[codyyy]

I have never had a car painted. I do not think I can tackle this myself as far as the paint goes. I could prep it myself and take all the trim off. I'd like to know what to do before asking for quotes and where to go.

This will be a driver so single stage paint would probably do fine. However this car will need to be two tone; the area inside the trim is white and I plan to have the top white as well. It is a '61 Star Chief.

Will it make that much of a difference money wise if I was to prep it myself? I'm mainly planning that just to make sure it is ready for the painter to paint and minimal prep would be needed. I don't plan to strip it to bare metal but I need to patch the doors.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated, I don't know where to take the car and I don't want to get hosed. I'm also trying to figure out if I should take it to a place like Maaco or if I should go to a local paint shop. This won't be a trailer queen but I don't want the paint to fail after a year either. Thanks.

[Dstransam]

If you don't want paint failure stay away from maaco.
also, painting a car is very tedious, and a lot of things have to happen to get a quality job, I would recommend a book b4 you start.
maybe this one. https://www.amazon.com/SATA-Paint-Fi...+body+painting

[400 4spd.]

I would suggest that you visit shops you feel will give you a quality paint job. Then ask them if they will paint a car prepped by yourself. That may be the deal breaker for a few reasons.
Many shops will not shoot an owner prepped car because it might not be prepped to the standards of the shop. Who covers a paint adhesion failure when they did not sand the car?
Then there is the appearance factor. Will it look like a shiny bag of walnuts that the shop gets blamed for?
Owner - "Yeah, I know the body work looks bad. I had it done at A-1 Restoration Shop. They hosed me."
-or-
Owner - "Yeah, I know the body work looks bad. I did it myself."

As a shop owner I've learned that whenever a person asks "Who painted it?", they assume the whole job was done at the same place. You can have a perfect body with bad paint, or a bad body with perfect paint, and the average guy only sees the paint.
I welcome any car owner who wants to have a hand in the process. If the owner removes bumpers and trim to save money, he puts it back on when I give the car back. I've actually had guys tell me they want me to put the trim on because if it gets scratched by them doing it, they have to pay to have it fixed. In other words, how about if I save money pulling parts, but you assume the loss when you find out they don't fit.

[AZ64GP]

Originally Posted by codyyy

I have never had a car painted. I do not think I can tackle this myself as far as the paint goes. I could prep it myself and take all the trim off. I'd like to know what to do before asking for quotes and where to go.

This will be a driver so single stage paint would probably do fine. However this car will need to be two tone; the area inside the trim is white and I plan to have the top white as well. It is a '61 Star Chief.

Will it make that much of a difference money wise if I was to prep it myself? I'm mainly planning that just to make sure it is ready for the painter to paint and minimal prep would be needed. I don't plan to strip it to bare metal but I need to patch the doors.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated, I don't know where to take the car and I don't want to get hosed. I'm also trying to figure out if I should take it to a place like Maaco or if I should go to a local paint shop. This won't be a trailer queen but I don't want the paint to fail after a year either. Thanks.

Muscle Car Review magazine in their April issue (I think it's on newsstands now) devoted their issue to body work items and how to hire a painter for a classic car. I won't reiterate every point in the article on how to find a paint shop, but it's all good advice. If you can get your hands on an issue, it's a worthwhile read.

[codyyy]

Originally Posted by 400 4spd.

I would suggest that you visit shops you feel will give you a quality paint job. Then ask them if they will paint a car prepped by yourself. That may be the deal breaker for a few reasons.
Many shops will not shoot an owner prepped car because it might not be prepped to the standards of the shop. Who covers a paint adhesion failure when they did not sand the car?
Then there is the appearance factor. Will it look like a shiny bag of walnuts that the shop gets blamed for?
Owner - "Yeah, I know the body work looks bad. I had it done at A-1 Restoration Shop. They hosed me."
-or-
Owner - "Yeah, I know the body work looks bad. I did it myself."

As a shop owner I've learned that whenever a person asks "Who painted it?", they assume the whole job was done at the same place. You can have a perfect body with bad paint, or a bad body with perfect paint, and the average guy only sees the paint.
I welcome any car owner who wants to have a hand in the process. If the owner removes bumpers and trim to save money, he puts it back on when I give the car back. I've actually had guys tell me they want me to put the trim on because if it gets scratched by them doing it, they have to pay to have it fixed. In other words, how about if I save money pulling parts, but you assume the loss when you find out they don't fit.

That makes sense, I don't mind prep work being done just because I know I won't be as good as a pro. I am planning on taking all the trim off myself to save any confusion. I used to sell classic auto parts and for whatever reason people take their cars down to Mexico for a paint job with the trim still on the car, and came to me wanting to buy it when it got lost.
The prep work I plan on doing is just patching the doors now. After considering where I am, I don't have a good area to sand out two coats of paint with a D.A. anyway. Thanks.

[dhcarguy]

My advice... from someone who has never painted a car..... Do not paint a car if you want to be really proud of the final product.

[Greg Reid]

I've seen some pretty good and at least one very good paint job from Maaco but from what I've been told by the owners, it has to be an exceptional individual location first of all and second, you have to have the body right yourself before you get it there. One of the guys was GTOJohn on this site. The really sharp black '69 GTO was done at Maaco. That was the very good one.

[Greg Reid]

I found a pic of GTOJohn's '69 painted at Maaco.

[62cat]

Maaco is not a bad choice. Just make sure you take it to the right one. They are privately owned and some do better work than others.

[1965gp]

I agree 100%. Had a friend that owned a Maaco and I bet he painted 10-12 cars for me. All with good results. But- not all locations can do this.

Like others have said most shops don't want to spray over your work- but removing trim, bumpers, lights make life a lot easier for you and them.

Do your research and set a timetable. Paint jail is a real thing!!

Consider base clear especially if it is a dark or metallic color.

Body shops seem to slow down Dec-Feb. I dropped a car off at his shop every October for him to work on as time allows.

Here is my wife's TA painted at Maaco which included new quarters and new metal in the doors and lower fenders:

[JG'SGTO]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

I agree 100%. Had a friend that owned a Maaco and I bet he painted 10-12 cars for me. All with good results. But- not all locations can do this.

Like others have said most shops don't want to spray over your work- but removing trim, bumpers, lights make life a lot easier for you and them.

Do your research and set a timetable. Paint jail is a real thing!!

Consider base clear especially if it is a dark or metallic color.

Body shops seem to slow down Dec-Feb. I dropped a car off at his shop every October for him to work on as time allows.

Here is my wife's TA painted at Maaco which included new quarters and new metal in the doors and lower fenders:

This looks great!