23 replies to this topic

[Johno]

Hi, I have a pretty straight, minimal rust (that I can tell) LX Torana SLR 5000 replica.

The paint is about 20 years old.

I know cost for panel and paint depends on the state of the car, but assuming there are no gremlins in the car, how much am I looking at for a good street level paint job with rust properly removed?

Cheers

[73SUNBURSTEXYOUWON]

How deep are ya pockets. Whats ya budget. How much can you do yourself. Be prepared for $20k+

[LXCHEV]

I'm not in the loop at all these days, but from listening to some mates in recent times - bank on a solid 15k minimum for a decent respray (assuming only basic repairs/tidy up) - at a reputable shop.

 

I know someone else who just went a bit over 30k for a pristine job on an early Holden (including under-carriage).

 

Your best bet is to go and speak with a few panel shops in your area and get some real quotes.

[Redslur]

I just had my HQ top coat resprayed with some small rust repairs. It was 12k.

[Heath]

I did all of my rust repairs, all of my dis-assembly and assembly, all of my gapping panels, all of the work getting the fibreglass products fitted and fitting well, and the majority of the hours of bog work.

I stripped all the paint, epoxied everything, did heaps of filler work (not perfect, but let's say 80% closer to straight), then epoxied again, then high filled. Then delivered the car.

 

The guy who I got to do the final bits of bodywork, and paint it, was doing it as a cashy from his folks' workshop at a pretty modest rate, and rented a booth off his boss very cost-effectively, and I still spent over $10k with him, and I was helping him basically the whole time as well.

 

Plus a few more grand in products (De Beer clear over base paint set with 2 colours, Epotec epoxy kit, 2x high fill kits, etc.) 

 

And my car's paint isn't amazingly good or anything. It's reasonably good.

 

Labour costs a lot; I don't want to imagine how much it would have cost if I just gave a panel shop an unprepared car.

[hanra]

in 2000/2001, I had my little red cute car taken back to bare metal, very minor rust repairs/body work needed. 2 pac solid. The shop had the car for 12 months. 

 

Final bill was $8000. That was pretty expensive for a little cute car back in the day. 

[rexy]

I did all of my rust repairs, all of my dis-assembly and assembly, all of my gapping panels, all of the work getting the fibreglass products fitted and fitting well, and the majority of the hours of bog work.

I stripped all the paint, epoxied everything, did heaps of filler work (not perfect, but let's say 80% closer to straight), then epoxied again, then high filled. Then delivered the car.

 

The guy who I got to do the final bits of bodywork, and paint it, was doing it as a cashy from his folks' workshop at a pretty modest rate, and rented a booth off his boss very cost-effectively, and I still spent over $10k with him, and I was helping him basically the whole time as well.

 

Plus a few more grand in products (De Beer clear over base paint set with 2 colours, Epotec epoxy kit, 2x high fill kits, etc.) 

 

And my car's paint isn't amazingly good or anything. It's reasonably good.

 

Labour costs a lot; I don't want to imagine how much it would have cost if I just gave a panel shop an unprepared car.

 

Hi Heath, do you have an estimate of how many hours you spent yourself on the paint prep side?

[Heath]

Comfortably more than 500 hours, haha.

 

One hour of my time is on average a lot less effective than one hour of a professional's work, I would say.

There are some jobs that just take an amount of time irrespective of who's doing it.

There are other jobs however, that I probably re-worked a few times and still didn't get right, so that time is very inefficiently used.

[rexy]

So even if we assume you are only half as productive as the paid worker (which I doubt!) that’s at least 20K in labour….

[tuxedoss]

I spent years on my hatch , doing all the rust repairs and did a pretty good job . But when it came to the finer details of getting panels straight and aligned and gaps I spent days on stuff .I’ve now handed it over to a pro and like Heath says , he’s fixed stuff in a couple of hours that I tried for days to get right. It’s going to cost a fair bit by the time it’s painted but the finished product is amazing . Every panel is now dead straight and gaps perfect . Even the hatch sits perfect with a new rubber . I probably should have given it to him years ago and saved myself a lot of grief

[Hatchback13]

Body and paint is such a can of worms, how much you strip the car how much shows up along the way. I know of shops that do cheap resprays and yes they are but that is what people want sometimes, not everyone is capable of a $100k job. Do a bit of research locally and ask around, sometimes cashies are good too if you can find the right person. 10-20 should be pretty basic and then go from there I guess, hourly rates are good, at least you pay for the work they do, maybe with a ball park final figure to give you an idea.  Good luck. 

