The facts of life. (even Longer) (archive)

Help me understand why it could possibly cost so much to have a decent job done and what your experiences have been painting your coupes (including some prices you paid).

Thank-you,
Robert
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Dear Robert,

In the words of our noble (?) President, I feel your pain.

I have been painting and restoring vehicles for 30 years+, first as a hobby, then as a business. things have gotten VERY expensive.

Some DuPont colors (the flip-flop ones) cost up to $350 per PINT. I've spent $3000 just on the materials to paint ONE car!!

The Government gets into every aspect of the business. I have frequent inspections that cost me $10,000 per inadvertent violation, and JAIL time for an intentional one.

My spray guns cost a minimum of $400 per copy and I have 10 legal ones (my "old technology" guns are now illegal and if I am found using them, I'm out of business). My breathing aparadus was $1000+ per copy; the cyanide in todays paints WILL kill you if you breathe it.

Just waste disposal can cost $Hundreds per job.

I am just finishing restoring my own '72 3.0CS and I have over 100 hours in stripping, grinding, cutting, welding, filling, priming, sanding, and sealing and I am not even ready to do the top coat.

I will have at my shop rate over $8000 in body work on a car that I paid $7000 for and we have not addressed the mechanicals and the interior! The car will have receipts for about $18,000 (plus the $7000 the prior owner spent on the engine, transmission, and cooling system just before I bought the car).

I plan to sell a car with $25K in receipts for under $15,000 (I cannot keep the car as planned originally due to a forced medical retirement). I must be crazy, right?

Not a bit. This is all these cars bring unless you have a famous one or spend even more building a concours class example. You cannot expect to make money restoring one if you have to pay someone to do the job. That's why they call car collecting a HOBBY and NOT a BUSINESS!(Which is why I stopped restoring cars for myself and started selling my services to others as a business.)

You cannot expect to compare a mass produced Korean sub compact built by Korean hourly pay with American labor rates, either. Sounds like Norway is also very inexpensive for auto paint work. But in the US, unfortunately, it just doesn't compute!

I invite YOU and EVERYONE to drop in on the Autobody Forum, which is where a lot of amateurs and pros hang out and ask some questions there. You would be most welcome, and would learn a lot about todays refinish industry. You might even get interested in doing some of your own work to save some money.

Bob

Auto Body and Paint Forum

Follow Ups:

Re: The facts of life. (even Longer) Bill Riblett 17:33 10/01/2000 (0)

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