i had a fella come this morning to do an estimate on my '68. He worked up an estimate that includes doing, the floorpans, tailight panel, quarter panel work, some door skin patching, putting back all the interior, pretty much re-assembling the entire car as if it was new and shotting a pretty good paint job on it. He quoted the project right at 5 grand. Keep in mind, i already have all the parts that are needed so this is just his cost to do it all. And lets just say this guy is a pretty decent body man so the quality of work is not an issue.
I ask, is 5 grand worth it? any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

Also, i've really always wanted to do the interior and put the car back together, (bumper, chrome emblems) and that kind of stuff myself. So i called him back this afternoon for him to work up another quote for just doin the metal work. NO paint, No interior, and No putting anything back on the car. JUst strictly the metal work, and he really didnt like the sounds of doin jus that so he actually quoted that at 3500. I think he was practically sayin im gonna do it all or nothing.

 

That seems almost too cheap.

 

I guess the first question would be the quality of the paint job. From what I have found in my searching, a pretty good (not show) paint job is about $3 - 3.5k. So, the question is, is the body work worth $2k? I'm thinking it might be a little high, unless there is a lot of other body work that needs to be done. The interior work isn't all that tough, just time and patience with the kits that are out there.

 

Will you be supplying the primer and paint? Depending on the color and quality that can easily cost $700 to $1500. It cost me $5000 in labor for replacing a quarter, other "minor" body work, and a "good" paint job. I paid the guy $25/hr, so he charged me for about 200 hrs. (Yes, I trusted him!) I delivered the car stripped and replaced the small hang on items after paint. There is a lot of labor involved in a good paint job. Basic steps after body work are epoxy or etch primer, sandable primer, sanding with a guide coat, repeat primer and sanding as necessary, bc coats, cc coats, color sanding and buffing. There is also a lot of masking and taping inbetween the steps. Also, there is labor in aligning the panels, depending on how the paint is done this may happen a few times. Your quote sounds really good to me!

 

its a great deal if he trust worthy

 

id say its too cheap. and there are lots of steps a body man can do to get stuff done faster and it may look really good but its not right and wont last that long. it should be closer to 10 grand to do everything that you mentioned.

 

The body work and paint on my 65 cost me 5K. I had almost zero rust, so basically it was just a job of stripping off the doors, fenders, trunk lid and hood and prep the parts and body before painting it. I did all the interior work myself, so none of that was included. I would ask him to show me some of his work before I committed.

 

soaring, did you do the interior work before or after the car had the paint and body work done.

 

After. I didn't want any dirt from the sandblasting to mess up my new stuff. I replaced everything on the inside. Door panels, dash pad, arm rests, seat covers, carpet and painted the doors where the metal is, and painted the plastic sections in the rear seat area, and replaced the package tray and painted it. Oh, the first thing I painted was the dash area while the dash pad, gauges, radio, etc. were out. My biggest problem was getting the glove box door back on right without scratchig the new paint.