I had a chat on this with the body shop that will be doing my truck - if I wanted metallic paint, I was to expect a 4-5K premium over non-metallic paint due to the prices of the primer and the length of the process. Naturally, I opted for non-metallic

 

I may just have dents pulled and leave it and as money allows paint it. I’m 26 with a farm and a baby on the way so I’ve got time on my hands but 20k is a lot in this economy so I’ll have to wait a couple years. Should have waited closer to when this baby would be graduating from college and have them pay for it 😂

 

There is a reason some hobbyists call taking their vehicle to body shop for paint "PAINT PRISON". It go's in, they start work then get busy on higher profit jobs and yours sits. Parts removed are then lost or damaged. Months later they start back on it then tell you their best paint guy quit and they are way behind. Then they tell you prices went up and you have to pay more if you want it back. then you get it back and the quality does not meet your expectations. Sorry for the doom and gloom but if I had a nickel for every body shop horror story I have been told I could buy a Big Mac meal.
Their are reputable shops out there but they are big money. And just because a shop is expensive don't mean they are reputable. 40 years in the hobby I started out doing my own paint then got out of it because I couldn't keep up with technology, material cost, time etc. Dealing with body shops I never had a horrible experience but none were smooth and all took 3-4 times as long as promised.....I will never have an old vehicle painted again unless I build a paint booth, study up, buy proper equipment, PPE, etc and do it myself.

 

A little web surfing on the right web sites can be very informative. TCP Global is one good example of this. They sell everything one might need to paint a vehicle. Here is their page on Wimbleton White, a popular color in the Ford world that they offer for $135 a gallon in acrylic enamel.
I did a few cars with enamel and lacquer in the late 70s and early 80s. The increase in material costs is just shocking to me but that is what we have to work with these days.

 

I have been in paint prison before, I have to say it wasn't the shops fault. I was laid off from work and doing a barter system. I wouldn't bother with a clear, just find someone to buff and fluff.

 

For the DIY audience, here is a selection of paint booths that you may want to consider. I bought one of these several years ago and hope to assemble and use it to paint my truck section by section (front clip, cab and bed) at some point in the foreseeable future.

 

Just brought mine into a hopefully reputable shop last week. The estimate was $10,000. That included fixing some minor holes, couple small rust spots, pulling bed, trim, glass, fixing most but not all dings, paining interior side of doors and jambs. It would not include the underside, backside of panels, or firewall. 2-stage, two tone.

The bodyman said materials/paint alone would be about $3,000 and that a show quality job would be well north of $20,000.

 

Embrace the original look and just clean up and preserve the exterior until you can afford to paint it. Buff it out, then wax it, or ceramic coat it. If there's any rust, a wire brush, some spray bomb rust converter and color matched paint can keep stop it for cheap and it's easy to touch up if it comes back. Get a couple quotes for paintless dent removal if the dents bother you.

The only painting I'd do now would be the bottom of the cab, the firewall and the inner fenders since the drivetrain is out. See if there's any sandblasting places that do stuff like dump truck/big trailers/etc. They can usually put the truck up on a lift blast underneath it without taking anything apart and then prime and paint it with a tough chassis paint. Just don't expect show quality paint, it's meant to be thick and tough.

 

If you are looking to save money. Grab a can of Bondo and fix the dents and digs yourself and then take it to Macco for a $400 paint job.

 

I’m going to save up and have a professional do it so I can have a really sharp truck. I’m going to have the shop pull the dents and I’ll clean the paint up. I don’t even think we have a Macco anywhere close to me. The closest town to me is lucky to have a post office

 

Prepare yourself when the painter tells you his price. It's going to be jaw dropping. Also remember that it has original paint once. When it's gone, it's gone. I'm speaking from experience. These truck have a story to tell and the OG paint is part of the story.

 

I got one quote and Monday I’m getting another so I’m already expecting the 15-20k range. The shop I’m waiting on is the one who trained the owner of the original shop I got a quote from.

 

It was a shock to me when I was quoted $6K by a shop a few years ago, at the time it included installing 2 bedsides, my tailgate, and two doors I had since the '90s. I kept telling myself that "I" was gonna do it, but then in the later teens I gave up on that idea, even offered the truck for sale with extras.

Was in August 2021 I mentioned it again to my wife, it was our 42nd Anniversary and she told me to talk to Roy (local painter buddy). I agreed, and put a plan together. I was gonna help him swap bed sides and we'ld put the tailgate on after he prepped it, I would swap new doors on after he trimmed them and painted insides. I never asked for a estimate, I knew from the earlier one it was not gonna be just "hundreds" like back in the '70s or '80s. I just told him to let me know as we went along and I'd pay up, and he agreed to let me know when he needed $$$.

As time passed, I moved the truck between my home and his shop a few times, we decided best to replace rear cab corners and front fenders. I got fenders and corners, he put the corners in. He also did the bedsides (and new inner arches I had on hand) himself. He had the front and rear glass out and went over the opening lips, I got new rubber. He primed and trimmed my fenders and then I swapped them on here at home as weather permitted. He showed me how he and I were going to use razor blades to take the accumulated layers of paint off the cab and cowl and hood, then he did it himself when I wasn't there, but I saw it before he finished. He hand sanded the cowl vent slots too, no wire cup brushing. Paint used is :"YZ" Ford Oxford White base coat / clear coat polyurethane. I removed the bumpers before he started. We did NOT reinstall any of the old race track or even the "in dent" trim.

Was June 10 2022 he was finished his part. I found only one small run in the tailgate on the bottom of the hinge round edge and then, and then only because it was hanging up and he put it on after he painted it. Since starting, he had only once let me pay a little, was after he primed and painted the new door insides red. Was June 28 when I finally got him to tell me what he wanted, "How does 65 sound?" he asked when pressed. I knew to add zeros, but I was happy and so wrote a check right away. He said he was happy with it. I knew he put a lot of skilled work in it, I was & am still pleased as punch. I thought he was joking when he said I'd sell it for 10, but I did soon turn down 13 at a gas station.

We've known each other sine 1984 at least. Initially, I was gonna paint it myself just to get my body parts on it and I even gave serious thought to "Line-X-ing" it. I listened as he talked about materials, paint, etc ... stuff is high now. When I bought the truck in 1986, it had just had a new paint job as it had spent a few years parked under trees. In 1989 I had it painted in polyurethane and it with a fiberglass shell was $850 total, and it looked OK for a few years but I could tell that aluminum tape and chicken wire under bondo was not gonna be a long-term deal, so that was when I started picking up those new parts ... that I then stored.

I once had a '72 Chevy stepside painted acrylic enamel Mack Truck Fleet Blue. Was $450 then. In the '70s, a $400 paint job looked great. I had a '69 340 Swinger done in the early '70s for $225 and was happy even with minor orange peal. You could see doing them every few years then.

 

Has anyone here gotten their truck wrapped? I read that a wrap job can run between 1500 and 5000 USD which would be cheaper than many of the paint jobs cited here. Here are some examples varying from mild to downright weird:

 

Wrapping doesn't hide dents or rust. the actual painting will cost the same or less than the wrap. it's the body work and prep that cost so much.

Materials are expensive because everything is expensive anymore and will only get worse. when kids are making $18 at McDonald you can't expect to get a professional with his own shop to spend weeks or months and get out cheap.

What I do to help the cost is take the rig to them stripped and in bare metal. if I need a different door or fender it's on it . basically, they just epoxy prime it and go to work.

Paint is by far the most expensive part of a restoration and even more so from here on. the quality of the paint and body work will be what sets the best examples apart from the rest and the value as well.