Paint Pricing

[pbrown]

What is the going rate on quality paint jobs these days?

--Patrick

[Brent]

That is a tough question to put a figure on. I have heard of 3000.00 paint jobs and I have heard of 10,000.00 paint jobs. The 3000.00 jobs always have a story associated with them and usually end with a battle and a lost friendship. Not to mention a few major flaws. I have seen some 5,000 jobs that would hold their own against any car, anywhere, in any show. But I do not think this is the norm. From what I have experienced a "show" paint job with stripes will start around 7,000.

I am sorry to admit I spent too much and got too little. My car has more pin holes than Quaker has oats. I am researching the "eraser method" to fill spost and hopefully increase the quality of my paint job.

There are some painters that have done many Cobras and know whats what.They are usually less expensive and the finish product is excellent. I would try to find one of them even if I had to travel 10 hours to do so.

"If I knew then what I know now"

)-: Brent )-:

[eliminator]

I had a real good painter do my car with stripes. I was at the shop every Friday working on some under the body work and installing a MGB type trunk prop. So I know what he did. The 427 S/C body requires alot of body work to get it straight, (more than I would have thought), the FIA body is better, needing less work. All my doors were worked on inside, the hood underneath is as good as on top, the contours of the fenders are rounded underneath, the door jambs have been sqared and slightly rounded. We also finished 1 1/2" under the fenders. With this said he had quoted me a price of 6,000-6,500 for the job. After it was done I gave him 6,000 and I paid the material bill, 1,200. So 7,200 for an excellent job. He was approaced by me to do another Unique Car and turned it down, (wanted to do one Cobra and had done his one).
In most cases you pay for what you get, he chased pin holes like Brent pointed out for at least two days. The pin holes where everywhere the closer we came to putting the paint on the more we found. The guy was a perfectionist and was not going to do it half assed, so there was more work involved and he didn't make alot of money off the job. So if someone told me he could get one painted for 4,000 then I can show you what he didn't get for 4,000. I think a minumum of 6,000-7,000 for a good paint job. By the way I helped lay out the stripes on my car, you have to do it to appreciate it (by the way they are straight, and the nose is aligned with the hood, and the hood to the cowl and dash) good day job. They are worth every dollar of an extra 500.00 - 700.00.

Eliminator

[weaver]

The painter we use charges $4500.00 for a solid colors and and extra $500.00 for stripes, this price includes taking the DPK apart, painting, color sanding, undercoating and reassembling the kit to a DPK. He is in Atlanta and he picks up at our shop and delivers it when he is finished, he owns a fairly large body shop and if he can make money at that price anyone should be able to, oh by the way, he does this in 2 weeks or less.If you know what to look for and have worked with fiberglass there is no surprises, pin holes are always there when working with glass, if you don't take care of them to start with it can be a pain. I have painted over 70 of our cars and are always amazed when a painter takes months and charges $6000.00 and sometimes more, for this price you should get a perfect or near perfect job. When I was younger I painted all our cars including my red car and our 289 car and they are as straight and slick as you will find and both took me about a 2 weeks from start to finish. Anyone who thinks our bodies take alot of prep work for paint needs to look around at this industry and see what else is available.

Alan

[clayfoushee]

That's true Alan, most of the guys in our area are building, or have built FFRs. You should see how many pinholes are on that body.....looks more like a sponge..

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[pgermond]

You should be able to get a quality paint job somewhere in the $3,500 - $5,000 price range easily. I looked around, talked around, and discovered a guy right here in my own backyard. First came across his web site http://www.streetrodpainter.com then talked to some of his customers.

He specializes in FFRs, but has done a few Unique’s. When I pulled up to his shop with my Unique, he must have had a dozen FFRs in the shop from all over the US (in a lot of cases, FFR ships the body direct to him and the rest of the car to the buyer). Anyway, one Unique and a dozen FFRs. Talk about apples and oranges… more like one plum and a dozen prunes. His shop guys were in awe of my car, the quality, strength, etc. of the body. The big part of doing a fiberglass car is the curing process, block sanding, prime, over-n-over-n-over.

Now to your question – I spent about as much as I could with Ken (the owner), metallic paint, stripes, undercoating, rolled the edges on the dash, doors and cockpit, etc. Total out the door - $4,950.

The car is beautiful and guys who know there stuff slobber all over it :D As a matter of fact, I had a street rodder friend over the other day who went on-and-on about how well the doors fit -- he regularly attends Hot August Nights in Reno every year, and was comparing my fit to the Cobra’s he saw in Reno. The Unique is superior. There is no reason to spend a fortune. Shop around, find someone who knows fiberglass, and who paints Cobra’s. It ain’t that hard.

Good luck



Phil

427 Roadster, #4279436
Southern Automotive FE
3:31 and Toploader

Roseville (N.Cal)

[eliminator]

I guess the KY, TN and IN area is the high dollar area. It's hard to find a painter to do any car, Cobra, ect. And no one wants to do re-paints[V]. I will agree that the Unique Body is as good as it gets with Replicas but they still require the work;). Alan, back when you were doing all that painting, a loaf of bread was a quarter:D. Looks like CA has the competitive market[^].

