paint costs

[Jack '29 Sport Coupe]

Speaking of fancy VS non fancy paint jobs.....I can appreciate a bone stock original in all of its original patina glory chugging down the road every bit as much as a trailer queen that has a fine point rating. How cool is that?

Jack

 

[Terry NJ]

Hi Keith, We "chatted" a few months ago about Magnet paints. I got a gallon of their "Chassis Saver" at $110 a gallon. I found a dealer nearby. I'm going to do my frame with it. I think I'll try their other paints on the body. Can you think of any rearson not to? As someone else said, this car's becoming a money pit. Oh a BTW, Does any one know of a place (on a car or truck) where you can get laminated safety glass? I fouind a shop nearby who'll cut it out of a pane, but I hear most flat glass in a car is Plate glass (Popcorn Glass) TIA
Terry

I don't know of any high quality(restoration level) shops that will paint over any work but their own.I do know of some quality shops here that will,but no guarantee of any kind.There are guys around though that will come to your house on a weekend and squirt your car.My painting experience has been limited to painting a few hundred trucks and pieces of equipment,and maybe a hundred cars or so.Kind of like Maaco with better materials.I felt I got burned a few years ago by a man that had his 41 Ford truck ready to paint.He was disabled,and put the truck together over 15 or 20 years on nickles and dimes.The truck was a clam to start with,and when he got done with the bodywork it was quite presentable.I put some blue paint on it and it was a nice looking driver.He took the truck to local cruise nights and old home weekends for years.When lookers picked the bodywork apart he would tell them that I had painted it.He wouldn't tell anybody that he had done the bodywork,well,he would if somebody asked him outright.Where I'm not in the car painting business it never hurt me,but it could hurt guys who are in the business who paint over others work.If and when the paint peels,or the substrate shrinks and the sanding scratches in the plastic and primer jump out the paint guy gets the blame.Maaco doesn't care.when you bring in a car that you have done the prep on you get to sign a waiver of the quality of the end result.Most people I know would be happy with Maaco paint jobs.If kept under cover when parked they can look presentable for a long time.At one time the one here was using a paint called Sun Belt.It would start to fade on its way out the door.One sure thing about Maaco here,you will not see the same guy who painted your car if you come back in six months.The fresh out of body school kids will stick around for a while,they are young and can keep up the pace.There are no places left that will rent you booth space now either,unless you have a friend that owns one.The guys here tell me the insurance companies closed that door with a slam.I never saw any profit in that anyway.You have to make room,move cars out of the way,get the car in,let the guy set up,get ready,mix,paint,clean up,usually dispose of his paper and scraps,run the lights,fan,compressor,then put everything back so you can get back to work the next day,then on top of it all it has to be done after hours so you are there instead of home or doing something else.A couple hundred bucks to rent a booth out gets to be more work than it is worth.

 

[Keith True]

I've never used the chassis saver they sell.I believe it is POR 15.Just marketed under their own name.I never researched it myself,but a Valspar rep told me there is only one actual maker of the POR 15,but it is sold and marketed under many different names.Magnet is a very old company,dating to around 1915.A lot of different names have gone on their paints.I have used lots of it,in the last few years I have been using their urethane.It is holding good shines on truck cabs and trailers,which never get waxed,just power washed.I used it on my own cars and trucks,it has held up longer than the factory finish.I don't even wash my own cars and trucks,never mind wax them.(moderns) Most any glass company can cut you safety glass,the popcorn glass is tempered,which is the ideal side glass.I see no need of it in an A.In a modern car if you are trapped in a wreck the safety glass is hard to rip out to get you out.The tempered just pops apart in pretty much harmless pieces.In a wrecked A,the chances of a jammed door are minute.Finding them still shut after a wreck is rare.Tempered is much stronger though.The glass guy I use told me he had ******* with a new tempering service that was much more affordable,so I told him to go with the tempered for my Tudor side glass.It was the first and last job he gave them.It wound up costing over double what I would have paid for safety glass.So now anything he does for the old cars is back to the $7.50 per square foot safety glass.