Paint Jail!!

QOTHL said:

Where is this guy you mention?

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Wadsworth, OH. It's about 20 minutes SW of Akron.

Let the guy finish the job. Politely urge him along directly, or with regular status checks.

I researched high/low for a year before turning my RR over to a body guy. Ended up trailering the disassembled car across country. He was a long time mopar body guy who worked out of a pretty cluttered home shop. Only other car he had in his shop was a 70 cuda he was painting same color (B7) as mine. He was pretty fluent on the procedure to replicate the factory B7. He replaced both quarters, one with NOS that I snagged on ebay, dutchman, and trunk floor. Job took about 8 months. Here's the body in orange sealer.

QOTHL: I am glad you or whoever can afford and has access to chem dipping.
People that have restored a bunch of cars notice how they tend to rust. Example: Weld two pieces of bare metal together, they get moisture between the layers and there. The lower rear quarters many times rust from the inside because of dirt and crap between the trunk ext. and the outer qtr. etc etc
Take any mild steel to bare metal and moisture in the air causes.... flash rust. Hood and trunk lids have drain holes where primer can be poured into them.
I am certainly not telling you that your guy is doing anything wrong just making a point about rust.
Me, I can't afford to pay anyone to do my work. I have done it every way possible.

Leave the car where it is at and keep checking on it. I typically do my own cars but since I am getting older and the last car had a ton of sheet metal to do I decided to have a shop do it.

1. First shop my car sat outside for a year 0 zero work done it was always next week it would make it into the shop and he would start. This was a good shop and he truly meant it but he was slammed and there was no way he was going to get to it anytime soon.
2. Next shop-I toured the shop talked to the owner checked on the quality of work and decided that was the right place. Two years later the owner was in prison for theft, fraud and a bunch of other crimes like selling a hot car to a cop. Drugs became his only care and the business failed because of it. My car was half done as were the other 40 cars in his shop. Just try to get another shop to take on someone else's work, as someone mentioned earlier every other shop wanted to totally blast the car to bare metal and start over. All that money I spent was quickly going down the drain.
3. The third shop finished the car in about 8 months but nickel and dimed me to death. Then the overall paint was not that great and he blamed the other 2 shops and me for being to "tight". A year later the paint started peeling and now I will paint it myself. No more shops ever.

There are a zillion body shop horror stories and all of them true. I have heard of guys bringing the Sheriff with them to get their cars back or 5 of their biggest buddies ect. They call it body shop hell for a reason. Resto shops love to nickel and dime you. Don't get me wrong there are some good shops out there but they are few and far between. This thread is a few moths old so I am curious how it turned out and what you chose to do.

BrianS said:

Leave the car where it is at and keep checking on it. I typically do my own cars but since I am getting older and the last car had a ton of sheet metal to do I decided to have a shop do it.

1. First shop my car sat outside for a year 0 zero work done it was always next week it would make it into the shop and he would start. This was a good shop and he truly meant it but he was slammed and there was no way he was going to get to it anytime soon.
2. Next shop-I toured the shop talked to the owner checked on the quality of work and decided that was the right place. Two years later the owner was in prison for theft, fraud and a bunch of other crimes like selling a hot car to a cop. Drugs became his only care and the business failed because of it. My car was half done as were the other 40 cars in his shop. Just try to get another shop to take on someone else's work, as someone mentioned earlier every other shop wanted to totally blast the car to bare metal and start over. All that money I spent was quickly going down the drain.
3. The third shop finished the car in about 8 months but nickel and dimed me to death. Then the overall paint was not that great and he blamed the other 2 shops and me for being to "tight". A year later the paint started peeling and now I will paint it myself. No more shops ever.

There are a zillion body shop horror stories and all of them true. I have heard of guys bringing the Sheriff with them to get their cars back or 5 of their biggest buddies ect. They call it body shop hell for a reason. Resto shops love to nickel and dime you. Don't get me wrong there are some good shops out there but they are few and far between. This thread is a few moths old so I am curious how it turned out and what you chose to do.

