This is my first posting...This Board looks good!!! I am a rookie with body and paint and have been doing some research about affordable ways for repainting my 1969 Lesabre Custom Convertible. My grandmother purchased the Car new (white) and I am the second owner. She had it painted red along the way. I have owned the car for 11 years and the car is in dire need of paint. I have body shop estimates of 5 -7k - this just seems like too much money. Don't kill me but I went to my local Maaco shop and received a reasonable estimate for top level service and minor bodywork $1350 or so. Do you have any thoughts on the viability of the Maaco.
Just saw a 70 AMC last week that had a new Maaco job on it. They promised him a better than their average job and a higher cost over their typical job. Looked bad. This was the second time they did it too. He rejected the first time!! Needless to say, it was still a rolling orange. The paint looked like equip. enamel too. I think I would wait and add a few hundred to the $1350 for a respectable job by a professional. I know it was his last time there. Good luck.
I've got no experience with them but wouldn't even think of going there for all what I've heard about it.
For $1350 you could buy materials and a really good compressor and do it yourself. What you will learn will last you a lifetime and the next car you paint will come out better and take you 1/3 the time the first one did. If you are painting white, go for it.......it's the easiest color to work with. Now's the perfect time to learn. :bglasses:
Check out www.paintucation.com ...this may be all you need to tackle the job yourself, if you have any shop experince at all..I bought the whole series for $140.00. The quality is pretty much "homemade" but the tips and information on the new systems seems pretty good. If anyone else has any feedback on this series I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say.
paint welcome Sliane - The problem with body shops is the wide variation of quality, time and pricing. Do a search here and you will find many horror stories. Maaco is the same. It is a franchise and the quality varies from shop to shop. Check out their work. Get references. Talk to the manager. etc etc. But remember they MUST be cutting costs somewhere to get the price down. usually its in the prep work and the brand of paint. You can prep the car yourself the have them shoot it in their booth. You can take a vo-tech body shop course at your local high school/college and do it all. There are several options. In most cases, you get what you pay for! - Bill:TU:
Just wanted to say thanks for all the feedback - I decideed to go with Maaco - I'll let you know my results. I just could'nt pony up the 6k all the other shops wanted. Plus the car was red and the wife would have killed me if I had gotten red dust everywhere.
