the bare body to vent final resin gasses before prep work began.

Yes, this is kind of extreme, but I got what I wanted and I didn't get ripples, rock chips or stars anywhere on the car. That paint was as hard as a hooker's heart.

I've looked at a lot of "Shiny" paint jobs on cobra kits, originals and various street rods. The only ones that compared to the work on my car, were the street rods that were built for show only and never intended to be driven.

The big difference in the appearance and cost of paint jobs is how much detail work is involved in getting to the finished product. Lots of people can spray paint on a car. Not everybody can or will do the prep work right that comes first.

If you want to see your reflection, clear enough to shave in, or do the marble trick, you'll pay for it.

Would or will I do it again? Yup and Steve's will get the job. I'll just be a little more aware of what the final cost should be, before starting.

Al