Eliminator

[Brent]

:(

If I had paid 4,500 for my paint job I would have the Webers installed by now:(

Brent

[JerryBP]

Do not know what it is going to cost to get ours painted as Son Greg is doing the bodywork and painting, he has it upside down now doing the bottom, filling in all the voids and unfinished areas, then he is going to undercoat it with pickup bedliner material.

Work in Progress, Unique 427-9429 400+hp 351C Tremec 3550-2 5spd Coal Black
by Bruce, Greg & Jerry Porter Caldwell, Ohio

[Copper01]

When I ordered my car from Alan last year about this time, I inquired about a good painter and he referred me to Bruce at Jodeco Auto Body. They're located just south of Atlanta not too far from Southern Automotive. When my deluxe pallet kit was being assembled by Unique, I spoke with Bruce and, as Alan said, I was quoted $4,500 for a straight paint job and an additional $500 for stripes. I talked with Alan and made arrangements for the body to be shipped to Jodeco where it was painted and then shipped back to Unique where Alan fitted the body onto the frame. I also paid a nominal fee for Alan to do the necessary work to the car so that when I got it, I wouldn't have to remove the body from the frame to complete the wiring and final assembly. The 427 side oiler and the toploader were delivered to Unique by Southern Automotive and were also installed by Alan and the whole thing was ready to be loaded into the trailer when I got there. The quality of the paint job is superb and I could not be happier with the car. Who would want a Kirkham when you have the Weavers!

Ben
Unique 427
SA 427SO w/ Toploader
Guardsman Blue w/ White Stripes

[TurnpikeBoy]

Went to 5 different shops who ranged from excited to indifferent. Settled on the guy who came recommended by the streetrod guys in the shop; nice guy, Audi TT red w/ TT white stripes, 176 hrs. filling/blocking/finishing, 3 color coats each red/white, 3 clearcoats; $4,500. He is the artiste-type and wanted it as close to perfect as he could stand.

Downside was he got a completely stripped body, on a buck, on 1 June 2002. I finally got to bring it home 1 October 2002.

Upside? - by Thanksgiving 2002 the car was running and ready to go.

:D Nuthin but big poop-eatin grins ever since :D

Yeehah

[COBRAGAR]

what ever you decide make sure to ask lots of questions , and look to see if your painter is capable of doing it rite the first time and my case i paid 2700 for sh*t job now am having it redone by same guy that has done cars for enzo at finishline . by the the way if the car that belongs to oldtimer was done by the guys in atlanta that alan amd muarice use the 4500 to 5000 dollars is a desent deal . hope that whats happen to me doesn't happen to anybody . good luck

[pgermond]

One other thing that will help - build a body buck that has casters and mount the body to it. This makes it so-o-o-o much easier for the painter (they love'em).

Also keep in mind this is not a one week process. These guys have to put food on the table , so they most likely have several cars they are working on at any one time. If you want it quick and want to be their #1 priority, be prepared to pay for it. Mine took 8 weeks in the fall, which is typically his slow period.

Phil

427 Roadster, #4279436
Southern Automotive FE
3:31 and Toploader

Roseville (N.Cal)

[weaver]

Hey a loaf of bread is still just a quarter in Alabama that is why our kit price hasen't changed much over the years.

[casaleenie]

Bought the car previously owned but have the receipts for the paint job..
$4,500. Silver stripes and rookie stripes.....
Looks like a great job to me...Very, very happy with it... This was in the past two years....

AL

[Okiesnake]

I did the same as Copper01. Price was great, quality was great, and it was sure inspiring to have the car all ready looking beautiful the day it was delivered, waiting for me to finish it. We had it finished in about 6 weeks after I got it from Unique.

[GeorgiaSnake]

Well this is a topic that I know plenty about. Chill and I ordered our cars together and had cut a deal with Bruce to paint both cars. I waffled as the delivery date grew near and decided to try something different. One of the reasons I bought a Unique was so I could do it myself.

Alan asked me many times what I was going to do for paint. I think he had this fear of me turning my car into a Spencermobile when I told him I was going to do it myself. Well being somewhat stubborn I decided to do it. I have never done any body work and hadn't painted a car except models 40 years ago.

I bought an idiot stick several boxes of 120 and 80 grit paper and went to work. I had a buddy that had been painting cars for 25 years and he said he would consider helping me when I got it to the paint stage.

I learned many lessons and had, for the most part, fun diong the work. When I finally got my buddy over he was amazed at my handy work, which I attrubute more to the high quality Unique body than my new found occupation. He showed me a few things to correct before we primed it.

