Personal question about cars.

I know around here you can buy retired cabs for dirt cheap.. they recently upped the cost of them to include repainting, it came to about $250... so says Neothespian anyway, if you send him a PM he can probably fill you in on more info.

Well, the Crown Vics we have here in Phoenix average about $750 from two different cab companies, and the $250 was the cost of the paintjob on top of the $500 base price for a retired cab. Granted, they are probably in far worse shape than your Vic since they have at LEAST 300,000 miles on them! They're a good beater car with a pretty paintjob but that's about what you get.

I say a basic Earl Sheib job should be around the same price. Granted don't expect quality. A good paintjob will START at $600 in order to get a base coat/clearcoat 3 layer going on.

All these quotes seem very, very, VERY low. Quotes to change colors on one of our shop demo/show cars were in the thousands with us doing most of the prep.

For less than a thousand, you'll be making the car silver but not doing it in a pretty manner. Sounds like you could expect a Maaco special that probably won't be the most long-lasting or continue the color into the door jambs, underhood and trunk.

The best way is to take the car around to shops nearby and have them give you a quote...anything less than $500, though, and you can expect no prep work and maybe 1 layer of clear coat on it...

Had a guy come in to my old job one day a few months after getting a Maaco paint job...paint was chipping off, they filled all the dents with bondo that was cracking and falling out, etc...

You live in Texas, just drive it down to Mexico and have it painted. While your at it get the windows tented too. Just be sure to bring your Passport or at least you birth certificate and a photo ID for CBP when you come back.

Sounds like you could expect a Maaco special that probably won't be the most long-lasting or continue the color into the door jambs, underhood and trunk.

Click to expand...

I read that as "Maaso Special".

Poor guy.

Paint is all about the prep work. For something halfway decent, expect to spend around $1500 and do a lot of the prep yourself. Car Craft has published a pile of articles recently about doing body work. You can read a lot of them on their website for free.

I would recommend getting a few quotes in your area based on you doing a lot of the disassembly and prep work. Even a cheap Maaco paint job can come out looking really good if the prep work is done right. I would recommend getting base coat followed by several coats of clear that you could wet sand and buff yourself to really bring out the shine.

Don't go to Maaco,had them put a fender on,they put a huge dent in it.They also lost someones car while I was there.Been years ago, but still.I would contact the BBB to see if the place your chosing has a record of complaints.

well I was a paint and body man for 30 years, and can say that for good paint it will cost at lest 400 bucks. I just painted my sons car and it was a small car and the material was over 500 bucks so if you want a good job it will cost you.

i have about 50 in mine so far including pizza and beer, and another 85 for the paint and reducer that im still waiting to put on, if the body is in good shape you could attempt it yourself, since your in my area i can tell you wait till after the spring storms. you could call the local high school, trade schools, and colleges and see if they have a paint shop, i know when i was in body shop in high school we did 'customer cars' to offset the price of supplies for school projects.

also you COULD check auto zone or other local supplier, duplicolor has whats supposed to be an easy 2 stage process with no reducing or mixing.

as far as local shops go, figure a quick spray n go 10 foot paint job for 500 or so(will look good till you get closer then 10 foot) a grand will get you a decent job although might not incluse door jambs etc, and thats assuming little to no body work, and the paint is good enough to not have to sand to bare metal.