Who still paints cars these days? Florida

[gssereik]

I am looking for advice about getting my 911 repainted without breaking the bank and/or to identify any shops in Central or Northeast Florida that might help

Recently, I have been considering my options for having my 83 911 targa repainted. The car is rust-free and accident free, but the paint is fading and showing its age plus the car has number of scratches and small dings throughout. So it is basic bodywork plus respray... I am not looking for a show car. And I would do most of the disassembly work myself. I just want the car to look better than it does right now.

I am a DIY guy and like to do practically anything myself, including a top end rebuild of the original 3.0 engine that I just completed last year. But I see bodywork and paint as a totally different skillset that I would need to teach myself and I would have to invest in some special equipment and set up a paint booth in my garage, etc. So I am considering my options...

To gather info, this morning I drove my 911 to pretty much every Auto body place within a five mile radius of my home. Most of them told me they like the car but explained various (good) reasons why they mostly will just doing collision work these days. One shop looked at my car (not so carefully) and quoted $10k and then said it could possibly be even more.

Any advice? I am NOT planning to take my 911 to MAACO, of course. But am I dreaming about finding someplace who will do the work for less than $10k?

thanks,
George.

[Dpmulvan]

Yeh you’re dreaming especially if you want glasurit paint which is now $1600 a gallon. Do it yourself , buy an inflatable paint booth a decent gun and rent a compressor.

[Archie07]

$10K? Think yourself lucky! I'm trying to get my 914 painted up here in Canada and so far I've found one guy who's vaguely interested and he charges $200 just to come and look at it! One guy I talked to said it would be around $15,000 but he wouldn't give me a firm price as he bills by the hour, and he charges $135 an hour! I told him not to bother as I was going to talk my lawyer into painting it. It would be cheaper!
The explanation, up here at least, is that new cars are in short supply and so used car prices are going through the roof; that means that everybody's giving their used cars new paint to fetch an even better price. So, no bodymen for the rest of us!

[gssereik]

Ok! Thank you for your feedback and advice. My 911 deserves a new paint job, so this helps me to understand what it takes these days and begin to make plans.
George

[962porsche]

what does it mean when someone tells you they are not looking for a show car paint job?
so runs , fish eyes , dust, wavy body work and all the other bad is ok? or is it that the lower quality of work that will start to fail a year or so down the road that's ok?

estimates are just that ruffly about maybe the cost. try looking up the definition !
it always makes me wonder when someone says they are upset because the end of the job bill was more that the estimate.
you fine an estimator with ex-ray vision that can see thru your old cars finish to know just what is under it then and only then would you start getting confirmed quotes for restoring cars.


10K can easily be just the cost in materials to repaint a car. at over 200$ just for one QT of base and that doesn't include the reducer or primer primer hardener , clear , clear cost hardener or the reducer for the clear. you can drop an easy 6 to 8K on just the sprayable products. that doesn't include things like sand paper , grinding disc's , body filler's , and so on.

a 135$ an hour labor rate is about average for a shop. when a lawyer has the same high cost of overhead as a shop does they will start charging you 10 times what they charge now.
just for my two man shop my electric bill last month was over 1700$ my heating bill in the cold winter months to run the booth just to paint one car is more than I pay to heat our hole house for a month. and where is the heat going right out the exhaust stack of the booth.
what lawyer has to pay 1500$ to just change his spray booth filters every 60 hours of uses? and then the old filters are now hazardous material so your not just sticking them in the trash.
what lawyer is dishing out over 2000$ a month in just insurance? they don't have highly flammable products in there lawyers off like paints gas in cars and so on.

[Archie07]

Ever thought of becoming a lawyer?

[962porsche]

Originally Posted by Archie07

Ever thought of becoming a lawyer?

oh god no I make a hell of a lot more money than a lawyer could ever dream of.

[Arctic Rat]

Just a thought.

Instead of asking a body shop how much it cost, ask yourself how much you are willing to spend. Then ask shops if they can do anything to repaint your car in YOUR price range.

Joe D

[962porsche]

Originally Posted by Arctic Rat

Just a thought.

Instead of asking a body shop how much it cost, ask yourself how much you are willing to spend. Then ask shops if they can do anything to repaint your car in YOUR price range.

Joe D

yup that's the best way

[Limpo]

I know someone but i guess you might has seen one already

[3literpwr]

I had my car sprayed and bodied by a local guy in Michigan who paints in his barn. I did the metal work, had the car blasted to bare metal and he did all the finish work on the car. Paint is PPG (Dune beige) and wet sanded the finish after. I paid him 7k, plus materials. The sand blasting cost $2200 with a coat of DP90 after it was shot. So, all in for around 10k and I needed to do A lot of work to get to that point. I hear quotes of 20-25k in my area now, if you can find someone to do it.

[Flank]

Hi George,
I'm having my '71 Targa painted by a guy that I know from high school and has been doing paint and bodywork for over forty years. He lives in Sumter County now and his shop and paint booth is in the back yard. He has a couple of helpers. His rates are very reasonable and has painted an Iris Blue MG for me that came out incredible.
I thought my car was close to being ready for paint. Boy was I wrong. He has been working and working on the body. It has now been fully primed and painted black to get any last imperfections out of the body work. Now it has been block sanded and waiting final paint. Let me know if you want to see some pictures.
Thanks, Flank

[jonesb930]

George, I had my car painted at Classic in Ft. Pierce (About 2 hours south of you). Now mine was done 20 years ago, but back then they specialized in classics. The shop was full of 50's and 60's cars when mine was there. Im not sure what they focus on today, or the costs, but I paid $5k back then for a complete strip, some minor body work, and glasurit paint. Car still looks great today, though it's lived in the garage for 20 years.


Classic Collision Center
3375 Oleander Ave
Fort Pierce, FL 34982
772-464-2222

[stanglife]

Originally Posted by Flank

Hi George,
I'm having my '71 Targa painted by a guy that I know from high school and has been doing paint and bodywork for over forty years. He lives in Sumter County now and his shop and paint booth is in the back yard. He has a couple of helpers. His rates are very reasonable and has painted an Iris Blue MG for me that came out incredible.
I thought my car was close to being ready for paint. Boy was I wrong. He has been working and working on the body. It has now been fully primed and painted black to get any last imperfections out of the body work. Now it has been block sanded and waiting final paint. Let me know if you want to see some pictures.
Thanks, Flank

Definitely interested in pictures!

Thanks!

[Flank]

Here is a picture of the MG. I'll put up some of the Porsche while it is getting prepped.
Thanks, Flank

[jonesb930]

So here is another option, they specialize in 356's but I saw a few 911's in the gallery. Give them a call maybe. Thay are just south of you in Melbourne.

356 Unlimited
2495 Jen Dr. #14
Melbourne, FL 32940
Phone: 321.652.4654
Email: 356unlimited@gmail.com


https://356unlimited.net/

[G450X]

Originally Posted by 962porsche

oh god no I make a hell of a lot more money than a lawyer could ever dream of.

I think that response answers the question as to the high prices of auto painting these days!