How much did you spend on your paint job?

[Tongue Pirate]

I went to get a quote the other day on painting & bodywork on my Fia with stripe across the hood & blank meatballs. The quote he gave me seemed very low to me($1500 to $1800 depending on the amount of bodywork needed ). What did you guys pay for your paint? Is this as low as I think?

[Cobra20646]

Hyde,

Sounds low to me...... but depends on just how much 'quality' work and materials you're expecting. Paint jobs run the gamut from 20/20 jobs (looks good from 20 feet or 20 MPH) to concourse show types...... naturally, prices reflect that. I think a range from 3 to 5 K would yield something you can be proud of.

[Steve Dickey]

Yes that is very low. Where in the valley did you go for that quote?? Steve D***ey

[SilverCobra]

Hyde,

I don't think some body shops realize the sanding a prep work on a fiberglass body on a Cobra replica. My Unique was painted here locally by a body shop that I have done business with for about 12 years. Alex originally quoted "around $2,000" and I think his excitement over working on a Cobra blurred his senses. I really thought that was too low and told him so, but have known the company long enough to know they would treat me right. Their shop is about a mile from my office and I would drop in unannounced at morning, noon or evening about 3-4 days a week for the 4 weeks it was there. There was always someone working on the body - sanding, filing, sanding, filling pin holes, sanding, priming, sanding - you get the picture. Anyway - the job ended up costing about $3,200 and feel it was fair for me and the painter.

[Tongue Pirate]

I got the the quote from a guy in Oxnard. That is where I work. When I had the upholstery done on my previous project I noticed this shop next door to the upholstery shop. They had just finished an XKE at the time. It was a real nice looking car. A guy I work with knows a guy at the paint shop so I took him with me. I'm going to take the car over when I get it to get a more accurate estimate. If he still is in that range I'll let him do it, if not I'll do the work myselF. My point is that I can do bodywork & paint but for that price let them do it!!!

[Chaplin]

Hey T.P.-
Unless you can get a paint job significantly cheaper (and by the way $1800 is siginficantly cheaper) than either one of ERA's painter's can do it for, or unless you have a painter you really like, you might want to have one of ERA's painters paint the car for you. I have been to ERA a few times and have seen numerous cars painted by each of ERA's painters and they look great. I decided to use one of ERA's painters (Walt at Conn. Custom Car) to paint mine. Hopefully, car should be finished in a week and a half and back to ERA soon.

The way I look at it is that these guys have probably painted several dozen ERAs and likely know all the tricks to making them come out looking great. Plus, if you use one of ERA's painters, once you get the car from ERA, you will be that much closer to getting it on the road- you won't have to dissable everything, send it to the painter and then wait 2 more months before you can start putting it all back together.

Mike

[casaleenie]

The paint job on mine cost $4,500.
A friend of mine just picked up an FFR body for a spec racer from a paint shop in Buffalo and it was beautiful. $1,500. That was all the prep work and a GM color-Artic White... If I needed a paint job down the road I'd go with these guys in a heartbeat....

[K.Wilson]

I spent $4,800 ten years ago. The paint products and supplies cost nearly $1,100 alone. I did get a "show quality" painted car as a result, and it has been awarded "Best Paint" in several car shows.
I would look at several representative examples of his paint work prior to giving him the job.
Keith

[Tongue Pirate]

I'm not looking for show quality. I wan't a nice job, but I don't want to cry everytime I hear a rock jump up & grab ahold of my fender. Like I said before I can do it myself but for a price like this I would prefer to let someone else do it. It's not like bodywork is my favorite thing to do! I also like a nice paint job as much as the next guy but on a street car that will be driven regularly & with the tendency of these cars to get rock chips I feel like I would be wasting my money. Give me function over fashion anyday!!!! At least 60/40

[Mr.Fixit]

Make sure you get a look at the guy's work before having him do it. Make sure the quality ofwork he shows you is what you are buying so you don't hear, "Oh that's what it looks like if you pay me $4000, you bought the $1200 special." A painter's reputaion goes a long way in determining his price, not necessarily reflecting the quality.

[Art Burtt]

Man I must live in the wrong part of the country,I haven't found anyone to paint for less than $5,000 and one guy wanted $6,500
sight unseen. I've done all of the body work myself with some guidence from a local body shop guy and I still figure $2,500 to $3,000 with paint for the spraying???

[Tongue Pirate]

There are a lot of little shops here in socal that do this kind of work(body & paint, upholstery etc...) & get a lot of business by word of mouth. I'm sure competition is pretty tough!

[427 S/O]

You'll find that 99% of most shops make a very good living doing only insurance claims, it actually cost them money to put one of their guys on a 'hot rod'. I found a fella that painted only four cars prior to mine, I looked at three of them and impressed with the work. He did mine for $3000, you can run your fingers over the stripes and feel nothing.......

[Jamo]

I didn't pay anything for paint.

I paid a bunch for prep though.

[Excaliber]

Maco can do a "poor" job for a few hundred dollars, if your going racing, it would be fine!

$1800 sounds OK for a regular decent paint job on a body needing minimum prep. Exactly the kind of paint job I'd be looking for (and I DO race)!

IT's CRAZY what you can pay if you go "nuts" and wanted ghosted images and super show quality paint.

$3 to $4K is all I'm going to spend if I'm NOT going racing and I DO expect near show quality paint for that kind of money!

Ernie

[Tongue Pirate]

O.K....all of this talk has sparked another interesting Question! What was the quality of paint on an original FIA cars? Truthfully, I don't care if I can feel stripes in the paint. That is very cool! But not my thing. I want my car to look vintage, I wan't my car to look nice, & I want my car to look original (But I don't care if someone knows it's not the real thing).

[flipper35]

It makes a big difference on the paint and the process to put it on. Pearl and Candy and stripes costs more than a simple base/clear colored car. It takes more paint and time for those because of the process.

[Leroy]

Just repainted my after 15 years to a different color, was white w/ blue stripes and I went with a totally new color a deep red-maroon. Use a new HVLP type gun and was really surprised how little overspray there was, you can really see the paint going on.
Did not use a clear coat, so just color sand and buff out. Came out really good. Total cost for primer sealer and reducers and hardner and a gallon of color w/ reducer and hardners along w/ sand paper, this is a acrylic enamel was just over $400.00. At my age of 65 it was a little work but I feel the love of doing things myself was worth it, plus I wanted to try the HVLP gun out. Any one planning on painting should only use the HVLP gun the only way to go. You do need a fairly big compressor for HVLP uses a lot of CFM's.
Lee

[Mohuska]

I just completely redid my Cobra.....New interior and totally new paint....The guy I took it to does incredible custom and show painting.....first class!!... He completely stripped my Cobra down, filled in every tiny imperfection.....sealed and primered, two base coats.....3 color coats.....2 coats for the stripes, clear coated and pinstriped by hand.......all for the measly price of $10K....YUP.....hard to believe isn't it..... a bargain at twice the price!!.........and he painted under all the wheel wells (black) and detailed the entire engine compartment (engine was removed for a complete rebuild)....and painted engine compartment.....I don't know...thought it was pretty fair.....He sure is highly recommended in the show car circuit......

Only one problem....

No I don't have money for gas...

[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.