[MUSLCAH]

It's so easy now for a car guy to watch some you tube videos ...go to harbor freight for a "quality " spray gun ....watch some episodes of Bitching Rides, Grave yard Cars, The Count....and turn out some awesome paint work in just a few months....What use to take years of apprenticeship to learn...can now be done with a click of a few buttons and paying attention..........

[NeighborsComplaint]

Originally Posted by MPKind

I have a work order on the companies letterhead signed by the owner with a flat fee price and a brief description of work to be performed.

For some reason I don’t think it holds as much weight as one would think. But I’m not a lawyer so I can’t say for sure.

I also have correspondence via text and a letter reiterating the work to be performed and any extras I wanted.

Much better than your word against his if you opt for small claims court. You will also need documentation of your protests over how long the process was taking. The body shop will say you never complained and they assumed there was no urgency to finish. A decent judge will find in your favor since no one expects to wait for 2 years for paint work.

The important part is to get your car first and worry about the money afterward.

[dataway]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

It's so easy now for a car guy to watch some you tube videos ...go to harbor freight for a "quality " spray gun ....watch some episodes of Bitching Rides, Grave yard Cars, The Count....and turn out some awesome paint work in just a few months....What use to take years of apprenticeship to learn...can now be done with a click of a few buttons and paying attention..........

Yeah... isn't that cool ! Gotta love technology.

And also these days so easy for thousands of fly by night, 8th grade education, cocaine problem, bankrupt, "worked for a guy that painted cars" for ten years but now owners of paint shops to totally rip people off with a few clicks of buttons and an internet account.

So I guess it evens out in the end. Reasonably intelligent, diligent car owners painting their own cars. And a few quality, honest paint shops still around.

[tooski]

I did body n paint on a couple of cars I flipped in the early 80's. I found some of the work painfully tedious and time consuming and my time turned out to be unprofitable,so I stopped.. Looking at the different procedures today, looks like the time and effort would be increased. However, I am seriously thinking of diy my projects because they will be done in less than 'paint jail' time.

[Will]

I simply don't have the time or inclination to do body work. My car needs a little rust repair and a long shallow dent fixed. I don't own a welder, don't have a heated, well ventilated garage either. What I do have is a savings account that's just about to the point of being able to pay someone who does this stuff for a living to do a good job. Now I just need to find that person...

[1966geeto]

The body shop graveyard they had mine for 2 years 3 shops later and extra 5k mine came out exactly as I visioned it.

[nogto]

With apologies to Tom Petty, the waiting is the second hardest part. Finding a good and trustworthy body man is the hardest part. It took forever to get my project in the shop for paint and body work. My paint guy was an independent businessman who worked in his home shop. He insisted on taking only one project at a time. Although it was a long waiting list before starting, once it was in, it was off the frame and back on with paint in 3 weeks.

However, we agreed to wait to paint the front clip while I installed the engine and front end parts. Meanwhile, he would work on other projects until I was finished. Long story, and many projects in between, he would have my front clip and trunk lid for another three years. When I finally got the front clip back, I had to install and align it myself. Later I realized the front fenders and doors were not a perfect Matador Red color match. It is not easy to see in person, but it really shows in side view photos. Three year old paint, poor mixing, different spray pattern? I don't know what happened. But he told me up front not to expect a flawless concours finish unless I wanted to pay a lot more. Otherwise he did a very good job on the bodywork considering the car had hidden body damage on every panel. I have briefly considered having it repainted, but I don't want to go through that ordeal again. I just want to drive and enjoy my car.

I did most of the rest of the restoration work myself in my garage before and after paint. There was plenty to do in between checking on his schedule.
At least I had most of the car in my possession for the four or five years it took to get the body work finished. The whole project is going on ten years now, though I have been driving it for the past two years. I cannot imagine trusting someone to do an entire restoration from beginning to end including mechanical, electrical, interior, etc. The suspense and drama would drive me crazier than I am now.

[MPKind]

It's finally back home. Only cost me part of a weekend, $450 for 63 gallons of gas, lodging and meals. It's worse than when I gave it to him 3.5 years ago. Oh sure, it was stripped, primed and the rear quarters and doors were worked over, but that's it....and so long ago that anyone that picks up where left off may insist on re-stripping it to see what kind of crap is under the primer. So sad. I have to clean and/or refinish the drivetrain, frame and steering parts. Flash rust, dirt, overspray...A lot of money for nothing, lost time, trashed things that were already done and nice. I'm beside myself...this happens way to often to many people wanting a car painted. Save your cash and have a long standing shop that's within an hour's drive. I tried to save a few bucks and I got f***ed...hard.

