Paint and body work project log.

[93rev2sev]

Or any owner that obviously likes his old car enough to go to a reputable body shop for a paint quote...

They looked at my car (which is totally rust free i might add) and told me to go to Maaco.

I told em to go to **** in cloud of smoke. How insulting.

The kicker?

There are 3 other body shops on that one half mile stretch of road.

In THIS economy...I have a body shop willing to tell me to go to maaco. my head is spinning.

 

[SHO_ROLLER_2]

So did you go to Maaco yet?

 

[elarm1]

You went to one out of how many on that stretch of road? F him and go to another one that wouldn't mind doing business with you

 

[93rev2sev]

You went to one out of how many on that stretch of road? F him and go to another one that wouldn't mind doing business with you

You bet your a55 I will. And I'll go back when it's done and tell em I happily gave my money to their next door neighbor/competitor.

 

[93rev2sev]

I mean...I can literally SEE 3 other body shops from their parking lot.

 

[sperold]

When I went to get my car painted (also rust free, no dints or damage), I got 2 quotes:
Shop 1 $2850.00
Shop 2 $ 800.00
The guy who told you to go to Maaco only does insurance work (same as my Shop 1).
I got it done at Shop 2 and it turned out great.
Snoop around and find out where the used car lots get their painting done.
Keep looking.

 

[Eric VerValin]

yea thats kinda like up here... there is a place that does a LOT of insurance work... they were telling me on my 92 numbers north of $3,000 and even then, no warranty against rust or anything...

 

[sperold]

The 3 other shops on the same road will give you the same story.... they are all in it together.
And, if after that insult, you did get one of them to do it, they would put their first year apprentice on it and it would come out a botch job no matter how much you paid.
Do the snoop around thing, and be prepared to drive it a little ways out of your zone.

 

[tardboy21]

Most body shops love insurance work, and only insurance work. I use to have an El Camino which started to rust out behind the rear wheels. At the time I wanted to fix it up, not to car show award winning quality, but to be a respectable vehicle and a nice Sunday cruiser. I had taken all the chrome trim off myself, purchased to new full rear quarters, took it to 5 body shops, offered to pay cash up front, all the same response, NO.
It didn't even get to the point where price was an issue, because they wouldn't give me any figures. The last shop I took it too said they would at least mount the rear panels (and it was a respectable shop). Gave them my number and stopped in a couple times, never heard from them, and 4-5 months later they closed up. Go figure...

Anyway, good luck with your search. In my case the car ended up sitting for 5 years until I eventually decided to sell it last fall.

 

[green95]

You would think that they would be willing to do anything to get business. I took my 100% rust free SHO to the Ford dealer I worked at and they wanted $3,000 and a month to do it! Thats with my employee discount! My friend referred me to a guy that has his shop at his house and quoted me $2500 to repaint the whole car, repaint all the black trim back to black, repair two small dings, and fix the crack in my bumper. Can do it in 5 days and his work looks like glass. Its going there in July.

 

[93rev2sev]

$3000 and a month for completion...I would not have put a shocked look on my face had they told me that.

And ya, you WOULD think that with the economy the way that it is, the LAST thing a buisiness would do is tell you to take your money elsewhere.

 

[green95]

My SHO isn't my daily driver anymore, but I still don't want it out of my sight for a month. I can deal with 5 days. In my opinion, I don't think their work is as good as the other guy.

 

[SHO_ROLLER_2]

$3000 and a month for completion...I would not have put a shocked look on my face had they told me that.

And ya, you WOULD think that with the economy the way that it is, the LAST thing a buisiness would do is tell you to take your money elsewhere.

Like was already said, they probably only do insurance work. There are several shops here like that.

And the economy doesn't effect the amount of accidents out there, so they're probably not hurting at all.

The people that do custom work are starving and THEY should be the ones to look for.

I know a detailer here in town that does AWESOME paint work. He'll paint my whole car and fix the dings for $500+paint. He used to get $1500-$2K but there's no work for guys like that.

