Realistic paint cost

[Bearwolf]

I'm in SE Wisconsin. I called several places and got alot of quotes for $10k-$15k without the guys even looking at the car. Eventually a guy with a body shop who previously quoted me $10,000 stopped by and looked at the car. I already did all of the rough work myself and everything was taken off of the body. He gave me a much more realistic quote of $3,500-$4,000. He seemed really disinterested in the job though. In the end I sent the car over to a friend of a friend who used to do bodywork at a dealership but is currently out iof work. They initially said about $3,000 but shortly after starting said they might have to ask for a little more, $3,500, I didn't hesitate to say okay. I know a lot of people may be hesitant to take the this route but if the quality isn't 100% I'll just get it done better next time around. I planning on driving this car hard, really beating the hell out of it, so I didn't want to spend $10,000 on paint just to mess it up at the track and stone chip the heck out of it anyway.

[RUFdriver]

10-15k is about right for a high quality paint job on a Cobra, it’s the prep work on the fiberglass that eats up the labor. Then if you want special colors and quality stripes it’s gonna be a even more.
Another option is a wrap, but you still have to do all of the prep work, even the best fiberglass bodies need a lot of work.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by John248

Hello all,

I need a little advice, direction, opinions, in general….help with the painting of my car. First off, it a 2019 Shell Valley and the body is gel coated fiberglass. I finished the build in December of 2020 and I have been driving it around proudly in its primered glory. I did a moderate amount of body work (sanded off the body mold lines, filled pin holes, adjusted some gap issues and filled in minor imperfections in the body) and used rattle can primer to at least clean up my work. I’m looking a getting it painted in October/November and plan on going Monza Red, no stripe.

I started calling around to various (some recommended) body and paint shops in the area to get estimates. Some painters gave me a “rough estimate” over the phone because they had painted Cobras in the past and a couple have given me estimates in person. So far the range is: a low of $18,000 (he said it was a family discount) and would take 11 months to complete, a mid estimate of $25,000 for a “decent” paint job, all the way to $50,000 for a “show quality” done in 4 months easy.

I know paint, supplies and time are expensive but are these costs out of whack ? I had budgeted about $10,000 for a good quality paint job and I know you get what you pay for but this is a head scratcher. I plan on driving it a lot (like I do now) so it’s not going into any car shows for awards.

Thanks for your help

John

John,

Perhaps it is the type of shop you are asking for quotes.

Have you taken the car to any of them so they can lay the hands and eyes on it up close and in person?

Are you using shops that typically deal in insurance work, hot rods, or high end (IE: Porsche/Ferrari/Mercedes/etc)?

A single color, very little to no metallic or pearls, without stripes, should easily be under $10,000. Forget about those that say red is more expensive, Monza red does not have an exotic components in the mix.

I'd be curious to the type of shop, and whether they have personally see the car.

Bill S.
Retired body shop owner

[John248]

The 3 prices quoted were direct contacts. The two higher priced guys kept referring to fiberglass being harder to work than metal. One said that he would need to completely cover the car in a skim coat of bondo, then sand it down to smooth finish. Multiple gallons of primer, multiple gallons of red, followed by at least 2 gallons of clear. One guy lectured me about doing some of the work myself (sanding down the body lines, rounding over some of the square edges, working some hood and door gaps so they were more consistent). He said he would have to undo all the work and start from scratch.
The two higher priced guys operate their own custom body/paint shops. The lesser of the 3, is a retired body/paint guy operating out of his home shop.
At this point, I’m going to talk to one or two more guys then decide which direction to head. I may go the route of stripping the car down myself during the winter and working the body myself.

[John248]

Here are some pics of my car as it sits today.

[mrmustang]

Doing your own bodywork, then burying it under primer is a body shop owners worst nightmare. Your pictures do not help, as you actually need to lay your hands on the body up close and in person to "feel" the body. I used to make people laugh when I would actually turn my head away from the car, then take a paper towel in my hands, and run my hands across their cars body, especially where they did their own work. I would then have them do the same, so they could feel what I did. In your case, if it was me, I'd not be going to the high end shops for this one. Instead find yourself a well established, local shop, that is not in the insurance network. I say this as not all shops like to work on overall paint jobs, as they make more on the spot work. Also a lot of shops will want to redo your work to make certain it was done correctly. I'd never warranty workmanship on someone elses work, I suspect nobody else will either.

