Cost of painting

[brettmski]

I know that there are different price ranges for painting the full 914, but what are some of the prices you guys have paid, and what work did you perform yourself (i.e. prepwork)? Just wondering before I run mine to the paint shop. Thanks!

[racejoe]

It seems to vary wildly by area and shop. I recently was looking into getting done, I was looking at some of the better shops in town, and I was looking at $4000 to $6000 and 6 months wait. Plus the car had to be assembled and have a running engine installed. The problem is there is a lot more money in collision repair than restoration, so a respray of an old car sits at the back of the line, or costs a ton of dough. I have painted some cars many years ago and decided to blow the dust off of my painting skills and do it myself. The 914 should be a fairly easy car to paint due to it's shape, and the new paint systems and spray guns are a whole lot better these days.

A good site for information on autobody stuff is autobodystore.com They have an excellent discusion board.



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Joe
74 Yellow 1.8L 914
72 Tangerine NoL 914
http://pages.sssnet.com/jkaull

[John Rogers]

Joe is about right as to the price, mostly due to labor and enviornmental costs. I had both our 914s painted in TJ, Mexico and the labor was roughly $450 to remove dings/dents and shoot the paint. I bought Dupont 2 stage in San Diego and it was about $375 or so. I also had the dash recovered, new door panels made and carpet on the driver's side for about $150 or so. They want a week to work on the car so they can get rust out, prep it etc. It would almost pay to have a car trailered to SD, stay a week, trailer it home and you would save a bunch. No customs charges either. Good luck.

[John Rogers]

The Dupont 2 stage seems to keep it's color much better than other brands I have used except for Imron.

[This message has been edited by john rogers (edited 04-19-2001).]

I suggest finding a painter that does Hot Rods and such. I told the guy I wanted the car on a rotisserie and he said that it would be no problem - "I'll have it finished in 6 months." Well, 2 years later I finally got my car back.

Apparently, this is the way it can go in the paint and body business. Money talks. And as more and more $20,000 to $50,000 Hot rods started coming in - my $5,500 'quoted' paint job got pushed further to the back. I told him didn't want to spend over $5,500 and he said he could do it. Well, he's got that "disease" that keeps him from doing it halfway so there's no way he made any money working on my car. I'm sure he spent more time on it than he ever figured. Which in some ways turned out good for me, but in other ways turned out bad. I got a really good paint job, but everytime I talk to him you'd think I had kept his car for 2 years.

I would have taken my car back from him after 6 months but they get you by doing a whole lot of work at first and taking half of your money up front, then you have no choice but to wait or lose a couple of grand.
I say just be careful and get stuff in writing, especially try to get some type of schedule from him. Try and emphasize how important it is to you to have this car finished by XX-XX-XX. If he won't commit then I'd try somewhere's else.

Just my 2 pennies worth,
Shawn O

[SteveStromberg]

What was the Name and # of the Shop in TJ. Steve

[Va914]

Okay, I'll more then likely get bashed for this, but what the hell.

How about a chain shop like MACO. If all of the trim was taken off and prep/body work was done by the owner of the 914????

Is there paint products that bad?

[David McLaughlin]

MAACO's products are probably fine, but their workmanship is for the birds. My car looks like it has your typical MAACO job. Runs everywhere, over spray on everything and about 2 minutes total in masking. Even with a color change, they will not remove anything while a quality facility will take their time and do it right. If you must do MAACO, then remove EVERYTHING that can be removed from the car and have it trailered to the shop. Then, cross your fingers that they prep the car and spray it with their eyes open.

Good luck with what ever you choose.



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Dave
1970 914-6 (soon GT)

[John Rogers]

The TJ shop is Garage Los Ponchos, sorry I don't have a number. They have done 6 cars for me and did probably 20 for a friend of mine that restored Karman Gias and they do pretty good work as long as they can have the time. To save money the Mexican Dupont paint is about half the cost of the American Dupont. If you are close a trip to TJ might be worthwhile and they are easy to find. Take the road across the border that says: "Centro" and they are on the right at the first stop light.

[Scott S]

MAACO IS HORRIBLE!!!
In High School I spent weeks taking apart an old GTI. The body work was great, the only thing they had to do was mask the glass. When I got the car back it looked marginal (white hides alot). With in 1 year they had to repaint the car 2 times. The paint would start to fade in just a couple of months. I think the car was an inch longer after they were finished!
Scott S

[rich]

I have a few old sayings that apply to the bodyshop business. You get what you pay for if your lucky. And If you pay peanuts you get monkey's. Unlike mechanical work, Bodywork is an art form. Not everyone is a Picaso. Shop wisely, make your deal in writing, budget 20% for changing you mind or adding more work,(you know what I mean, As the car gets stripped you find old damage requiring a replacement door or fender, or The "hey while your at it why don,t we ad an airdam or spoiler) expect delay's. The daily crash work alway's gets pushed ahead of the toy's.

[prsche914]

Boy i guess i lucked out on this. My uncle is a professional body man and my grandpa has a paint booth in his shop. It will only cost me around $1500 total if i help. ive seen a few cars hes panted and i am not worried about it, if only i could find the $

[echocanyons]

I have recently have taken my 914 to a MAACO shop to have a few rust bubbles taken care of and fresh paint applied,
That was my first mistake.
Those people there are supposed to be paint match specialists and they painted my adriatic blue car teal(not even remotely close to the original color).
They also have no idea of how to prep a car or repair simple things such as rust bubbles.
I had my car in there shop for over a month and I ended up taking it to somebody else to repair the damage they did to the car.
MY ADVICE:
Dont try and save the extra money taking it to MAACO or Earl schieb take it to someone who has experience with these cars, other wise you might have to spend a whole lot more time and money repairing the damage these shops do.
I know that I have learned my lesson.

[TimW]

Speaking of rust bubbles, I’ve always had very good luck fixing them myself with Haynes manual body work techniques (more or less) and a $15 color matched spray can the local auto paint guy mixes up for me. It may sound barbaric, but the result is no more rust/bubbles for not much more than a few hours of quality time with the teener. And if you take your time and do it right you can’t [hardly] tell anything was done. Sure beats being without my 914 for the little stuff, and the [comparable] big bucks for a pro to do it.