Paint Job Cost

Now that I have my car in good mechanical shape I'm ready to look into getting a fresh paint job and curious what others have paid.
I'm looking for a good quality job but not going to enter the car in shows where I need pristine flawless paint.

Your going to have to define what you mean by a paint job . Is the car down to bare metal , is some/all of the prep work done etc etc . Somewhere between 1000. & 10,000$ based on your question .

Healey Nut said:

Your going to have to define what you mean by a paint job . Is the car down to bare metal , is some/all of the prep work done etc etc . Somewhere between 1000. & 10,000$ based on your question .

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It will not be down to bare metal and the body appears to be rust free & straight with a few minor dings. I plan on removing all the chrome and peices needed and let them do the prep & paint work.

So many variables, it's hard to give a guess how much it will cost. Is the existing paint solid enough that it can be scuffed and shot over? Do you just want the outside shot, or do you want jambs, trunk and underhood painted? What's the labor rate in your area? You'll get a better job and save some money if you remove the stainless fender beading before delivering the car to the painter. Visit some of the local shows and cruise-ins, including the hot rod and import showsl Somebody will know a painter that does side work that will give you a decent job at a savings.

VoTech school in your area? Good project for the students.

I would stay away from Vo-Tech Schools unless you know an instructor real well. I see cars get tied up in school curriculums and then get rushed with little supervision. Rick has made some good points and I agree with them. If you body is solid and straight enough for your satisfaction, then don't let anyone take much of it apart. And taking all the chrome off of it yourself will greatly , or I should say, should greatly decrease the cost. Door jams, bonnet and boot lid openings do not have to be painted. But if the Healey is a roadster (no roll up windows) the doors come off very easily and should not add too much labor.
So then it comes down to regional cost. Here is an example that shock me and probably will shock just about everyone else. This shocked me because I have painted many, many cars and I do this as a hobby but I would not have given this minimum price that this guy got. Especially for a red paint colour. Red auto paint is the most expensive paint you can buy. So here is a picture of a '63 Vette that I just put a new rear suspension under for this guy. I know this car and I had it about 3 years ago where I put a front suspension under it. I the interim while in his garage, something fell off the roof rafters and cracked the back deck. He took it to a local 'production' body shop because he had insurance money. The whole body showed its age and it had cracks in traditional places. While at the production shop, he asked "How much to paint the whole car" instead of just the repair and spot and blending of the repair. When he told me that they did the whole car for $2000. I just about fell over. Very, Very reasonable in my opinion, especially for a fibre glass car.

HealeyRick said:

So many variables, it's hard to give a guess how much it will cost. Is the existing paint solid enough that it can be scuffed and shot over? Do you just want the outside shot, or do you want jambs, trunk and underhood painted? What's the labor rate in your area? You'll get a better job and save some money if you remove the stainless fender beading before delivering the car to the painter. Visit some of the local shows and cruise-ins, including the hot rod and import showsl Somebody will know a painter that does side work that will give you a decent job at a savings.

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I guess it was an unfair question to answer with so many variables. A few years ago my truck needed just the hood and front bumper painted and got several quotes ranging between $1200-2500. But I ended up letting a small side road shop do it for $500, I was very sceptical since he was so much cheaper but figured it's just a work truck and it doesn't need to be perfect. Well I was shocked with the results looking excellent.
Stopped by there today and got a quote to paint it Healey blue with white trim and under hood and trunk for $1800. He said the current paint looked fine to paint over and I will remove all the chrome. I think I will just go with this since it seems like a reasonable price and know he does good work. Pics to follow in about two months.

I recently had my 100 painted. Fenders loosened, all trim and lights removed by paint shop, no dents, a few scratches to deal with. Hardtop was primed and painted to match. Two part paint--$4K for an excellent job.

I am in the middle of a body off restoration, which included new chassis. But separating the body work cost from the paint work cost, left about $7000 for full two-tone paint (parts and labor).

I had mine painted a few years ago. The price for a good paint job, base coat-clear coat, was $3000.
this would be equivalent to a very good paint job of a new car, but probably not a Jag or Mercedes(no fish eyes- long story).

A concours job was quoted at $10,000, base coar-clear coat.

All of the body work was separate cost. The body is stripped down to bare metal and if there's old patches were metal was brazed in they cut it out and did a better patch job(this wasn't included in the paint job cost)

I think I was $4-$5k a few years ago. Base coat, clear coat, cut and buffed.
https://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff497/carzpics/Troy/rearfencereflect.jpg

I was thinking along the lines of take a night class and paint it yourself at VoTech. That is what I did

CaptRandy said:

I was thinking along the lines of take a night class and paint it yourself at VoTech. That is what I did

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I did the same. Really makes you appreciate how much work goes into a good paint job, especially if you go down to bare metal.

My car finally goes to the paint shop next week. I've removed everything in preparation including the beading above and below the front blinkers. It was plastic and painted over. I've seen cars with it painted and others with chrome. What is the proper method?
What a pain removing the chrome beading on the front & rear fenders.
I'm not looking forward to reinstalling them, any suggestions for making it easier?

Cessna, If you have not already done so, in order to reinstall the beads, you will have to loosen the bolts joining the fenders to the shrouds. As you will find out, some of those bolts are next to impossible to access. Just loosen them enough to create a little space to slip the tabs on the back of the beads into place.

Most people seem to prefer installing the beads after the paint job is complete. The risk with that method is scratching the paint with the extremely sharp and sometimes uncooperative metal tabs; definitely not a job to do alone. On the last car that I did, I fitted the beads into place before painting, leaving the beads a bit high so that paint could go into the gap between the fenders and shrouds. Then, after buffing, I pushed the beads down into place, bent the tabs over, and tightened the fasteners. That seemed to work OK - pros and cons.

If you put the beads on after painting, cover the tabs with tape and put it on the edges of the fenders first for protection.

If you are installing new beads and they come covered in black vinyl wrapping, make sure you remove the vinyl before installing. I didn't and was very sorry.

Thanks for the input. I can't wait to get it painted and put back together. They said 2-3 weeks.

Keep us posted. $1800 sounds reasonable. My buddy paid $2k to get his TR6 repainted.

CessnaTPA said:

I guess it was an unfair question to answer with so many variables. A few years ago my truck needed just the hood and front bumper painted and got several quotes ranging between $1200-2500. But I ended up letting a small side road shop do it for $500, I was very sceptical since he was so much cheaper but figured it's just a work truck and it doesn't need to be perfect. Well I was shocked with the results looking excellent.
Stopped by there today and got a quote to paint it Healey blue with white trim and under hood and trunk for $1800. He said the current paint looked fine to paint over and I will remove all the chrome. I think I will just go with this since it seems like a reasonable price and know he does good work. Pics to follow in about two months.

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Well after 6 weeks in the paint shop I finally got my car back and the exterior put back together. Overall I'm very pleased and it looks awesome in the sunlight 10 ft away. But will admit under a fluorescent light looking up close you can see some flaws in the paint, but they are minor and you really have to be looking for them. For $1800 I guess can't expect it to be show car flawless.

I told the shop to paint it the same color blue and let them determine the paint codes. The shade of blue looks great but after reading the label off the left over paint can it reads Aston Martin Islay Blue. Likely when they ordered the paint they got Austin and Aston confused, I'm guilty of it myself in the past. If I had never seen the paint label I would have never known the difference since it looks like Healey Blue to me.

Now onto redoing the seats and panels.