Question: paint work, what is it worth?

[killain]

I have an 84 coupe, i don't drive it much. It's a clean one owner car(I'm the second owner) It runs very good and has been driven all over the eastern united states. It has 84K on it now and it needs new paint. Is this a car i should invest 4 or 5K into a really decent paint job(It's a two tone silver over gray) or should I do a premium Macco paint job on, or do i spent the five thousand to get a really good paint job done. I can prep the car myself.

 

[85dougnash]

I'll bite . . .

Since no one is responding I will offer my useless opinion:

If you like the car, the fact that a good paint job would cost possibly the value of the car will not matter. Funds permitting, I would give it the best paint job I could afford and forget about any investment considerations. If a Corvette is worth painting it is worth painting well. A good paint job may or may not pay for it's self but a bad paint job will reduce the car's value by the amount needed to make it right. My experience has been that not painting a car is often a better choice than painting it poorly . . . unless someone is looking to unload a turd with a (temporary) shinny paint job.

When you are buying a 'vette, you deserve a car that has the very best work the former owner could give it. With old cars that work is often out of line with it's value but the result is a car that is "right."

Foy
(don't mean to sound preachy)in Las Vegas

 

[hotshotzny]

I have an 84 coupe, i don't drive it much. It's a clean one owner car(I'm the second owner) It runs very good and has been driven all over the eastern united states. It has 84K on it now and it needs new paint. Is this a car i should invest 4 or 5K into a really decent paint job(It's a two tone silver over gray) or should I do a premium Macco paint job on, or do i spent the five thousand to get a really good paint job done. I can prep the car myself.

sounds a lot like my dilema (but between my 82 & my newly aquired 84) the 84 is almost what i would consider cherry while my 82 desperately needs paint.... i love the c3 body but i just dont know if im ready to sink $5-$7k on the car ......

when you figure outthe answer to your question maybe you can help me with mine

 

[clok1966]

Well i would admit i havent looked at paint job prices in a long time.. but.. $5000 for a paint job, are they useing a pin strip gun? Is it somebody who see's its a vette and is taking a few grand on the price? A fiberglass car has no rust to fix so prep work should be easier (no i have never painted a fiberglass car, but i have done several normal cars, I asdmit almost 15 years ago). Its smaller then the average car, it has almost ZERO trim, what am I missing here? I know some paint costs $$$$ but couldnt you get a pretty dang nice paint job with "nomral" paint for maybe $3000? (or even less) I mean the cheap crappy Macco jobs are only $8-1000 arent they (used to be the now closed Macco in town here had a special about 4X a year for a $400 job (fuggly, and I know I would never get one, but its just a comparison))? just seems a $10,000 car shouldnt need a $5000 paint job. For that price I would think you could take up night classes at a local tech school and learn to paint, buy the materials and still do it for $5000 and know a trade.

Sorry if I'm totally out of the know on paint nowdays.. I find it seems, I'm more out of touch then i think sometimes.

Clok

 

[killain]

Well i would admit i havent looked at paint job prices in a long time.. but.. $5000 for a paint job, are they useing a pin strip gun? Is it somebody who see's its a vette and is taking a few grand on the price? A fiberglass car has no rust to fix so prep work should be easier (no i have never painted a fiberglass car, but i have done several normal cars, I asdmit almost 15 years ago). Its smaller then the average car, it has almost ZERO trim, what am I missing here? I know some paint costs $$$$ but couldnt you get a pretty dang nice paint job with "nomral" paint for maybe $3000? (or even less) I mean the cheap crappy Macco jobs are only $8-1000 arent they (used to be the now closed Macco in town here had a special about 4X a year for a $400 job (fuggly, and I know I would never get one, but its just a comparison))? just seems a $10,000 car shouldnt need a $5000 paint job. For that price I would think you could take up night classes at a local tech school and learn to paint, buy the materials and still do it for $5000 and know a trade.

Sorry if I'm totally out of the know on paint nowdays.. I find it seems, I'm more out of touch then i think sometimes.

Clok

Well so far the corvette speciality shop in West chester here in PA quoted me 20K to paint the car and they are really custom work type of shop and they informed me to try one of the shops they recommended and that shop quoted me at around five thousand, but i haven't tried too many other shops but they too say five thousand? looks like body work and paint work is pretty pricey when it comes to Corvettes. having said that what i have is a really solid tight and good running 84 corvette, but it's not any type of classic and next to two or three other years is never gonna be any kind of classic, but if I take it to Macco, I'll have a nice tight solid 84 corvette that looks like it was painted with a mop. So maybe I should save my money and look around some more for a shop that can do it for say three thousand. At least then I'll have a car that might not be worth much but is in very good condition?;help

 

[ZumZum]

I just had mine painted for about $3500. I found a good body/paint man that does side work. Since it's not a daily driver he could have the car for a month to work on it in his free(?) time. The results were worth it. BTW: He said the paint was almost $500/gal. :W

 

[killain]

I just had mine painted for about $3500. I found a good body/paint man that does side work. Since it's not a daily driver he could have the car for a month to work on it in his free(?) time. The results were worth it. BTW: He said the paint was almost $500/gal. :W

I've heard from one shop I stopped by that red WAS the most expensive paints! But your car looks GREAT !

 

[ZumZum]

I've heard from one shop I stooped by that red WAS the most expensive paints! But your car looks GREAT !

Thanks. I'm really happy with it.

 

[clok1966]

Well Like i say its been years since I did any painting so alot of my numbers are pretty "old". But I do know you can get paints that look awsome for alot less then $500 a gallon (please dont take that as $$$ paints suck, that is not where I am going with this). A good average pearl is about $300, just normal paint is mushc less, even Kameleon Kolors is only about $300. Most body shops charge retail (as well they should, they need to make money too).

What I'm saying is, you have a great 84 that needs paint, you can paint with that Awsome color you alwasy dreamed about and pay $5000, or you can pick an original color, or something like it and get it done for considerbly less, and still have a nice paint job. Or you can just drive it like it is. There is a happy meduim soemtimes..

and all this may be moot, i may find out my numbers are so far off its sick.

Clok

 

[CorvetteArchives]

Fiberglass cars may not rust but there are alot of other issues that raise the price for a PROPERLY done job. Of course that involves blasting all the old paint. $

Whenever I look into it I also get the case of the "might as well"s. The eurethane bumpers are wavy. Might as well replace front and back bumper covers with fiberglass so 20 years from now they look good. More $
84's quarter panels have a tendency to crack at rear hatch edge. Mine did slightly and was repaired but has since cracked again. The proper way to fix according to the TSB involves removing both rear quarter panels, cutting into the sail panels, reinforcing with new bracing...LOTSA $! I figure that to properly protect the expensive new paint job I need to eliminate body flex as much as possible. That means a X Brace ($500). Naturally, I dont want a tape job around weatherstripping..so that needs to be removed but is only a few years old. I'd probably want to use new weatherstrip to go with new paint. More$
and so it goes :-(

 

[jmhorn52]

I had my 88 yellow coupe painted recently. I was lucky a guy I work with owns a MAACO shop. I had some body work too. They did it for 2200.. Its not perfect but looks real good and shines like crazy. Most defects i have found are on the lower parts and there is overspray. For the work I had done and the as good as the car looks it was a bargain. I have 169k on the car. Also MAACO doesnt recommend waxing the car only to use a spray and wipe type polish on it since it is a clear coat. My car is a driver and will accumalate more miles