After priming the car many of my rookie mistakes became obvious. I block sanded the car again and we re-shot the primer. I block sanded again and we shot it again. The third sanding produced a car ready for paint. We shot the base coat and several coats of clear in the my garage. The next weekend we color sanded and did a quick buff so I could get the car on the road.

My car is as nice as any I have seen and will be perfect after another cut and buff, which I plan to do sometime in Feb. I'm not sure I would do it again but I did learn a great deal and really appreciate what Bruce does.

I spent about $1200 on paint, $400 on a small standup compressor and gave my buddy $900 and let him drink all the beer he wanted (big mistake :D) I have pictures of almost every stage from rough sanding, door margin, trunk hood and door finishing, painting as well as modifying the hood scoop to replicate the FIA hood. I can post or email any pictures for those that may be considering "doing it".

Randy


Unique 289 FIA
Southern Automotive 396
Team III 16's
Brilliant Silver

[Brent]

Randy,
I should have done mine myself as well. I fell like I have been VERY particular and fabricated alot of items I wanted extra detail to, and the most visible thing is the paint.

Great job!

Brent

[clayfoushee]

Just out of curiousity, what about repaints? Should the body be removed for those, or is it possible to do an nice job with the body on? I'm assuming you stick with the original color.

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[GeorgiaSnake]

Clay based on my limited knowledge I would say you could do it without much trouble, body shops do it every day. The question is what is the problem? Is it the paint or major body prep problems. I spent well over 100 hours (rookie time) doing body prep and the paint took less than 3 hours.

Randy

Unique 289 FIA
Southern Automotive 396
Team III 16's
Brilliant Silver

[Oldtimer]

Yes, my car was painted by Bruce Bunn ,as the painter recomended by Alan. Everyone that sees it has had nothing but compliments about the body work quality, overall finish and the colors. I'm very pleased!

Rich

[clayfoushee]

Randy,

The body and paint work on my car were first rate. Don't know where it was done, but it was a car the Weavers arranged to have painted, because they also installed the engine and mounted the body when it came back from the paint shop.

The only problem I have now is I was hit in a parking lot while I was sitting still (backed into broadside at very low speed....damn teenager in a Ford Focus) about 2 weeks after buying the car last August. A friend (former car body guy) and I wet sanded and polished virtually everything out, and it's very hard to tell anything happened unless you're in just the right light. But there are scratches in the pass. door and some very tiny stress cracks at the rear fender/side junction. We're afraid to go any deeper for fear of breaking through the clear coat. I'm trying to ignore it, since it's almost invisible, but ultimately I'd like to have it fixed right. Since it's a silver car, I'm leary about trying to blend it in. Thus, when I do decide to go for it, I'd probably rather do a whole repaint.

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[pgermond]

Clay -

Ouch :( Is the kid in the Ford Focus still walking among us? :D

Phil

427 Roadster, #4279436
Southern Automotive FE
3:31 and Toploader

Roseville (N.Cal)

[brfutbrian]

if you do the prep work yourself, you can get a quality paint job pretty reasonably. all my painter did was shoot primer, color, clear and buff.i did all the bodywork and blocking on the primer.1800 labor w/ stripes, 1000 for material i supplied. a well known local painter here in connecticut who does alot of ERAs wanted 5k just to shoot the paint i supplied. i saw the cash register ringing up in his head as soon as i told him what the car was, so i wasnt that surprised by his price.ill put my paintjob against his anytime, so you need to shop around. find somebody youre comfortable with. a bad paint experience can turn a fun build into a nightmare fast. later brian

[pgermond]

I hope you guys know, you can question any price that's given and do a little dickering. Kinda of like walking into the showroom and paying sticker price... who does that [?][B)][?][xx(][?] Put on a poker face and do some dealing ;)

Phil

427 Roadster, #4279436
Southern Automotive FE
3:31 and Toploader

Roseville (N.Cal)

[GeorgiaSnake]

Clay I dropped a wrench on the top of my fender about 6 hours after the paint was finished [V]. My buddy looked at it and said no problem. He can fill it with a mix of base coat / clear and "burn" it in he also said that if I didn't like the anything else that he could make it go away either by fogging, burning or some other tricks of the trade. A good painter can fix most anything as long as the body prep is correct and the paint thick enough.

Randy

Unique 289 FIA
Southern Automotive 396
Team III 16's
Brilliant Silver

[clayfoushee]

Randy, there's a well-known local street rod body and paint guy, who said the same as you. He said he could virtually guarantee an perfect repair on any color BUT silver, however, he was pretty confident it would turn out fine too. I'm just hesitant about doing it because it is virtually invisible except in very bright, direct sunlight from certain angles, and less obvious than a simple door ding.

Phil, the FF teenager was a sweet girl, who immediately started sobbing and saying how sorry she was. I immediately thought about how I would like someone in a similar position treating my daughter after making such a mistake. Plus, I was in too much pain from the 3rd degree burn on the back of my ankle from jumping out of the car so fast[V]......

Clay

Unique 9299, 427FE side oiler, top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD