Decent 2 dr post w/350, 4 speed. Body shop says show car paint $6,000 due to lots of block sanding, mudding, etc. Good paint job $3-4,000 but suggests no dark colors. Did want to go with orange/white but body shop suggested yellow as the dark color because does not show imperfections as much as orange. Any ideas on color combos that would look sharp with less than perfect front fenders/doors? They are not ****, look good in primer but this body guy does know his business. Remember, not going to be a show car but a good looking driver. This is my first 55 Chev so would like some guidance from you Chevy guys. Thanks
If you can budget the $6K black paint and body job, go for it. You'll be very happy with the results compared with a lighter color and defective body work.
6K sounds like a ton of money but it is only 60 hours of work at $100 an hour. Or 100 hours of work at $60 an hour. Not much either way and that doesn't include materials. It is easy to rack up serious time and money in a nice paint job. Mine was approximately that price and I did most of the prep work and all of the cutting and buffing. There are still imperfections that I am not happy with, but it is decent. There will be tons of arguments here about getting great paint jobs for $35 worth of paint using a squirt gun, roller or vacuum cleaner motor and there will also be more honest people that don't want to admit the serious cash they ended up spending on nice paint (10K-20K is easy to do...) The most important thing you can do is view some paint jobs that this guy has put out and talk to the owners regarding whether their expectations were met for time, money and quality. Odds are if you have 3-5 guys with hot rods ahead of you that got good work for 3-6K and got it done in a timely manner, you will too. If there are guys ahead of you that waited 3-5 months to get their car and paid 6K for a 2K paint job, well, then you need to know that to. Only you know what you can afford to do. I raided my 401K to pay for my paint and I felt guilty about it, but I do not regret being able to finally finish the car 5 years ago. That is 5 years of fun I would have missed out on if I had waited to save up another 6K for paint. And yes, yellow and white will probably show the least amount of sins. Good luck!
if your spending that much dough,wouldnt it be moot if you have sins and bad areas?not much more effort to do it right.good body guys are not afraid of dark colors.
Thanks for taking the time to post your response. Paying the extra is probably the way to go and not have to settle for a color that is not what I wanted. Bite the bullet, pay the price and enjoy the ride.
I wouldn't do any "good" paint job for less than 6000$. That's cheap these days. But what kind of bodyman is scared of dark colors, or trying to mask flaws? I would change painters if I were you...If I wasn't one.
Spend the $$ to get the body straight, then spend the $$ to get a good paint job in the color YOU want. It'll be money well spent, even if it delays completion. The car's external appearance is the first thing you (and everyone else) sees. If it's wrong, you'll subconsciously see the flaws EVERY TIME you look at it. It took two "strip down to bare metal" paint jobs to get my '55 BA HT right. Look at the reflection in the quarter panel.
Spend the money and do it right..$6,000 doesn't seem un-reasonable considering todays prices. My preference would be black and white..love that combination on those cars.
For a mere $2,000.00 difference you can have a great looking car in the colors (orange & white) that you really want, provided your bodyman is any good. If you don't beg, borrow or steal the extra $2,000.00 you'll always wish you had. IMHO
White or another light color to "hide" wavy body work is like ***** in church. I'd buy some long boards, hang out with somebody who knows what they're doing, buy a book on basic bodywork, and learn to do it myself, then spend 2K on materials and a painters time for half a day to shoot it...
I was at this same point in 1982 with my 55 210. I wanted the car to be a dark maroon and the body shop/painter were trying to talk me into painting the car white. I ponied up and paid the extra coin and waited another month for them to get it straight. Once I picked the car up I was glad I did. The owner of the shop (still in business today) said "well one thing about it, this car is now straight enough for any color you want including black." I still own the car today. My point is once the money is spent (especially on paint) make sure it's what you want because you'll see it everyday.
I like Orange & White as you can see. I done all of the bodywork myself I have a friend that owens a bodyshop. I had him to spray the car for me. Most of the money for a paint job is in the bodywork. Its labor entensive. At $45.00 per hour it doesent take long to add up. Bodywork is not rocket science you can do it yourself and save a lot. Then have someone with a paint booth spray the car for you. The devil is in the details. The only way to get the paint perfect is to color sand and buff after its painted. it is ture that the darker the color the more imperfections will show. Take your time with the bodywork. Get it as near to perfection as you can. Then paint it the color you want. if the body is right it will look good what ever color it is. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=11941&pictureid=121671
The tri-five Chevy's weren't perfectly straight when they were new. The fenders, doors, and quarter panels all have a bow of their own to them. So it makes me wonder why the car wouldn't look right with orange. A perfectly straight tri-five Chevy definately has bondo on every panel, except for maybe the roof. I wouldn't paint it black but I live in Socal where it gets hot and black requires A/C when it's hot outside. Although $6K isn't much for paint I am having a difficult time believing it's not enough for orange but is enough for yellow. I think I would have to shop around for more opinions at other body shops.
IMO- the body panels should be flat- no matter what color is being shot. If a painter suggested to me to paint a light color to hide the less than flat panels, I'd find another shop. Spend the money to get it right now.
Pay the extra money. I talked to a couple of local body shops and to repaint 5 panels on the 51 the cost was about 3 grand. The more I looked at the car the more inperfections I saw in the paint. In the near future I am going to repaint the car myself in a color I like.
I always look at it a little different. If the paint and body work is going to cost you $4,000 no matter what. Is it worth $2,000. to get what you want? To me it's a $2000.00 choice not a $6000.00 choice.
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