[myss427]

I repainted mine in 2016 (4th time in 25 years) in House of colour Tangelo, 3 step translucent candy paint. The paint required the car to be arrow straight and a base coat of white to get the clean orange colour I liked, all up it took me 6 months of stripping aligning and it felt like years of sanding and filling before I could put colour on. In the end it came out pretty good for a double garage no spray booth job, but if I had to pay for the work done, it would have cost 10's of thousands. Most people until you restore a car don't understand how many hours in prep work before paint, then after the car is done, all the extras that need to painted, suspension, driveline, brackets and countless small parts, then fit-up without damaging things. I could go on, but it all comes down to what level you are after. The amount of paint jobs I have done on mates cars in the last 10 years, everyone say's they don't want a show car job, but by the time I finish all the extra request along the way they end up with almost show car jobs that take 6 -12 months to do. Basically every one wants a quick perfect job that is cheap, time is the problem, quick is cheap, long time, better job more money!

[Mikehunt2022]

Ok so yes it really depends on how good the car is plus also how far you want to go with it.

 

Like for eg. Do you want to cut visible rust and basically paint over what you cant see or do you want to strip the whole car back and blast it. (obviously this is the most expensive but best way to do it)

 

I've heard of people charging $100 an hour plus materials lately so as a panel beater/painter I'd say easily your starting budget would be 30k

[MRLXSS]

I do a fair bit of work with panel shops these days and 20K seems to be about the median price for a good quality job. That's not a show quality finish, expect to pay well upwards of that ($100K + for what you see win the awards and the big car events!)

 

It all comes down to the condition of the car, how many repairs may be required and also your expected lead time. Every painter/panel shop I deal with are FLAT OUT and trying to look for skilled workers, which means they have to pay well for the good ones which is of course then reflected in the overall price.

[Johno]

Thanks for the replies everyone, some good information here. Hoping to get away with 20k - 30k but we'll see what they find during the process I guess.

[MFM]

There as so many considerations that need to be factored in when making this determination. As an extreme example, if you own a classic OZ muscle car (with most of its desirable attributes still intact - original tags/engine etc etc)  and you bought it more than 5-10 years ago, then if you can afford it, it might be worth spending the high end $ on restoring it as you are likely going to recoup the expense immediately (if you sell it). The average OZ classics which most people can afford to buy, then I am not so sure if you would be spending 50k plus on a restoration unless you pick it up cheap in the 1st instance, but then lots do and enjoy the journey. Everything hinges on how much $ you want to spend.

I've been watching the series on the XU1 restoration ATM (Big Truck Parts Australia) and I'd love to know the end cost to restore that car body by that father & son team, as in my opinion it needs lots of work. My guess would be 100K. 

Edited by MFM, 06 October 2022 - 07:31 PM.

[Ice]

Mate of mine is spending 100 K on panel and paint on an XAGT 

very rusty body 

[Johno]

Ice, can you define "very rusty body"?

 

I look at mine sometimes and while it doesnt look too bad, I do wonder what's under the paint. And perhaps the small rust bubbles are something bigger under it ect.

[Ice]

Ice, can you define "very rusty body"?

 

I look at mine sometimes and while it doesnt look too bad, I do wonder what's under the paint. And perhaps the small rust bubbles are something bigger under it ect.

This XA GT is Swiss cheese rusty if you know what i mean not a panel on the body has not got rust 

[Johno]

Yea right. I’m hoping mines more like a solid block of cheddar cheese.

[MFM]

This is another 'unknown' dilemma faced by classic car owners considering a resto, particularly if you watch the XU1 restoration blog. That car looked great at the beginning (as far as can be seen on TV) nice and shiny until they started to grind. Heavy bog!!!!. If you do decide to do a resto and encounter issues as can be seen on this blog, it could double the cost of the resto. 

[Johno]

Is there an argument there then that bog isn’t so bad then 😂

[Bruiser]

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Spot filler

[arrimar]

[if you own a classic OZ muscle car (with most of its desirable attributes still intact - original tags/engine etc etc) and you bought it more than 5-10 years ago, then if you can afford it, it might be worth spending the high end $ on restoring it as you are likely going to recoup the expense immediately (if you sell it).]

Better off leaving it as-is if it's about profit.

The time lost having a car off the road then being annoyed that someone walked within two feet of it isn't worth the trouble.

Old cars are more appealing to a lot of people when they present as old cars.