Thread: Painting and body work questions

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For planning purposes, I was curious on about how much it would cost to have a 1946 Ford Coupe's body work and paint. My avatar is the car, which has very little rust and only a couple of dings. I also have a few pics in my profile. I want to paint it a mat or dull black. It seems that most of my trim is in good condition, but every piece has a little ding or dent in it. Is there an easy way to strip all the paint off to save some money?

Thanks in advance

man if I had a car like yours, it would be ready to go bodywise the way it sits. LOL have you seen mine? yours looks to be in fabulous cond. was a great find

Originally Posted by tudorkeith

man if I had a car like yours, it would be ready to go bodywise the way it sits. LOL have you seen mine? yours looks to be in fabulous cond. was a great find

Its pretty good but the paint is starting to peel off. There is discoloration on the hood, trunk, and fenders from the previous owner leaving it in the Texas sun with a plastic tarp on it. I am about to take the body off the frame so I can paint the frame and install the suspension and rear axle.

Originally Posted by KOULAIDE

For planning purposes, I was curious on about how much it would cost to have a 1946 Ford Coupe's body work and paint. My avatar is the car, which has very little rust and only a couple of dings. I also have a few pics in my profile. I want to paint it a mat or dull black. It seems that most of my trim is in good condition, but every piece has a little ding or dent in it. Is there an easy way to strip all the paint off to save some money?

Thanks in advance

Your question is an interesting one, because it will be determined what you want done or how nice a job you want. . First scenario: So if you just want it painted flat black over the old color, and maybe fix a couple small imperfections, you should be able to get by fairly cheap. . Second scenario:If you want it stripped to bare metal and then fix any and all bad body work and then bring it back up; it could get expensive. . Before doing anything on this, get some estimates; you might change your mind. I'm not sure what your car is worth, but it looks good from the pictures. Would it be worth putting a huge investment in the body, at this time? That's for you to determine and your car could be torn apart for a long time. I kind of hate to see complete cars torn all the way down, because many times they don't get put back together. What you might consider is buying a project car and building it up and then selling the first car, this way might save you a lot of cash and you'll have a car to drive until you get the second car completed.

Originally Posted by drec

Your question is an interesting one, because it will be determined what you want done or how nice a job you want. . First scenario: So if you just want it painted flat black over the old color, and maybe fix a couple small imperfections, you should be able to get by fairly cheap. . Second scenario:If you want it stripped to bare metal and then fix any and all bad body work and then bring it back up; it could get expensive. . Before doing anything on this, get some estimates; you might change your mind. I'm not sure what your car is worth, but it looks good from the pictures. Would it be worth putting a huge investment in the body, at this time? That's for you to determine and your car could be torn apart for a long time. I kind of hate to see complete cars torn all the way down, because many times they don't get put back together. What you might consider is buying a project car and building it up and then selling the first car, this way might save you a lot of cash and you'll have a car to drive until you get the second car completed.

I already have it taken apart so I can paint the frame and install the new suspension. The problem with the paint is that it is chipping away from the body in some place and leaving exposed metal. On a scale of 1-10, I would give the body an 8. There are only a few little dings and one rusted panel from the trunk to the bumper. Like most people, I don't have a whole lot of time between work and my wife. I know the question is very subjective thats why I am trying to get an idea.

Thanks for the post

Do you know the history of the car, as far as the body goes? Like was this a car that ran around your town for a number of years and then you bought it? If most of the paint is good, I think that I would just repair/paint the areas that are bad and enjoy the car. I can just see spending a lot of money on it, unless you are looking for a show car.

Really hard to say "how much" without being able to see-feel-touch the car... If the paint is peeling there's a reason for it...should plan on getting all of the problem paint off the car (including the primer) and starting over... Then it's going to depend on the quality of work and materials you want used on it... Just guessing, gonna be upwards of $4k.... Probably find somebody to do it for less, but there's a lot more to consider then just the price when it's time to do body work and paint!!!! If the car's a keeper, then it's definitely worth the time and expense to do it right...if it's just something to drive while you're building something else then cutting a few corners is understandable! Get some estimates, but before you do that check out the reputation of the shop you're getting estimates from!!!!! If you talk with a shop that doesn't want to supply you with references on their work, leave in a great big hurry!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by drec

Do you know the history of the car, as far as the body goes? Like was this a car that ran around your town for a number of years and then you bought it? If most of the paint is good, I think that I would just repair/paint the areas that are bad and enjoy the car. I can just see spending a lot of money on it, unless you are looking for a show car.

My dad gave it to me 7 or 8 years ago and finally pulled it out of storage after sitting in there for 23 years. I am keeping it for a long time, so I want to spend the money and do it right. the next one I will built for fun.

Originally Posted by KOULAIDE

My dad gave it to me 7 or 8 years ago and finally pulled it out of storage after sitting in there for 23 years. I am keeping it for a long time, so I want to spend the money and do it right. the next one I will built for fun.

That's cool, I understand that it is worth keeping and now know a little more about the car. I'm not sure that I would rush right out and have the car stripped, to go for a repaint though. I would find a shop or someone that you can trust and ask them to look at it and give a recommendation. If the car is as nice at it seems, the paint might be repaired to give you more years of service. Like what was mentioned before, go get an estimate or two or three.

to give you an idea media blasting and epoxy will run you around 2500 . bodywork is an unknown , some cars have twice the hours of bodywork as paint. depending on the level of detail you want paint alone will run 4500 to 8000 . rehabbing a body is much more involved than a paint job. rule of thumb it is at least a third of the value of the car when finished. in some cases more.

In the late 60's early 70's I was involved in a build of a MG TD classic.(looks like a mini Ford roadster) I was bought out of Texas with a 283 three speed stick and solid leafed spring rear end.When we finished it has a 327 Man-A-Fre carb'ed engine with a close ratio 4speed stick and a vett swing rear end.Then came the paint and body work.The color was to be black of course.Back then as many layers of black lacquer each wet sanded you could do was the art of the day.So we stripped it bare.What a mistake that was!!!.Every imperfection in the medal that was handled when painted at the factory showed up in orange peel.We must have spot putted and stripped the car 4 or 5 times.Any pit or mark that was apart of the car's metal required intensive work.This was a totally rust/accident free car before we stripped it.I swore I would never strip to bare metal a car again because of this.But in the end once it was finished,as a lark,we entered the car into a Clutch Artiest(sp) car show in Buffalo,NY and took second.The car was driven good weather regularly.