1952-59 Ford Body and Paint

I'm currently in the market for a shop to handle some body and paint work on the 55 Country Sedan wagon. I've heard a lot of horror stories and I want to make sure I research this prior to signing anything. What are the major points I should be concerned about when choosing a shop? Can anyone recommend someone in the greater Cleveland (Ohio) area?
Planning to look around this summer and make a decision for next winter. Thanks.

 

Make two firm decisions: What exactly do I want to accomplish? - and - How much, exactly, can I afford to spend to reach this goal?

Until you've answered these two questions with great specificity, your search can only end in confusion.

We (I) need more information and specifics before we (I) can give any solid advice.

 

That's right . You must write down in detail on what you want your wagon to look like in the end . Then look at what needs to be repaired like rust , dents and so on before you consider getting it painted . I can be you can fix many of the body repairs yourself with some help and reading up on how to do it . You don't need the top of the line body tools to get the rust and dents fixed . You only need one good combination dolly and a hammer with a short rounded point on one side and a round flat head on the other side . That will do most of the pieces that need to be straighted out . It's not that hard , it's just in the feel of the hammer hitting the metal with the dolly behind the metal . Yes it takes practice but that is how we all learn to do **X . There are a ton of U Tube on this very subject .
You also need a cheap HF grinder that is less than $20 and will do many cars as mine has already .
Of co**** you will need a small 110v welder that you can buy used for a little money .
If you try this it will save you $1000s of dollars you can use someplace else . Body work is very costly and if you can afford paying someone $60 to $100 an hour to do some of the things your self then that is fine but there isn't many of them around .
All I am saying is you can say lots of money doing some of the work yourself .

If you tell us what's wrong with the body and show some pictures we can help you repair them yourself . There is nothing more rewarding that doing it yourself and we all learned the same way . We either just went at it and did the best we can or paid lots of cash to go to school to learn .
I have learned how to rebuild engines , standard transmissions , rears and now learning to do the body work by my self . NO ONE ever stood there and taught me how to do a thing . I read books , watched movies and asked question on forums like this . There are some really great metal forums out there that will help you with anything you ask them . Welding & Metal Shapers is a very good one and I am there as well .
great group that will help you do it the right way .
If you can change your own oil and filter and tune up your engine ,, then you can do the body work as well . Give it a try , it's really a lot of fun !

Jim

 

Been there, well still there . Spent months looking, calling, asking, begging, you name it. I have a "little" desire to do it myself, but 0 time with wife and 3 youngins.

So in the end there were still your typical hourly body shops charging an arm and a leg, but I personally dont play that game, dont get me started. I didnt pay my contractors by the hour to build my house, or pour my driveway, or anything else. I dam sure aint paying by the hour to have bodywork done by some guys that are hurting this month and fluff here and there. Look it over, lets talk it all out, write it down, give me a quote, DONE. ****, I think I got myself started

Anyway, there were a couple of places, like the one I chose, that were hurting for business and need to keep employees working, bills paid, etc.. I havent gotten my car back yet so I cant say how its going to be in the end, BUT we worked out a deal that we were both happy with, on paper. Its taking them much longer than I want, but for what I am paying and the work I have seen done so far, I am OK with that for what I am paying for it.

My basic goal was this:

Under "this" amount of money.

Smooth/straight body (looking for eyeball perfect, not showcar judge perfect)

Base Coat Clear Coat quality paint (dupont, PPG, HOK)

Not a maaco paintjob, but not a $8k showcar paintjob either

All jambs, hinges etc sprayed (color change)

So I guess my point is, start calling around, email them pics or drive it out there and just say hey, give me a ballpark to work this baby over. Thats what I did, then we looked it over in person and finalized everything. I also tried to keep realistic expectations for my budget.

I even offered to them all to removed any and all trim, bumpers, lights etc and put them back on myself to save money. most were glad to do so and knocked a decent amount off for labor. The guy I am using preferred to do that himself so if he scratched anything he could fix it right there.