Can a bunch of you Chime in and give me a high and low range

my dad painted mine for me and with the paint hardener and primer the total cost was around $200. we got the paint from dupont. im going to have mine repainted Ford Azure Blue, i got a print out of the price yetserday and it was $156 for the paint and hardener. i believe it took 1 gallon to paint my whole car.

 

If at all possible furnish the paint yourself. It'll prolly save you some on markup. I painted my own for about 400 bucks and then there were the 200 worth of vinyls.. Just a tip, don't paint your first car and expect it to be perfect. You'll end up never driving it or driving it fast enough that people can't see it.

 

Also, i painted with enamel as before mentioned can run cheaper than 2 stage paint. If you go enamel it can be painted over the original after prep work. 2 stage is best done over bare metal as it often causes enamel (if trapped underneath it) to soften.

 

Unless I was entering my car in competition, winning prizes and increasing the value or was hoping to make the cover of Muscle Car or featured on Barrett Jackson, I'd choke if more than $1500K was spent on an all over. Kind of like putting $2K rims, $1K stereo and $1K worth of DVD equipment on a $1200 hoopdee.

I used to own half of a paint jobber business recently and there are plenty of talented painters out there who will do an all over for you (original color and empty engine compartment)for less than $1200 and that's using a quality paint like Standox. Talking paint brands is kind of like talking religion but there's plenty of good stuff out there across the entire price spectrum-----------Standox, PPG, Valspar, DuPont to name a few. Kind of like the audiophiles who'll spend another $500 on a stereo because there's .02% less total harmonc distortion and is only detectable by sophisticated instrumentation.

Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't have to be baked on to cure correctly. A GOOD PAINTER will know the right hardners and thinners to use to turn out a darn good job matching right environmental conditions in something as elementary as a closed and relatively dust-proof garage. Even if that got compromised, a good buffer and some good 3M cutting and polishing compound can get rid of most anything that might settle out during curing.

Base/clear is going to cost a little more but there's some great looking single stage (acrylic enamel) jobs out there. Get it as ready as possible by removing trim (if practical) bumpers, etc.to same you some bucks. Before you take it over there go over the whole thing with some 320 wet or dry or a green or purple scotch brite with some abrasive cleaner like janitorial strength comet) Bodywork is naturally going to add to what they'll charge.

Make enough calls around and I guarantee you'll find a painter or bodyman(who's being groomed as an eventual painter) that'll do it for you. Offer to show up the day of painting for the prep work (masking, cleaning and solvent wipe down) to make their job easier.

If you're using a "moonlighter" for the job (and once again, I know plenty of them who shoot as well as those guys who are getting $4K and up at the storefront shop, and are usually the same guys anyway) ,an all over is probably going to take a minimum of 2-3 quarts of color and clearcoat (if you go base/clear) then your necessary hardner and thinner. Add to that a roll of masking paper, tape, some laquer thinnner or solvent for wipe-down, yada, yada, yada and you're looking at anywhere between $200 and $400 in materials alone unless they're sneaking it out of their bosses shop. You'll want to make sure they're using a hoss-enough compressor that can keep up with the gun demand. Add that to one of these guys willing to pick up $600 for a weekends work and a great paint job can be had for less than $1200.

If that's too much to look at, there have been (believe it or not) some decent jobs come out of Earl Scheib, Maaco and Econo for a few hundred bucks. In each case however the owner took care to carefully prep it before they took it in. The best thing you can do if you use that route is to make sure it's scuffed up real well with 320 or heavy duty abrasive cleanser so there's ABSOLUTELY NO SHINE LEFT ON THE ORIGINAL SURFACE!

$4K and up isn't unusual in a professional shop environment because a good production painter should be making about $75 an hour if they're on straight commisiion. Add to that another $75-100 an hour for the prep and body guys and owner and you're easily at $200 to $250 an hour for a process that is going to take 10-15 hours.

You're a Maverick owner though man---------use those scrounging and sweat equity talents to find a good match with your resources and expectations.

 

self inflicted wound

decent compressor that has enough storage and CFM to do body and paint work 700.00
electrical work -300.00- to get it to run...
2 paint guns, one for primers and another better one for topcoats- 450.00-600.00 .
DA, (air sander), board file (for mud work) and other assorted body tools (if your cousin dosen't have them - 800.00
just the primers, hardners,tape,paint,clear, paper,etc- 1200.00 if your lucky.
It can all add up pretty quickly... and you have to do the work..correctly
It can be done backyard style , if you have the skills...and a booth to borrow//rent when it comes time to spray.
And then the wetsanding buffing supplies- 400.00
Where in the mid-atlantic are you located?

 

indymanis right. if you have the car preped properly you can get a good paint job at maaco or other econo paint shops. anyone will tell you that prep is 90 percent of the paint job.