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Wow, still getting reply's on this thread! I choose to keep it there and I'm glad I did because it came out great! He is a real nice guy its just he got slammed with covid and stuff. I got it back 3 months ago, the only problem I have is where he fixed the back window corner. The trim doesn't fit well so he said when I'm ready to bring it back in and he will fix it.

mpro69rr said:

I choose to keep it there and I'm glad I did because it came out great!

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Likewise. I got Nadine back from the shop in September. I think my last post on this thread was prognosticating an August jailbreak, but it took him a little longer. But I'm VERY happy with the results!

I had my convertible in paint jail for 15 months. Every time I went to check on it, he was working on a different car that came in after mine. He always had an excuse, like this guy really needs his car done for an important show, etc. I kept a diary of my visits and took pictures of what was going on. During one of my visits, I discovered the shop had damaged the rear tail light panel. I told him I was going home to round up a trailer and get it out of there. He talked me out of it and said he was going to do better. It was there for almost another year. In the end, the shop did a pretty good job, but it was like pulling teeth. The sad thing is, I did my research, and looked at cars the shop had done. They were all top notch. At the time I first approached this guy, the shop was working on a pro-touring Camaro for some notable GM engineer from Detroit. The car's progess was a feature at the time in Popular Hot Rodding magazine. The shop was immaculate. By the time he finished my car, the place was a **** hole. He tried to jack the price up at the end, but I gave him a copy of my diary of visits and pictures, and told him I had already talked to my lawyer about my ordeal.
The process on my recent hardtop project went a lot better, thanks to lessons learned from the other jerk. However, due to Covid hitting, and an inability to get some of the required supplies, the car sat in paint jail a little longer than either I or the shop owner could have predicted. It turned out great, however. Shop owner and I are still friends.

Ah body/paint.
When I first started laying with Mopars back in the 8o's, it was never just me and one car, but everything from 1 in resto, plus parts cars, projects cats, drivers, you name it. I became the process to learn about body work. I BEGAN the process of learning. I would only have 1 guy do body work for me that had it as his business and even then it was 1 guy in the Missouri country with a small 1 man shop. But he could do it all, from chopping tops, to building engines, to drinking lots of beer. I mean a lot! But he did perfect work, was honest, and in the sticks of Mo. and was very reasonably priced. That was back in the 80's and 90's. Then there was the guy that worked at a body shop and moonlighted in his little 1 car garage back home. Again, perfect work and cheap enough. Then there was the young guy that worked as the county road barn garage. He was self taught and did perfect work. He did quite a few cars for me, just working after hours and weekends, 1 car garage. I learned what an honest person can do and how much work it involved. And what it all should cost depending on the work and time.
Ever hear of " overpaid and underworked"? Too any places do sorry work, and overprice that!
Decades later I am old and woreout. Still not what I consider a real body man, but I do know what and how to do, just too old and wore out to want to make everything perfect but I also just play with my cars, that now are not the " usual" desirable models, NO AAR Cudas, no Hemi GTX, not even any 383 69RR, etc. I work on my cars that give me pleasure, NO $$ reward when I choose to let one go.
So here is my point. Guy wants his car rust free, straight, shiny. He has 3 choices.
Find a shop to do it, that gives you body shop jail, or never gets it done, screws you out of lots of dollars, $$ and loses or sells off all your parts.
Find a reputable shop that does good work,honest, and yes you PAY for that!
OR you learn to do it yourself to YOUR standards. It can be done, If your are not allergic to the chemicals and they don't kill you. If you invest in the equipment, tools, and place to work. Have the commitment to learn. Yep the learning curve an be steep for some. Some people has artistic, with skills hidden and some don't! Bodywork is art. But DIY, you have yourdestiny and $ in hand!??

Hilljack68 said:

prognosticating

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I learned a new word today. Thank you.

You're welcome. No charge.

Still behind bars arrgh