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in Bodyshop...waiting. Should I cut bait and run?

SBSB Standard body shop Bull.
My car was in and out in 8 days, completely painted the whole car and fixed huge fender damage and several dents. $2500 and it was Black and perfectly straight.
On the other hand...........I took my Dakota truck to him and he never touched it for 3 weeks and I got it back unfinished he said to bring it back next week to get it completed,
that was 6 weeks ago and he now does not answer or return my calls. My mistake was I paid the bill in full.
Isn't it interesting how inconsistent they can be? First experience was great, second was totally opposite. You never know what these guys are going to do.
 
That's kind of the route I went. I found a guy on Craigslist. 16 years experience, and works at a shop during the day and for himself at night. He did all the body work in his garage, and uses his grandfather's shop at night to do the painting. Best of all, I had his wife's number, and when I felt the job was taking too long, I sent her a picture of 13 $100 bills and told her they were at risk of losing the balance owed.

Took about five weeks, but the job got done and done well. I got a crunched quarter and very dented rood fixed, several dents and dings beat out, new steel welded in on the undersides, primering with POR-15 and a total color change to black for $2,300.
That's great, and I'm glad it worked out for you. But in the past I've had situations where the guy was so lazy, he took the money I paid up front and decided it was better to take that and run, instead of doing the rest of the work and get the balance. In your case he had a wife that kept him in line....but I wasn't that lucky,
 
That ole girl looks like its in decent shape.
Yes it is, and I get pretty ticked when these body guys try to make it out to be a total wreck when they do their estimates.
 
I went to yet another highly regarded shop that has done a lot of old cars, and their estimate was double what the first guy had provided. And this time they didn't even right up a proper estimate, just scribbled a total price on the back of a card.

I guess I'm going to have to start watching youtube videos on do it yourself bodywork and do a little at a time.
 
Personally, this story is scaring me to death. When I took my car in to a busy shop (Mexico), it was out the door in 10 days. That's how efficient, competent people paint cars. Are you willing to wait and pay a shop which parks your car outside, can't remove a bumper (probably just a stall story anyway), and puts you on edge everyday while you wait and worry? That's what I like about having work done in Mexico, labor is cheap but the people work like dogs for their money. They also do a lot of things the hard way, which in the long run is often better. In my case, the roof was rusty under the canopy vinyl and the vehicle had one previous re-paint to blue from the factory Tawny Gold Y9. I think I got my money's worth, about $1,500.00 labor/materials and I did not need meds/drugs/alcohol during the process to calm my nerves:

View attachment 494876 View attachment 494877 View attachment 494878 View attachment 494879 View attachment 494880 View attachment 494881
Sure wish I was close to the border!
 
I painted my first car during a Body and Fender class at the Community College (three hours per day). I had a classmate help me do all of the bodywork/sanding which cut my labor in half. I used the schools paint booth, spray guns, and pneumatic tools for free, just purchased materials. The reason the color looks a little uneven is because it is actually a solid blue (Petty blue?) with a gold pearlescence clear overlay. Here it is:

63 Pontiac1.jpeg
 
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I went to yet another highly regarded shop that has done a lot of old cars, and their estimate was double what the first guy had provided. And this time they didn't even right up a proper estimate, just scribbled a total price on the back of a card.

I guess I'm going to have to start watching youtube videos on do it yourself bodywork and do a little at a time.

sometimes when restos are done.. there is no guarenteed price till its finished.. to many things can be found underneath paint from pevious years of neglect.. I would be inclinded to get the windshield posts fixed for starters.. get the cleaned up.. and put pors 15 or epoxy over top..
 
That's great, and I'm glad it worked out for you. But in the past I've had situations where the guy was so lazy, he took the money I paid up front and decided it was better to take that and run, instead of doing the rest of the work and get the balance. In your case he had a wife that kept him in line....but I wasn't that lucky,
I remember getting smacked by the first gal I tried to kiss. Glad I tried with the next one. :)
 
I remember getting smacked by the first gal I tried to kiss. Glad I tried with the next one. :)
My last experience cost me more than a slap - I ended up going court to get a judgement, then searching to find out where the guy worked, garnishing his wages, etc...never got all my money back because he quit and we could never find him again. Not sure I want to risk going thru that again.
 
This story sounds familiar but at least you got out early; me I'm in my second shop and am going into my 18th month. Keep us posted.
 
A friend of mine had numerous paint jail issues with his C3 Corvette. I'll spare the long stories, but after two years and two different shops he decided to try his hand at getting the body ready for paint. Using a Corvette DIY resto guide he disassembled what trim, etc he could do, used materials for the minor cracks, rattle can primed some of the sections.

He decided to use MAACO to spray the color. If you pick a color from their catalog you can get the middle quality paint job for less than 3 grand. The car was in and out in three days total. I'm not going to say it's a fabulous job as I'm not too picky on finishes, but it is really, really nice. It's maybe a 'one footer' on the redneck paint scale, and for his budget and time spent it was fairly painless. My other friend has decided to use MAACO for his 1973 Mustang when it's ready for color.

I know it's comparing Golden Corral to Ruth's Chris, but depending on what you want and need, the ol'franchise paint shop might work for you?
 
there's Maaco at one end, and Top Notch craftsmanship at the other...... not much in between
 
A friend of mine had numerous paint jail issues with his C3 Corvette. I'll spare the long stories, but after two years and two different shops he decided to try his hand at getting the body ready for paint. Using a Corvette DIY resto guide he disassembled what trim, etc he could do, used materials for the minor cracks, rattle can primed some of the sections.

He decided to use MAACO to spray the color. If you pick a color from their catalog you can get the middle quality paint job for less than 3 grand. The car was in and out in three days total. I'm not going to say it's a fabulous job as I'm not too picky on finishes, but it is really, really nice. It's maybe a 'one footer' on the redneck paint scale, and for his budget and time spent it was fairly painless. My other friend has decided to use MAACO for his 1973 Mustang when it's ready for color.

I know it's comparing Golden Corral to Ruth's Chris, but depending on what you want and need, the ol'franchise paint shop might work for you?
I took a 73 Roadrunner I had stripped to bare metal to several shops in the Tampa area back in the 1980s, and none of them wanted to work on it. I got one shop to at least prime it, then the owner came in and said "get that out of here!" Their issues were I wasn't paying for bodywork and I wanted it painted black, and they were worried about me coming back at them if the paint wasn't perfect.

So I called up the notorious Earl Scheib. They said "Get the car here and we'll paint it any color you want for $129!" I took it there, they had it for three or four days, and it looked awesome when I picked it up. It still looked great when I sold it four years later.
 
there's Maaco at one end, and Top Notch craftsmanship at the other...... not much in between
Yeah, back in the late 90's, my Wife took her car there to have it sprayed. I had already worked the body and had it in primer for them. They did a base/clear on it in a metallic blue and like others said, was good for the few hundred bucks we paid.

Seriously considering taking my car there when the time comes.....it's a driver, not a show car, so it's the best option for getting an all-over paint job done reasonably.
 
If it's a collision shop here's what happens. Collision work slows down. You send tech's home. You start rebuilding wrecks or taking in resto jobs. Then, blam! In comes an influx of collision work. Then you start working on trying to get out of the resto job as collision work is in and out with (few) surprises. Unfortunately, it's just the nature of the business.
 
I talked to my guy the other day to find out when to bring it in. He said 4-5K for bodywork & repaint to original color,with me taking off all the chrome. I said "anything down" and he said no, it just makes people lazy/sloppy if there's money upfront. Going in late Sept. I hope.
 
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