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Body & Paint Restoration Shops

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Patrick67BJ8

Patrick67BJ8

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Without mentioning the Shops name(s), has anyone had a good experience with the Shop they chose to do their body & paint work?

How about some not-so-good experiences?
 
I don't have any experience with shops, but if you decide you want to diy, according to an old book I found, this guy makes it look easy. And all for $40 (according to "Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia circa 1962)!
AH $40 paint job.jpgAH paint job 2.jpgAH paint job 3.jpg
 
ahealey1004 said:
I don't have any experience with shops, but if you decide you want to diy, according to an old book I found, this guy makes it look easy. And all for $40 (according to "Practical Handyman's Encyclopedia circa 1962)!
View attachment 28580View attachment 28581View attachment 28582
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I would rather have someone do my bodywork and enjoy a great looking job than try and do it myself. I'm in the process of trying to get my Healey finished from the Shop I used to do the paint & body work and would like to hear from others who have had good and poor experiences in dealing with shops and particualry shops who supposedly have done Healeys in the past and really know Healeys. Communication points, quality issues, pricing issues such as "more work than we thought", etc., etc.
 
Patrick, you know I'm mostly self-sufficient when it comes to working on cars, but between ten (>10) and twenty (>20) years ago, I had to make a tough choice: either lower my standards and accept the quality (or severe lack of...) my own body work and that of a hired professional.

For financial reasons, the Right Decision couldn't be made until I reset my life (but that's a whole 'nother story) and moved up to Ohio.

I chose to use Paul Tsikuris/Tsikuris Classics, primarily because I knew that he did a lot of Healeys, and therefore, knew how "poopy" their bodies fit. Not cheap (even a decade ago) but undoubtedly the correct decision. People have frequently commented on the body gaps (not all are perfect, but only the reproduction trunk lid__which I had provided__is the only nit to pick with gaps) and the paint work. And I "settled" for Paul's everyday painter, not his concours guy (at twice the price).

There were some short comings that could've been avoided, had it not been a long distance job like it was (I typically saw it once or twice a year while he had it). In retrospect, I know Paul was making choices based on his best judgement, but my needs didn't necessarily reflect his.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Tsikuris Classics to anyone, but I'd suggest they visit the shop more often than I did. Another thing too, was that Paul didn't use the internet much__if at all__back then, so if he now does things the way I have been doing, with customer's cars showing almost daily progress updates via an online gallery, things would be different.

I mean, Bill Emerson is/was a client, as well as an adviser, so how can you top that?
 
Randy Forbes said:
Patrick, you know I'm mostly self-sufficient when it comes to working on cars, but between ten (>10) and twenty (>20) years ago, I had to make a tough choice: either lower my standards and accept the quality (or severe lack of...) my own body work and that of a hired professional.
*I agree with you on hiring a professional company for body work & paint, but it seems as though it's still a crap shoot on what you're going to get in the end. I hear more horror stories about poor and bad expereinces than I care to comment on. One guy I know in Houston had his Jag painted and it took them 6 years to get it done...no excuse for that!!

For financial reasons, the Right Decision couldn't be made until I reset my life (but that's a whole 'nother story) and moved up to Ohio.

I chose to use Paul Tsikuris/Tsikuris Classics, primarily because I knew that he did a lot of Healeys, and therefore, knew how "poopy" their bodies fit. Not cheap (even a decade ago) but undoubtedly the correct decision. People have frequently commented on the body gaps (not all are perfect, but only the reproduction trunk lid__which I had provided__is the only nit to pick with gaps) and the paint work. And I "settled" for Paul's everyday painter, not his concours guy (at twice the price).

*I met Paul several years ago when I lived in JAX Florida and dorve down to see him in the mid '70's. I believe he did tell me that he sourced out the body & paint work and he had two different levels of quality. I think communication on the quality of the job expected is critical but how do you phrase the details in writing? Should you communicate verbally which is a he said she said or in writing such as emails. Sending your car out of town or state? Maybe contracting with someone to provide Project Management work to provide updates and photos might be best?

There were some short comings that could've been avoided, had it not been a long distance job like it was (I typically saw it once or twice a year while he had it). In retrospect, I know Paul was making choices based on his best judgement, but my needs didn't necessarily reflect his.

*I was going over to my shop to inspect what was being done weekly and I got to admit that there was weeks when nothing was being done and it was frustrating to see lack of progress. Needless to say my original "time to completion" estimate more than doubled. When they needed money I would get a call "we're really rock and rolling" and an increase in the amount of work being done would improve. I also provided many of the chrome pieces for them to check "fit" against the bodywork they were doing and unfortunately they didn't use the pieces to do this. Of course, I now have issues and they have to corrected. Yes, I checked everything before I took possession of the car, but some things were not evident until I started putting parts back on the car. I have been very patient for them to pick my Healey back up and complete the work.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Tsikuris Classics to anyone, but I'd suggest they visit the shop more often than I did. Another thing too, was that Paul didn't use the internet much__if at all__back then, so if he now does things the way I have been doing, with customer's cars showing almost daily progress updates via an online gallery, things would be different.

I mean, Bill Emerson is/was a client, as well as an adviser, so how can you top that?
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* Best guy for the job!
 
I used a small shop that I knew did good work and $5K for prep, base coat, clear coat. Turned out awesome.
sideposte2.jpg

rearfencereflect.jpg
 
I think if you have a decent car to start with a good body shop can deliver quality results ,I frrl that these so called healey shops think that their Michaelanglo
 
rjc157 said:
I think if you have a decent car to start with a good body shop can deliver quality results ,I frrl that these so called healey shops think that their Michaelanglo
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And therein lies the problem; most Healey bodies require someone with infinite patience to put right.

I'm a patient man (at least when it applies to automotive details__other times, not so much) and I had to give up. And that's with an emotional investment, and the lack of deep pockets, at least initially, to hire the work out. To some guy that punches in @ 8:00 AM and is looking forward to beer-thirty, I just don't believe the average shop can do it. Granted there are gifted individuals, but those guys are going to get noticed, and culled into working for the Michaelangelos eventually.

As per your statement above, I agree that you are correct; a car in good shape can be painted by practically anyone and expect to acheive acceptable results. BUT, even the guys like Paul will tell you (and I know this to be true from personal experience) that once you take that front fender and door back off__even though you've used your bag of tricks to mark locations__you're aligning the bodywork all over again. Those body gaps will make or break the finished result, as too tight of a door or lid, and you've chipped the edges.

Anyone with a modicum of experience (maybe just the ability to read) can paint; I painted the hood, front bumper and radiator support for an 01 ///M Rdstr last fall, and those panels easily looked better than the original finish on the rest of the car, with far less orange peel and deeper gloss. Fortunately for the owner, his intentions were to have the entire car painted at a later date (-$$) all I was doing was buying him some time after he hit that pesky deer. ANd I'm the last person that would call myself a painter ;)
 
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