Repaint - Advice please

obxfshn

obxfshn

Daily Driver
Hello,

I own an 81 X with original Rosso paint. It looks great from a distance but has multiple minor rust spots (front of each door, rocker panels, engine area where fuel cap is and opposite side, front of hood, and others.

I'm torn between just leaving it for another couple/few years and enjoying the original paint, and going ahead and getting it repainted. Today I stopped by a custom car shop that does a lot of classic frame up car restorations. After a very thorough going over of the car (He found a lot of things I wouldn't have noticed or thought to check) he gave me a price of $3000-$3500 for a paint job. That's doors/hoods and windshield off, all rust repair, and lizard skin paint (like rhino liner but matches paint) for the stone guard and for interior of trunks/engine compartment. There will be no original paint visable. He assured me there would be no painting over nuts, sloppy tape work resulting in paint where it shouldn't be, etc. All parts in the paint area would be removed and replaced after the job. (I'm going to buy all new seals, he'll install them). He also said he only uses top of the line paints and products to deliver an exceptional paint job.

I'm curious what other members suggest that I ask about / look for in a repaint. I know nothing other than what he told me about painting a vehicle. I'm not afraid to pay for a job that i'll be happy with for years and forget what I paid 12 months later because I'm so happy with it. What I don't want to do is be taken advantage of, get a half-assed job, and be well aware what I paid for it 5 years later.

Thanks for your advice and tips!
Brandon
 
Three grand for a paint job and you will never sleep well again. You will sweat the first nick and every one after for a long time.I paint my own cars and even though the job will not pass close scrutiny at $500 it still looks good with in five feet but still I worry every time I take my car out. 90% of a pant job is prep. Maybe you could do that part and then find or make a friend that can shoot. Just make sure you pop the top on the beers after the job is don't. Learned that from experience.
 
In my area, paint jobs as described are twice the price.

Does that include what is called "cut and buff," meaning (1) they put enough clear coat layers on the car so that after it dries, (2) they can come back and sand the clear coat then buff it to level out the orange peel to a glass-smooth finish?
 
Yeah considering all that he's including in the quote, that honestly seems like a fantastic price, but only if it's done with quality.

If you go with the shop, post back on how well it comes out. I gotta repaint my car eventually and there's no shops around here (that I can find) willing to do all that work for a price like that.

EDIT: You should try to find some of his previous customers and inspect their cars before pulling the trigger.
 
Last edited:
That is a GREAT price for what he is saying he will do.
I'd get it done if you have the $$.
I painted my X myself with, get this, rattle cans. It was tons of work but cost only about $500 and my time. No where near as nice as what I will expect you will get.
 

Attachments

  • fiat x mine primer.jpg
    fiat x mine primer.jpg
    496.5 KB · Views: 97
  • IMG_3987.JPG
    IMG_3987.JPG
    401.8 KB · Views: 83
I paid £5000 for mine. Started out at £3500 but turned out it was a lot more like bondo filled swiss cheese than expected... Very similar job to yours except I didn't get the engine bay done.
 
That does sound too good to be true. Heck, for that price I could have mine shipped to your state, painted, and shipped back and still come out ahead of what I could expect for lessor amounts of body repair work locally. I agree, it would be a very good idea to see some samples of his previous work.
 
After he gave me the price, I asked if I could come by often and take photos of the process to share with my X 1/9 group. He said he would love if I did that and share on his Facebook page. He's confident and seems competent. I just want to go back to him with questions about his process and product choices
Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
In my area, paint jobs as described are twice the price.

Does that include what is called "cut and buff," meaning (1) they put enough clear coat layers on the car so that after it dries, (2) they can come back and sand the clear coat then buff it to level out the orange peel to a glass-smooth finish?
Click to expand...

Great questions. Now I have something to ask them next time we talk! Thank you Dan
 
Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:
In my area, paint jobs as described are twice the price.

Does that include what is called "cut and buff," meaning (1) they put enough clear coat layers on the car so that after it dries, (2) they can come back and sand the clear coat then buff it to level out the orange peel to a glass-smooth finish?
Click to expand...
aarpcard said:
Yeah considering all that he's including in the quote, that honestly seems like a fantastic price, but only if it's done with quality.

If you go with the shop, post back on how well it comes out. I gotta repaint my car eventually and there's no shops around here (that I can find) willing to do all that work for a price like that.

EDIT: You should try to find some of his previous customers and inspect their cars before pulling the trigger.
Click to expand...

After we spoke about the job and the price, I asked if I could visit and take pictures of the progress. He was happy to do that and said he'd like the pictures for his own facebook page.
 
sjmst said:
That is a GREAT price for what he is saying he will do.
I'd get it done if you have the $$.
I painted my X myself with, get this, rattle cans. It was tons of work but cost only about $500 and my time. No where near as nice as what I will expect you will get.
Click to expand...

Holy COW! Great job; that's hard to believe, it turned out great!
 
Sadly, that is a very good price these days in some markets. Full resprays were quite reasonable in the early 80s...but then something happened, and it wasn't a case of proportional inflation, to really boost the costs. A coworker, in 2014, paid $8000 for his Chevelle. This was a daily driver paint quality job, not a show queen. It's crazy.

If you have the ability, strip and prep it to the max. Deliver a rolling shell to the body shop. Short of spraying it yourself, this is the cheapest route. That's what we did with my X. We paid for materials, slipped the painter $400 and a case of beer, and had it done on a saturday when they were normally closed.
 
Like has been said earlier, it's worth the money if it's QUALITY work.

Nose around at previous jobs, see if the QUALITY is there.....they have a webpage/Facebook page?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top