How much did you spend on your paint job?

[Tongue Pirate]

Originally posted by aumoore


First I must admit I have a 20/20 paint job like described earlier.
Second it is a D.I.Y. job with paint I bought from a local speed shop that sells paint to the street rod crowd. I have about $300 in materials and it has a few flaws but I do have people say it looks pretty good. I like the fact it has a few flaws as it makes the car look older than it is so some people ask if it has the original paint job. I tell them yes but it is not an original car.

That's awsome! I really wonder if the originals cars were that perfect anyway. Especially the FIA cars

[CobERA]

I had my car painted by one of ERA's recommended painters, Tony Stefan. The cost was $4,500 and included stripes, rounding the fender openings, and adding a stone shield on the front of the rear fenders.

I am very pleased with the quality of the work, and Tony stuck to the timetable we established - a total of 8 weeks from pick up at ERA to delivery back to ERA.

[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

[PatBuckley]

Al,

So you went in expecting a six or seven thousand dollar paint job and with out saying anything to you the final bill was $15,000?

Or the price slowly went up bit by bit until your seven thousand dollar expectation was at $15,000....

I'm sorry, I don't give a rats ass how good the damned job was - I would be more than a little pissed off if that happened to me.

I don't care if it was Michaelangelo painting my car - I would have felt taken.

Pat

P.S. I am glad you like it and it turned out well....but around here there is a term for what happened.

[John Poling]

$9600 total bill, did some of the body work myself 'til the wife said she didn't like all the dust in the house and she didn't like the smell of fresh 'glas either. Look at my gallery, the pictures don't do it justice. I will be adding more pics in the future after my final assembly. The shop that did mine is the same one that does John Lingenfelters custom work on his 'vettes.

John

[Dirt Cowboy]

$640 bucks.

[GeorgiaSnake]

T.P.
I would have been satisfied with a 20/20 paint job and ended up with a 5/5 or better. I plan to try and get as much track time as possible and will drive the car often. With that in mind I decided to do it myself. Cost to date about $900 ( PPG paints, Rage Gold etc) beer cost to date about $300 ( Donnie my assistant likes his beer) My time ($1,000,000) I had never done this before and had a huge learning curve. Satisfaction of getting it done myself priceless.

I did the prep in my garage, primed it in the driveway, wet sanded in the drivway and painted it in the garage. Check my album for the process and results.

Randy

[casaleenie]

Al,
I equate that to ordering a $50. bottle of wine or a $500. bottle wine... It can't be ten times better. I'd remove all sharp objects and ropes from the vicinity when the first substantial chip occurs..
They'd have to put me on 24 hr. suicide watch...
I'm sure it looks great but what a responsibility...
I can't wait until my car gets beat to hell with scratches and chips so I can think about a different color... My car is painted an unusual color for a Cobra... BLUE with white stripes.. Not too many of those around....


Pat,

Is Michaelangelo still painting cars?

[NeedAntiVenom]

T.P.

Had mine done by Tony and saw it yesterday. Peter, unfortunately, traded yours to the roach wagon guy for a burrito, so pictures were not available.

Tony did a fabulous job at a reasonable price. Seeing it painted was like seeing a naked woman for the first time - ran my hands over every curve. Cost was around 4K - worth every penny.

I'm sure either Tony or Walt will do an exceptional job. Remember that once its bonded, the cost to paint has to be much higher - a lot more disassembly, tape and mask.

Jim

[Tongue Pirate]

Originally posted by NeedAntiVenom


T.P.

Had mine done by Tony and saw it yesterday. Peter, unfortunately, traded yours to the roach wagon guy for a burrito, so pictures were not available.

Jim

Hope it wasn't a vegetarian burrito! I don't want him to feel cheated

[A Snake]

Pat,

It wasn't Steve's fault. I didn't ask quite enough questions going in. When I got the bill for $5K, I called to see what state of completion the car was in. I was dismayed that it was only in primer and promptly asked what it would take to finish it. At first, I couldn't get a committment, because of the shop policy of just billing time and materials until completed. Remember, this is a Concours shop and the normal customer doesn't count pennies like us ordinary folks do. Depending on the car and it's condition, a full show winning restoration can cost upwards of $200K.

In my case, once I put the brakes on, I went to work negotiating a not to exceed price for completion. (which I should have done in the first place!) It really was more than I wanted to spend, but my only other choice was to take the car to another shop and run the risk of putting beer in a champagne glass so to speak.

So, I bit the bullet and discovered that Steve's wanted to finish the car badly enough to negotiate down from a considerably higher number.

Casaleenie,

I'm not sure about the wine part, but I did feel like mounting an armed guard at times. It's funny though, it wasn't the cost of the paint job that made me paranoid, it was just the car in general. Seemed like all of the "looky loo" types wanted to get into it when nobody was looking or get PO'd when I told them no. The other worry was having some jackass prang the side as he exited his jacked up 4x4. Again, cost of paint didn't enter into it. It was just damage in general that bothered me.

Other than shows, I always parked it where I could see it and damnif that ain't a pain! Couldn't even go to the beach and leave it out of sight.

Like I said though, the look of the work was worth the money and I would have still guarded it fiercely, even with an average paint job on it.

I lied about damage. (forgot) Not long after it was completed and I was still learning where the nose of the car really was, I scuffed the underside of the oil cooler scoop. It couldn't be seen standing in front of the car, but I knew it was there and believe me, I did say OH SHISKY!! (or words to that effect!) That little fubar cost $1,300 to fix. Believe me, it only took once being that dumb!

Al

[Turk]

Al,
May I be the first one to tell you that oil cooler scoop will get scraped, again, and again and again. I would highly recommend a piece of aluminum attached to the underside of that area , next time around.

TURK

[PatBuckley]

I am putting a piece of aluminum under my scoop too.

Good idea.

[A Snake]

It only took once on the scoop for me to know EXACTLY where the nose was when I parked it. It wasn't the distance in front of the car, it was how little there was under it.........

Al

[aumoore]

Al
Over $15k for a paint job? I would have to sell my wife to afford that and I could never enjoy the car. If you can live with that paint job in the real world (rocks fling from other cars, inconsiderate people leaning over the fenders with cowboy belt buckles, kids with toys rolling over your fenders) more power to you. I don't have much more than that in my whole car.

I bet it is pretty. Did you build a glass case to display it in?

[Turk]

Pat,
You should have done that a year ago.
You already have aluminum under this one!!

TURK

[A Snake]

aumoore,

No glass case, just a garage and a feisty Cocker Spaniel.....

Surprisingly, didn't ever sustain any "looky loo" damage. I stayed with the car at shows and hired a hitman.....

I drove the car a lot, but never on roads with loose rock. Out here, our roads are pretty clean. Lots of rain does that along with no sanding in the winter.

For all of the hoorah about the expense of the paint, I will say it took very little to keep it looking good. Waxed once a year and McGuires Final Finish for a wipe off when it got a little dusty or buggy. Damn little black bugs just loved that bright white on a sunny day!

Al

[Tom Stevens]

Can anybody recommend an experienced Cobra painter in the Southern California area? Thanks

[Edley Rondinone]

Tom Stevens- House of Cobras in Anaheim has an excellent paint shop that did some work on my Cobra after it was in a slight collision...(NOT my fault!)

[Doug I]

A few here might know of Jeff Miller Customs. You'll find him over on the other forum. I've only seen online photos of his work, but those who are driving his paintjobs are very happy with his standard of work.

Compared to prices I've seen here he is very reasonable. From his website http://www.millercustoms.com he is at 28 Cobra Replicas and counting. A photo of his latest work is in my gallery (or will be in a minute - let me get it there )