Realistic paint cost

[John248]

Hello all,

I need a little advice, direction, opinions, in general….help with the painting of my car. First off, it a 2019 Shell Valley and the body is gel coated fiberglass. I finished the build in December of 2020 and I have been driving it around proudly in its primered glory. I did a moderate amount of body work (sanded off the body mold lines, filled pin holes, adjusted some gap issues and filled in minor imperfections in the body) and used rattle can primer to at least clean up my work. I’m looking a getting it painted in October/November and plan on going Monza Red, no stripe.

I started calling around to various (some recommended) body and paint shops in the area to get estimates. Some painters gave me a “rough estimate” over the phone because they had painted Cobras in the past and a couple have given me estimates in person. So far the range is: a low of $18,000 (he said it was a family discount) and would take 11 months to complete, a mid estimate of $25,000 for a “decent” paint job, all the way to $50,000 for a “show quality” done in 4 months easy.

I know paint, supplies and time are expensive but are these costs out of whack ? I had budgeted about $10,000 for a good quality paint job and I know you get what you pay for but this is a head scratcher. I plan on driving it a lot (like I do now) so it’s not going into any car shows for awards.

Thanks for your help

John