[dataway]

I think the hobby is handled different ways by different people, depending on financial resources. Among us blue collar types, in a rural town where I've known everyone for 30 years ... I can get a full, factory quality (no not show) paint job for $3-4000. Of course that assumes the metal is ready to paint and competent body work has already been done. And it will be $300/gal paint.

Of course out here there isn't many people that want to put a $20K paint job on a $40K car. Most of the guys in the hobby in rural areas have their own large hobby garage, many tools gathered over many years, considerable know-how ... and they just need the car shot by someone good with a gun.

[68 461 Bird]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Muslcah
Your jokes suck and you can shut the fukc up when you speak to me from now on.

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by 68 461 Bird

I think the fumes from the old can of Snowball he was using ....caused him to make some bad decisions.

[68 461 Bird]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

I think the fumes from the old can of Snowball he was using ....caused him to make some bad decisions.

I would have to agree

[tom s]

Guys,a friend of mine is a pontiac guy and owns 3 collision shops in SoCal.Two of his cars are on the cover of the current OPG catalogs.He said the hourly rate in the nor cal area are in the $120 range.Welcome to Calif!FWIW,Tom

[MD79TA]

Originally Posted by tom s

Guys,a friend of mine is a pontiac guy and owns 3 collision shops in SoCal.Two of his cars are on the cover of the current OPG catalogs.He said the hourly rate in the nor cal area are in the $120 range.Welcome to Calif!FWIW,Tom

Yes but where else can you just drop your shorts and **** in the middle of street and keep on walking. I will
Never go near that state again and I had some great times in the early seventies while in Air Force . Doug

[Paul E]

If I spent that much on a paint job I would expect it to be on a TV show. That is paint only and some supporting body work. when he is starting and stopping on the car it is always going to take more time, and he charged you for all of it. Wonder what the "Count" would charge for a paint job only. No wheels, suspension, engine, interior, etc if there was it would be a $70K project at least with that scale. Even worse is a friend used it for filler work and did not even communicate the huge cost difference during the process. Find another friend and just have him do your body work if you are happy with it.

[tom s]

Paul,changing a roof on a car is hardly "supporting body work"Look at all the pics of what was worked on this car.If the shop was a collision shop,every hour they worked on it was one hour not making the 120 dollars a hour.Yes its a lot of money because of WHAT he EXPECTED to pay but having done way too many cars out on the left coast not surprising to me.Feel for him.Tom

[Sirrotica]

I'd pay the part of the bill that was the original estimate, and work the rest of the bill of in traded work over the next 2 1/2 years. That way you can adjust your billing just like he did. I believe you said you do HVAC work?

From what you've provided I'd say the same as someone else has already eluded to that there were some employees screwing off that were padding their time cards by writing labor/screw of time, against your car. Since I've worked flat rate (and I'm not sure if these employees work flat rate, or not) looks to me that they were billing hours to legitimize their hours and pay.

The guy must not be tight for money else he would be insisting that you pay the bill in full, upon delivery. I think he went for the high dollars because he knew there was going to be negotiating from the invoice, so he wrote it high. Like asking top dollar for something you're selling, you can always go down from the top dollar, but you can't go up from your starting point.

Maybe I'm unrealistic, but to me it is at least $10,000 too high...……….

[Paul E]

Originally Posted by tom s

Paul,changing a roof on a car is hardly "supporting body work"Look at all the pics of what was worked on this car.If the shop was a collision shop,every hour they worked on it was one hour not making the 120 dollars a hour.Yes its a lot of money because of WHAT he EXPECTED to pay but having done way too many cars out on the left coast not surprising to me.Feel for him.Tom

Tom,
You are correct and he was asking for opinions. The roof which sounds like a big thing is not that difficult or time consuming if a good donor is sourced and the car has not been in an accident. The original quote was with the roof replacement figured in. The original figure, commitment, and time line was given by the shop owner. The result of that was not delivered in cost, time or communicated when the quote was determined to be unrealistic by the shop until the final invoice was given.

Paul

[64speed]

Everybody has laughed at me about this but this is specifically why I am taking my car to Maaco for the paint and final fit out. After AMD got done with it I only have a few minor repairs to be made. I have a Maaco about an hour from me that does mini restorations. I took my car to them on the trailer when I got it back from AMD and they said no more than 6500 to 7000 to finish it and paint it. I took it to a place here in Honea Path SC called Classic Pontiac Rescue just a few days later and he said 17000. I can’t pay 17 grand for something I am going to drive everyday. Maaco had a book of cars they had done and they had a blazer in the shop they were finishing up. Looked great for a driver and that’s what I want. That price included paint inside and out and four coats of clear instead of two. Plus they guaranteed me I’d have it back in 6 weeks

[TAKerry]

I too talked to my local Maaco when I painted my car. I talked to the owner in depth and he was a car guy. At the time they were painting a 442 and another classic. Obviously it was above and beyond their 229. special. I was going to paint all of the jambs and let them do the rest, his price was around 3500. In the end I decided to paint myself for the experience.

[JC455]

Have you tried calling East Bay Muscle Cars(sorry, it's the only shop I know of in the Bay) to compare their price vs. what you were charged?
To me, it seems like a tech was padding/making up his hours on several labor pieces. I'd argue some of the labor charged- all the ones you scoffed at would be a good place to start. I noticed your car had no front spoiler when it came it, yet you were charged an R&R price. I know what it stands for, but it seems like a lot of 'Book Time' was used vs. what the tech was actually doing.
When I read your first post, and knowing where you are located, I was gonna guestimate about $18,000 out the door.
Good luck with however you handle it- and let it be a lesson for the future

[RA1John]

Not sure what level of quality was put into your resto but, the labor goes up when more attention to factory details is important (concourse resto). Factory spot welds replicated? Gap & flush better than factory? Surface quality & finish flawless?

Also, a shop charging $40 hr. might not have the experience in your pedigree of car. While their work may look nice, a lack of metal, body, paint experience may take them longer than the specialized shop that charges $100 hr.

While metal & bodywork are not that difficult to do especially if you're replacing panels rather than patching/grafting, inexperience = time. Sure, most could do the work themselves but, do you have the time, patience, know-how, shop & tools?

Show-quality painting is an art.
Getting the final body prep just right makes or breaks a shiny paint job.

[TAKerry]

For those that have never done a resto or body work, it indeed can be time consuming. I spent over 3 hrs Saturday just taking the weather strip off and cleaning the channel around the trunk in prep for paint.

[61-63]

The hours stated for the various tasks in post #12 are way over what they should be IMO. About ten or twelve years ago I had a fellow over to install a new trunk pan in a '61 Bonneville and fix other various rust/body panel problems. I watched him do it all and the time it took him was much less than what you were charged for. This guy was an expert and went through the old Bonneville zip pop.

There are just three pictures of what he did.

[lugnutx2]

Originally Posted by 61-63

The hours stated for the various tasks in post #12 are way over what they should be IMO. About ten or twelve years ago I had a fellow over to install a new trunk pan in a '61 Bonneville and fix other various rust/body panel problems. I watched him do it all and the time it took him was much less than what you were charged for. This guy was an expert and went through the old Bonneville zip pop.

There are just three pictures of what he did.

Not to hijack the thread, but can you post a couple of pictures of your Bonneville? Love to see it.

[400 4spd.]

Some of the logic expressed in this thread suggest that all cars and situations are identical. If you apply the same logic to building a 2000 sq. ft. home, all "kinda similar" homes should cost the same to build anywhere. And they should require the same amount of time to build and furnish, regardless of site location and prep, local material and supply costs, labor costs, etc. At any time, even years ago.
Yeah, that's realistic.