Projects What should I expect to pay?

Ok I bought this car thinking I would have time to get to it. Realistically, I won't have time for the next 3-4years to devote any time to it. What should I expect to pay a shop to do all the metal/body work? It needs floors,quarters, roof and panel work. I'm just looking for ballpark figures. 2,500? 5,000? 10,000? Not looking for an all out custom either just a nice driver.

Who does this stuff? I know alot of body shops don't do anything but insurance work.

thanks,
Darryl

 

Where in Texas?
Richard at Gas Monkey Garage in Dallas does this kind of work.
I'm sure others will chime in also.

 

I'm in Katy, west of Houston.

 

Depends on a lot of factors, rust being the main one. 15-20 K if done well.

 

Its very easy to spend thirty grand to build a 15,000 dollar car.

 

You will spend far more than you can buy a nice solid finished car for. Sell that to someone who has the time and desire and buy something already completed.

 

i started to type the very same reply

 

A lot depends on the shop you go to. Some will bleed you. I estimate $35 an hour shop time and you have to kind of have a feel for the labor side to estimate that fairly. I am lucky to have a shop close by that is honest and isn't trying to get rich on hot rodders. Plus it depends on how deep you want to go with the car. A good stripping/rust repair/paint job is usually around $2-3,000 in my experience. Then you have upholstery and drive train things to deal with. If you can't do a lot of the work yourself your car probably isn't worth investing a lot of dollars in (IMHO).

 

my thinking also... thats why I put it in the classifieds last week.

 

O.K. then. LOL

Other than the floors, it appears to be a real solid start for someone. Very desirable body.

 

Wow! If that is going to a shop it looks like a money pit to me. Sure Texas rust is different than North East rust, but if you want smooth shinny paint and nice door,hood & trunk seams $10,000 is just a starting point.

 

I've got one that's done and would sell for a lot less then that one would cost to build.........

Sorry typed to slow.............

 

35 dollar an hour shops have all closed up in this part of the country years ago.

 

At least 10K! That's the very low ball bottom dollar! Great potential though!

 

$35 dollar per hour shop...where?

no where near me thats for sure..or i would have way more done by some one else.
around here 70+ to near 80 is the norm

 

hell, my golf coach is 70 an hour?

 

2-3 grand for strip, rust repair and paint? Good deal if you can get it. That wouldn't buy the materials around here.

 

I am in south dakota, on the nebraska border, and we still have people who do good work based on common cents and not on greed. One of the reasons our country's economy is in the shitter is greed, not need. Anytime some fool tells me he is worth $70 an hour I tell him he is nuts and the guy paying it is crazier than the guy asking for it. Just my less than humble opinion.

 

im not going to disagree with you..70+ bucks an hour is rediculous..yet if you cant do it yourself thats what you will be paying in this corner of the world.

and it does need to come down to a reasonable cost..but with everything else following suit..little chance of that happining until the friken bottom drops out..than it will be too late

 

So you have a range on $2,000-$30,000. I guess this is where the "you get what you pay for" phrase comes into play. Sell the car

 

Not the same work (I'm a software engineer) but my company bills my time @ $200/hr. I bill my time for contract work @ $150/hr.

I'm not greedy, I'm worth it.

That said, $70/hr in some major metro areas for body work is a pretty good deal. For example, there's a lot of housing in Austin that's $200K, what is it in SD/NE? (Quite a bit less, I'm guessing). Food, insurance, etc. make a big difference. It's all about cost of living. If I can buy a house for $15K, I'm not charging $150/hr. But if that same house costs me $100K, that's the going rate.

 

I would sell it for hopefully what it stands you and get a decent driver that you can play around with in your spare time.

You will never recoupe the money that you will have to dish out to get it in driver quality.

Just My .02 cents worth.

 

Lol, you obviously have no idea how much it costs to run a business.

 

Man ain't that the truth

 

You should expect to pay around 10-15k for a nice job depending on the rust issues maybe more. As far as $70 an hour being rediculous, try opening up your own shop sometime and pay for every single tool, supply, rent, insuranance and the list goes on and on and then tell me $70 is rediculous. Maybe where you live you can get by on $1000 a month but in SoCal that can't buy a loaf of bread. Also there is no way somebody can strip a car, do all the metal work and paint for 2-3k. Good materials will cost you at least a grand and it would take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks for one man to do the work so do the math and it comes out to that guy making one thousand for the month. Can't stay in business long at that rate.

 

I say, do the interior, motor and drive like that. Body looks cool.

 

A legal shop around here couldn't pay the rent and related turn key expences at $70.00 an hour.

 

The related chemical consumables for paint shops have tripled in the last few years.

I had one shop owner tell me that his bills for consumables from one of his long time vendors has an environment surcharge now being tacked on based on the liability for delivering.

 

had a Dodge Challenger rust repared and painted,6k,in 1991!Good guy,gave me a brake on the hourly rate,25/hr.that was 19 years ago!

 

If you don't want to do the floors at all,(it took me the better part of a weekend to strip the interior, cut out and replace just the rear floor pans in my 53 Chevy) call a few local shops.
H.A.M.B.er CMX Industries in Houston could knock that stuff out no problem, call them, ask for Matt 281-440-1555
I am sure you know the pans and repair body panels can be bought several places, National Chevy, e-bay, etc.

I won't take long to get a good floor in that car, which is a heck of an improvement, with a little work