[73LeMans]

Im real sorry to hear this man. Glad the car is back where it belongs. Its these apples that give all shops a bad rep!

[marxjunk]

I'm glad ya got it back..it could have ended so much worse

[68 461 Bird]

Wow, you waited another year to get it?

[Goatracer1]

Been there done that! Sent my son's car to a highly respected painted about an hour away. Several weeks later I got a phone call that the car was sitting outside and the painter had been arrested for threatening a police officer with a gun. Found a second also highly respected painter also about an hour away. He called one day and said he was up to the agreed upon amount and wanted more $$$$. I went to check out the car and found he had removed all the panels my son and I had installed and welded them in WRONG. Luckily we found a young guy with a 1967 GTO he had restored himself and he finished the car. He was 5 minutes from my house.

[dataway]

An excellent option is to touch base with local car clubs. Find the local guy who is doing paint for them, probably a club member. Not talking "show" quality stuff, just basic good paint job.
Around here, out in the sticks, there a tons of people that will put on a decent, better than driver, worse than show paint job for a few thousand. Of course that's doesn't mean patch panels, body work etc. Just a quality prime, paint, buff.

[Stuart]

I'll quote myself from last year...this place is a couple hours south of the Cities if you're willing to wait a while before dropping it off.

Originally Posted by Stuart

For future reference, for anyone in the Minnesota / Wisconsin / Iowa area looking for a good shop to work with I had a great experience with these guys: http://www.bremsethbodyshop.com A father and his son run the place; they're in Wykoff down in SE Minnesota so they're kind of off the map, but they work on anything from old farm trucks to Rolls-Royces. They restored my 1986 BMW M535i a few years back, there's a picture of it at the bottom of their projects page. Their pricing was fair, they worked on the car pretty steady and sent me weekly updates with pictures, and their dedication to making sure the work was done right was great. The only thing was it took nearly 18 months from when we shook hands until they were actually able to get the car in and start working on it but that was fine since I still had the car and it wasn't trapped in paint jail.

Like I said the waiting list to get in the door is pretty long, but at least your car will remain in your possession and no money will change hands until they're ready to work on it. Once it's in their shop they'll go ahead and get the job done.

[Dens71TA]

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Actually I deep sixed all of his Darksider T-shirts. Ended up having to redo everything. What was done couldn't even be wet sanded with 1500 grit without hitting primer in about 30 seconds. Some of the paint literally blew off with an air chuck. Noticed afterwards that the windshield got hit with a grinder which was a nice bonus ...

I'll never buy or paint an old car again. When everything is gone I'm out of this hobby for good.

[dataway]

I think for 90% of us mortals it needs to be a DIY hobby. The upper crust has the money and time for expensive paint and the like, the rest of us will probably be painting our cars in the barn like back in the day. 90% (or more) of us have cars that aren't rare and valuable enough to spend gobs of money painting anyway. I always figured a $3500 car in the 1960s doesn't need a $20,000 paint job in the present day ( again excluding the rare elite that must appeal to rare and elite buyers).

I've always been a "ten foot" guy ... cause I figure the vast majority of people that see it will be at least that far away

[TAKerry]

Originally Posted by dataway

I think for 90% of us mortals it needs to be a DIY hobby. The upper crust has the money and time for expensive paint and the like, the rest of us will probably be painting our cars in the barn like back in the day. 90% (or more) of us have cars that aren't rare and valuable enough to spend gobs of money painting anyway. I always figured a $3500 car in the 1960s doesn't need a $20,000 paint job in the present day ( again excluding the rare elite that must appeal to rare and elite buyers).

I've always been a "ten foot" guy ... cause I figure the vast majority of people that see it will be at least that far away

I have to agree. I had plenty of experience waving a spray gun around, all on high end furniture work spraying lacquer. SO, when it came time to painting my car I figured what the heck. It turned out really good IMO, and seems to be above average at most of the shows I go to. Of course there are always those with the high dollar paint jobs that are outstanding. Mine is good enough for me and I only moderately worry when I drive it! I am starting to lay down some paint on my next project now and its going better than expected.

[Sidponcho]

Dropped mine off 2 weeks ago. It's 15 minutes away. We have set milestones and deadlines. We shall see.

[MUSLCAH]

Hey...I’ve been painting cars for ovah 40 years.....so I said to myself....if I can paint a car,I should be able to paint with a brush too !

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

Attachment 510809Hey...I’ve been painting cars for ovah 40 years.....so I said to myself....if I can paint a car,I should be able to paint with a brush too !

Not bad. Did you use a Mack brush?