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How much time to restore a TR body?

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Britishautobody

Jedi Hopeful
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People are always asking me ,how much time does it take to restore the body and paint on a car. There are zero books or time frames a guy has to work with to determine this answer.
I have restored many Triumphs and what I have found is that a average TR4 stripped down to bare metal with minimal rust out needing a floor pan or 2 ,needing one rocker outer and maybe a couple small rust patches, normal abusive dents, will take one guy between 175 and 250 hours to restore. Multiply that by their shop rate and throw in $1000-$1500 in materials and you have your answer. Mind you this is for a show quality result.
 
What is that hourly rate likely to be?

Are all show quality restorations ones involving frame off jobs?

I want to know about paint. Whoever painted mine years ago went so far beyond the quality standards I've experienced that I'm not certain I could find anyone that good again.

It's a near mirror finish black, without the slightest hint of texture, waves or any other distraction. I can't describe it in my own words other than to say that it looks like a near perfect glass finish.

What would that have been? Acrylic, hand rubbed lacquer, something different? I'd never want to repaint it to something less than it was.

Finally, I have an old TR hood. It's rust pitted. Thousands of tiny rust pits, but nothing nearly through the metal. Is it trash? I had it primed and blasted, but it would really need work to ever use it. It's just an extra.

thx
 
My shop rate is very fair I charge $48.00 per hour ,some day when I have more work then I know what to do with I will raise it.

Not all of my top show winning cars were frame off restorations, The ones that weren't planned that way I believe exceeded the customers expectations so they went the extra mile to finish them .

Probably the reason you don't see many mirror finishes is because it involves allot of time to produce, sanding the finish flat then polishing. You can achieve this with a single stage finish or a base/coat finish .

I wouldn't say your hood is trash unless the metal is thin, You can chem dip it and know you will have zero rust problems,it will get into the smallest of pits.
You can also treat the rust pits with Rust Mort.
 
KVH said:
Finally, I have an old TR hood. It's rust pitted. Thousands of tiny rust pits, but nothing nearly through the metal. Is it trash? I had it primed and blasted, but it would really need work to ever use it. It's just an extra.
Click to expand...

Not trash! Primer, depending upon the type of primer, may not be enough. Most primer is porous, which is bad news even in AZ.
 
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