[njsteve]

Larry,
Sadly a lot of the costs (in my experience) were due to the car(s) being sentenced to "body shop prison" where a car that seemingly needs little, was nickle and dimed by the hour, year after year like the bodyman was my salaried employee. There was over 50k into the body on the 72 T/A and you all witnessed what it needed and what it went through.

You may be able to get it done with a large percentage of your own sweat equity since are experienced at body/paint work. Also keep in mind how expensive paint and material have become. Even with all your work, I still think you're looking at $15-20k.

Are you going to strip off the existing finish? That's a bunch of labor hours right there. The real major labor involved is the difference in the body when it comes to dead-on straightness and panel gap from panel to panel. You can spend months just block sanding to get the body lines perfect. A major body faux pas on these cars is the subtle lower body line that a lot of the "get 'er done" body guys with no F body experience, completely eradicate when they bondo over it and make it flat.

Paint it in single stage. Dont do a clear coat- I like the original type finish where the car shines but is not super glossy like a modern car.

You are painting it for me, right? :-)