 

[94SHO_Norfolk]

When I got my '94 SHO a few weeks ago, I didn't notice until I got it home that there were some rust bubbles by the fuel filler door. I had a previous vehicle that had some insurance body and paint work done to it, and I took the SHO to the same shop and asked if they would repair the rust bubbles and paint to match. The owner's son looked at the rust bubbles, ran his hand along the body, then told me they'd fix it for $150, and have it done in a couple of days. True to his word, I dropped it off on a Monday morning, and by Tues afternoon it was done. They did a great job, can't tell the rust bubbles were there, or that area was repainted.

This shop will be at the top of my list for any other paint and body work I might need to get done to my SHO, or any other vehicle I might acquire along the way. They were courteous, inexpensive, timely, and did a great job.

 

[IM Buddy8]

My friend had an 88 BMW that we drove to about 10 shops getting told they dont paint whole cars or dont paint cars that haven't been in an accident. But one finally told us of a place that did we went there and quote was through the roof. My brother knew a guy who does good work cheap. Painted the car, took him like 4 days to do it and he only charged my friend $800 with paint! He did a great job and it's holding up perfectly from two years ago so far.

 

[sperold]

I think it would be worthwhile to have a section called "Paint your SHO".
This is such an important issue and it spells the end to a lot of good cars. Who has $3000.00 for just a paint job? And we think clutch jobs and 60K's are expensive.
We need a place to record good shops that cater to daily drivers who are not going through insurance to get their car painted.
List the state and general location, and your happy ending story. No horror stories, we have enough of them in our own experience.
Here is my story:
Ontario: Augusta Motors - Prescott Ontario (just over the international border bridge at Ogdensburg NY).
1996 Mustang Convertible - $800.00 repaint base coat - clear coat; deep red with 3 types of pearl in the base coat for a deep, shimmery paint.

 

[roland]

there is a shop here in town that does all insurance work, i hit a deer and had to get the front fender replaced but insurance covered it. I get the car back and their is a massive gap between the fender and drivers side door, i could just about get my finger in it and you could tell by looking down the side of the car it didnt line up at all. I took it back to the place and asked the guy if they could fix it and he told me "i dont know why you care its not like its a show car or anything." he said he'd fix it but it was gonna take a month before he could schedule me in (in his defense the place is really busy).

Decided to say screw it cuz i was heading back to school, but i hit another deer the next summer (i dropped my comprehensive coverage by then) and took it to another shop down the street where they fixed the opposite fender for half the price the other guy charged the insurance company, and he adjusted the other one too.

 

[JRA2000TL]

Same type deal around here. I took my SHO to a reputable body shop and she told me to go to Fact-O-Bake (basically same as Maaco). No way!

I don't want a $3000 paintjob. I don't own a Ron Porter 89 type SHO. Mine is rust free but it's not a museum piece. It's a clean, solid driver and collector. I will take something better than Maaco but not $3000 either.

I found a guy that works out of his backyard doing bodywork. He quoted me $1200 and he'll use PPG or Dupont. That's for a base and clear in Lt. Titanium on my 90. Never got around to doing it yet. Haven't had alot of extra $ to throw away lately. I doubt his work includes removing bumpers, door handles, etc. The good thing is that the car was originally Lt. Titanium and the crappy Maaco respray the PO did would only be on the obvious parts (since they don't remove trim).

 

[Rubix]

And ya, you WOULD think that with the economy the way that it is, the LAST thing a buisiness would do is tell you to take your money elsewhere.

Unless their business primarily comes from insurance jobs. Doesn't matter what the economy is doing, people are going to be wrecking cars no matter what.

 

[DDakRT]

That sucks, some people are just douchbag by birth, it's not even worth the time to be stressed or upset by it.

OTOH, when I was getting my cowl hood painted I went to one of the best body shops here in Toronto. They are the only factory authorized paint and repair facility for Ferrari and Maserati in all of Canada and usually only does high end European cars; not only was the owner kind, welcoming, and professional, a few of their employees came out to talk to me and were actually very interested to see a SHO.

I remember seeing a Maserati Quattroporte, a couple of 911s, a Ferrari F430, and multiple Bimmers inside their shop when I got there and half of the guys at the shop came out to look at my Taurus because they were so interested!
I think that's the first and last time in the history of Earth people wanted to look at a Taurus over some very nice Porsches, Ferraris, and Maseratis lol.