Bill

[HealeyRick]

Don't know if you have any vocational/technical schools in your area that offer adult education auto body classes, but you could probably do a lot of the prep work and even the final coats under supervision of the instructor, who is generally an experienced body shop owner. I did my Healey this way and then had a pro shoot the color coats as I didn't want to chance tiger-striping the metallic ice blue after all the sweat equity I put into the prep work. It won't be a perfect $50k job, but there's a lot of satisfaction in doing so much of it yourself.

[Unique427]

Originally Posted by RUFdriver

10-15k is about right for a high quality paint job on a Cobra, it’s the prep work on the fiberglass that eats up the labor. Then if you want special colors and quality stripes it’s gonna be a even more.
Another option is a wrap, but you still have to do all of the prep work, even the best fiberglass bodies need a lot of work.

Recently at a car meet, someone was describing a process where the shop
performs paint correction, does a clear wrap then ceramic coats the wrap.
I don't know enough if this is good, bad or BS. His description was quite
detailed.

Of the comments I received from paint shop owners at car meets, painting a
Cobra seems to fall in the 15-20K range with the nominal about 18K. If the
base color is black it will be on the higher side. Geographical location and
shop reputation are also price influencers.

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Some of these shops see or hear you have a Cobra and think you are made of money. Keep clear of them. Find a retired Body & paint guy who has access to a paint booth, buy your supplies from Eastwood and go from there. You should get away with maybe 3k at the most, maybe less. Good luck.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

To repaint my CSX to a different color the numbers were 20-50K. McClusky was 50K and I suspect to get the quality of work from the others they would have been the same. He also would remove all the old paint and he might have even been going to take the body off the frame. This was in 2009 so no doubt it's gone up.

I forgot to mention my car was one of the shelby carbon fiber cars

Also sometimes when you get an atrocious high number it's because they don't want to be bothered

[KarlzEE Bebout]

I found several recommendations through YELP. I chose shops that had many reviews and read through those reviews before taking the car for a hands-on look see. I'm taking the car in on 6/21 to a large shop that estimated 1-2 week turn around. Now...we'll see. Fortunately, I'm not in a rush since our 190° summer weather is not conducive to much driving

[Blue66]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Also sometimes when you get an atrocious high number it's because they don't want to be bothered

Then if you have them do it it ends up in bodyshop jail. Back in 1975 my original 427 went to 3 different body shops for a year at a time. Was a conversation piece. Hard to do custom work if ya have ins work. Wam Bam and it's out the door an $$$ keeps flowing

[67sn8ke]

John248,

Shell Valley will paint your car for around $6000 plus the shipping cost, but it beats spending 15-18 grand. I talked to Dana awhile back and thats the price he gave me. I ended up finding a local guy to paint my car for $5000 and it turned out very nice.

[xlr8or]

Definitely look up Jeff Miller, aka Da Bat.
He has painted hundreds of cobras..

[panteralee]

I had my Pantera painted by a local shop. I stripped it down and gave them a car ready to finish and paint. The finish is a quality job and met my criteria and cost $4K. I don't know what a "show quality" job would be unless they are referring to a Pebble Beach concours investment. Seems absurd. Think about this, the originals were probably painted for $500. I saw on the GT40 forum where someone paid $40K to have a replica painted and was bragging about the museum quality of the job. I guess to each their own on how to spend your hard earned cash.

[John248]

Thanks all for the opinions and tips. I am of the opinion that the high priced guys simply didn’t want to job, so they gave me outrageous pricing to make me go away. I have other options I’m looking into including painters in Northern and Southern California.

Thanks again
John

[legenmetals]

[legenmetals]

Check with Bob Lubke at So/Cal Paintworks in Santee Ca.

[KarlzEE Bebout]

I know two people in AZ who have taken their cars to Ken Pike in Yuba City. He's literally done dozens of Cobras, puts out good quality, and is reasonably priced. One guy has even had his car done by Ken, at least three times. Originally, then after two different "mishaps". It's my understanding that Ken pulls the bodies off the frame and does a super-thorough job. 530-671-7250 That's about a 4 hour drive for you, but MAY save you a nice chunk of change.

[Chicagowil]

My final comment on paint is if you go to a Vette shop- they get people who want to spend lots of money because they think that have "something Special"

My uncle,"rest his sole", painted Hot Rod show cars that appeared at the Oakland Roadster Show back in the 50's & 60"s. His specialty was candy colors and metalflake. He finally quite even though any of his paint jobs want best of show He said he could not charge enough to really get that quality paint job and could not support a new wife & child So he went to managing body shops and being in the union for benefits Died of Leukemia 1 yr after he retired.

So the shops doing "show quality" paint are trying to cover all of those added costs.

And the air quality regs for body shops date bake over 20 yrs now.

Thom