Hello all,

I just finished rebuilding a 390 for my 68 F100. I have done all the swaps such as C6, power steering, power brakes, power seats etc.... She runs pretty sweet barring a few tweeks here and there. I must say that it would not have been so sweet without the knowledge I have gained here.


My question is now my baby needs a face lift.

She has some cancer here and there and really I should replace the hood and bed. I need to know what it reasonable price to pay to have her blasted and painted. Nothing fancy but a decent paintjob. I am not going to do it myself. Not going to do it. Wife has had enough if you know what I mean. I talked to some guy That works in my area. Gave me the farm boy treatment. He quoted 5000 to 7000 to do it. Right! I should have known when the name of the palace was Elite Custom Body and I saw Mercedes parked out front. What a crank! Needless to say I could easily afford to drive a Benz free and clear if I wanted to. Wait until I tell all my rich friends where not to go. Old Fords have sentimental value to me. I mean, any weiner can drive a Hummer(tahou). Well, What does every body think. I'm thinking 2000 range. Am I on drugs?

Ken
68 F100 390
74 Bronco 351W

 

I'm not a rich person and odds are against me ever being one but you might consider changing your drugs because sandblasting, paint and materials would probably exeed over 50% of your $2000 not including the labor on these old trucks to achieve a decent paint job. Cheaper is not better when bringing an old Ford Truck back to live another 30+ years

 

be alot cheaper is you sanded down and did the bodywork yourself. get it all ready and buy the paint from a paint store
then take it all to a paint shop.

 

No sir, your not on drugs, but it looks like your in for a reality check, expecting a body /paint on a old truck (a quality one, anyway) with rust removal, containment, repairs, and new paint for less than 5k is about unheard of. I did my own 79, just minor dings and rust blemishes, two tone w/ color change, bc/cc and I wouldnt do it again for 7K, imho, good luck.

 

Well thats what I needed. I guess this guy was just cranky because he had too much work and treated me like an idiot because he didn't see the point? I appreciate the reality check. I guess I will do some of the work myself as I would have a hard time laying down that much for a paint job sentimental or not. My dad would kick me in the *** for paying that much for daily driver work truck. Smart investing gene I guess. I just wanted to prevent the rust from getting worse and brighten up the paint.

Thanks,

Ken

 

Having already been thru what you are getting ready to go in to, I will share a bit of hard knock experience. From my time on the net, learning about old truck restores, and a lot I learned too late, there seems to be a common mistake being made by most all old truck lovers. AND that is not allowing in their goals or budgets , for the ONE most expensive and most important final task on their project , the PAINT. There is not ONE component on a truck more expensive or labor intensive, than the body work/paint.
There is only three ways to achieve this final task and that is to 1: Let a pro do it. + you dont have to do all the hard labor, or have your garage a mess, and dont have to invest in all the tools and $$$ , it takes to do it, dont have to learn thru costly mistakes like the diyer has to . You wont have to make your wife or g/f a truck widow
- you have to come up with all the 3k -5k all within say a 2-3 month period. You have to trust someone to take as much pride in working on your truck as you do(very rare, because no one luvs it the wayyou do). You have to FIND a shop willing to do it. Restores are LABOR intensive, they take up a lot of shop space and owners time, which they have to compensate for in charges. Most shops now are collision repair, where the fast money is, I couldnt find a shop that wanted my job, so I had to do it myself, cost me more doing it myself.
2: Do the body prep yourself. Thats cool ,but you need heated dry space, and will need tools and lots of spare time. The big negative here is finding a shop that will paint over a diyer prep. Most shops know that when someone else preps, and the job fails later, the owner of the truck/car ,when asked by someone looking at the failed paint job, "who did your paint ? they will get their shop name listed , NOT good for the shops rep, so most shops decline pre-prepped jobs. So, look for a shop, BEFORE , you prep, might save you having a prepped truck with no one to shoot it.
3: Do it ALL yourself. This will take a investment in A LARGE enough space to do the work. Measure your truck and be sure you have at least 4 ft of working space all the way around. You will need to have or buy, air compressor, hoses, paint gun, safety breathing tools, hand tools, and MANY MANY other materials. But first get KNOWLEDGE, a plan, then act. Go on a net search, type in autobodystore , autoretore, classic truck, so on, BEFORE you spend a dime , and get informed on what this diyer paint encompasses, before you start. The pros will give you help with sound advice ,with instructional videos, and they have on line forums like here, to help with all you questions. Sorry for the long post, go get informed and get a plan, because your outcome will be a end result of your planning. good luck guy,

 

You could try to find someone to do it as a side project. If they work in the field and have the tools needed, could save you a little money. A busy collison shop will put it to the side and work on it when they don't have collision work to do. A lot don't like to take rust work, unless they specialize in restorations. Greg was on the mark. There was a beetle convertable in a shop I worked at that was there long before I got there and finally was finished when we started to slow down a little, Quality paint materials are extremely high priced. Some of the cheeper lines you can get to look pretty good, but won't be a show winner. If you can find someone to do it on the side, you could get all the body prep done and find a booth to rent to spray it. Or if you get it all prepped shops would be more willing to spray it then to do all the rust repair. Some people have pretty nice garages that are set up like a booth. Maybe you could place in ad in your local area, or browse some of the auto body forums like autobodyonline or try one of the restoration forums. There are lots of techs looking at them and if your lucky enough to find one in your area maybe they would take it on if they don't have a bunch of there own projects. Hang out at some car shows, or talk to a club, maybe they have some connections. Maybe some guy left the field or retired and has a bunch of tools sitting at home. Forget about the 2000 if you take it in to a professional shop, Most start around there for just a paint job.

 

You might consider taking it to a vocational school body shop or a community collage body shop. They are always looking for learning projects and they don't charge a arm and leg and the instructer makes sure it is done right. The drawback is it might take a while but not as long as a shop that does it in their spare time.

 

That would be another option if you can get it in. I took the class right out of highschool, and they like to take stuff that will give students experience in doing different types of things. Maybe they are looking to replace a quarter panel that week. And there always seemed to be a lot of work on the schools teachers cars or there friends.

 

Great ideas,

I appreciate all the time. I will look into the schools around here but may just have to bite the bullet. Otherwise she is going to rust from underneath me.

Thanks again,

Ken