Painting Cost

[LFD059]

I'm trying to get a feel for painting costs for my TC. Trying to estimate cost to Sand/Prime fenders, tub, fire wall etc, paint frame and final finished paint job throughout. Anyone with experience on overall cost?

Thanks

Rich

[frenchblatter]

Rich, whatever you decide it will cost expect more.

[Warmuthb]

Rich:
I used to run a body shop for a Lincoln/Mercury dealership. However, for an antique or restoration things are different.
Are you doing the disassembly and reassembly? Is there bodywork to be done, i.e. Rust, dents, etc?
Labor will be the most expensive part, however that doesn't mean paint is cheap, because generally speaking, it is not.
Re: paint. You can spend $1,000 for paint and supplies ( for a modern base coat/clear coat job with brand name paint).
Or, you can buy a gallon of single stage (no clear coat) urethane enamel ( which is hardened with a catalyst) from the Internet for about $100. I have done both with my cars. Depends on what you want. Show car or nice original style driver. In any event, a show car finish WILL always cost more because there is more labor in the job. An MG "T" car can't be properly painted unless it is taken apart.

If you do the dis-and reassembly, there is no body work to fix, and you don't want a show car finish, just a real nice job; then in addition to your paint and supplies cost ( supplies= thinners,tape, wax and oil removers, sandpaper, primers,etc); then multiply that cost by 4 and it should get you in the ballpark, I would think. As an example: $2,000 for paint and supplies =$8,000. Whoever you choose to do the work, talk to their former customers and look at their past, and recent work. Stay away from anyone who won't give you this info. By the way, primers are near as expensive as paint and with a primer/surfaced ya wind up sanding most of it off! It is necessary however to get the surface smooth for the paint topcoats. Remember this: paint doesn't hide anything! That's why the painting prep and labor is so expensive.

Good luck
Brian W.

[frenchblatter]

I'm using a primer with cellulose paint as original. They are planning on giving it 3 coats so a lot of rubbing down.

[LFD059]

Brian,
Very good explanation and helpful information of what goes into a paint job with associated labor and cost. My TC is a total strip down with some rust (don't the all) repair, primer and paint with much wet rub sanding and finish coat. The cost estimate for all paint supplies $2,025 and labor approximately $8-9K indicates the estimate is accurate. Thanks very much for your insight of what goes into a good paint job, which may be helpful to others as well.

Rich

[Marv]

Rich

I agree 200% with Brian. It all depend what you are looking for and the labor to get to a paintable surface. We had a body off paint job on a MGA which has fewer body items to remove than a TC. Two doors, Boot and Bonnet. Minimal body work was involved and it cost $9,000.00 for labor and materials AFTER we had it all soda blasted for $800.00. I'm getting "Lady Di" (TC5141) ready for a paint job and luckily her former home was in the southwestern states. Only body work is a rock ding when she threw a bolder up into the underside of the passenger fender and to fill a couple "extra improvement" holes in the bulkhead put there by the previous owner. My neighbor owns 4 local body shops and he's going to paint it for me. But I still have the soda blasting costs and even at my "Good Friends and Neighbor Discount", I still expect $6,000.00 to him for his painter's wages and material costs. If not for that, I'd expect $10,000 north or south a little bit. Good luck, let us know how you proceed. Some pics would be nice as well.

Marv TC5141

"Tread carefully Grasshopper, through areas thou hast not been before!"

[Norman Golm]

I have restored 4 TCs and a TD in the last 5 years the cost of body work, material and labor per TC and TD is as follows. These paint jobs were excellent winning a few awards. The tubs was painted as a separate item as were each fender, hood panel, running boards, door, gas tank and radiator valence panel. The TD was less expensive because it was made to look like a pseudo race car no front fenders, hood side panels and running boards.
TC 1 $12,000, TC 2 $6288, TC3 $8116, TC4 $8883, TD $4272

[Kameron M]

I'm doing a fairly budget job on my TC because of funds availability right now. My A #1 priority is Preservation more than drop-dead amazing looks and what not.
As such, I am doing the body panel repairs myself where I can, and I am having the body media blasted and done in grey enamel primer at a local sandblasting shop. They quoted me $1,000 for their work, which I think is a pretty swell price.
After the primer is dried, I am going to sand it where needed and put on body filler (their primer is A-OK) for body filler to be put in over it -- just no welding!

When that is all said and done, I will assemble up my tub by hand, and have a local paint shop spray gun the car for me in a two-tone pattern which is fortunately going to not involve any 'parting lines' -- it will just be one color on the wings, running boards, and rear fenders, the other color everywhere else.

I don't know what to expect on paint costs yet, but I know a place like Earl Scheib would do me for $1000,

I'd suspect I'm a bit of an outlier on this process, however. I also have the fortune that my body is already apart, in good condition, and largely consists of bare metal that has been in storage for many years with very few problems.

I count myself also blessed that I have every single chrome piece of this car, professionally redone by some place in conneticut that I forget right now, each immaculately packaged up in newspaper and taped up with aging masking tape.

[Duncan M]

Kam- Generally primer goes over bondo. Bondo different than some fillers that can go over primer. I have seen bondo over primer done on cars where big pieces of bondo have fallen off.

[stephen stierman]

Duncan, epoxy primer is often done this way. That said, primer/surfacer still needs to go over the primer and be blocked down prior to paint to level the repair.