Paint shop blues

[MNYPNNY]

Originally Posted by Electrophil

Went there! Which is where I got the tip on where to take my car.

I pulled in, and some guy with a Frank Zappa face was out in the parking lot. I get out, and he said you coming in here? I said yeah, and the conversation basically went immediately to what I wanted and what was my budget.

Unfortunately, I didn't "qualify".

But.... He told me where to go with my measly $2,500.

He sent me... of all places, to a Maaco shop. I was kind of insulted. He said "Hold on, this guy does all of Shelby's work. Check him out."

We all know who Carroll Shelby is, so I bit. Ya never know.

This particular place is over close to Nellis AFB. I hadn't ventured out there.

I get there, and check out the jobs out in front and only one I could tell had been repainted, and it looked pretty bad. The rest around the front were either original paint or very well done... I couldn't tell. I go inside to investigate, and then things started going extremely well. I tell the girl I want their top service which was "signature", she has me fill out a form, and I wait for an estimator.

The owner, Bob Berlinger, comes out to estimate, and things went even better. He went over my car with a fine tooth comb. I mean every inch! Every other place that agreed to do a full paint just kinda turned their head to the side, and threw me a number. This guy was on his knees going around the car. He pointed out every single flaw and explained how they would fix them. I was really impressed.

He finishes, goes inside, and gets on the computer. and fires out an estimate for $2,728.40. I have a tendency to sometimes be a little blunt, and I... as tactfully as I could, pointed out the bad press Maaco has. I threw in a "now I'm not trying to offensive or anything, but...."

He said 3 words: "Come on back".

He gave me a complete tour of his shop, and the cars that were there. There were 12 cars in various degrees of completion there. Half were getting the top of the line. He took me to each car (OK, don't touch...) and explained where the car was in the process, and what was coming next.

Of those 6, two belonged to Carroll Shelby... One of those was a 68 GT500. (I'm not kidding here...) He said that Carroll told him it was worth $750,000 and there was just 3 others like that particular one in the world. The other was a 67 GT350, and both personally belonged to Carroll Shelby. He said they were both staying in the original color.

Both of them were stripped, no motors, no interiors... Just a shell on a pedestal. Which of course made me say a dumb joke - "Wow! Just think what it would be worth with a motor in it!!".

Another one in the shop in the sanding phase.... or whatever they call it when you block sand it after painting... was a 1963 Corvette. He said it belonged to a basketball player. It was also a frame off. He said once it's sanded like that, it has to sit for at least 2 days. He said this one will sit for 2 weeks as dictated by the owner, but that long is not really necessary.

Another was a Pepto Bismo pink Jeep cherokee that was being finished up. I can't think of a color more puke inducing than Pepto Bismo pink, but it actually looked good!

I'm sold! Now I know there is no way I'm going to get the quality that Carroll Shelby, or a pro basketball player, or Tom Cruise is getting. (yes, him too... not kidding... classic Thunderbird.) I'm also sure they are paying a lot more than $2,700 for those paintjobs.

But! According to this Bob Berlinger, he is the top grossing Maaco in the country. I would assume that naturally due to his clientele, so you know the quality of his employees are top notch. I'm assuming I'll end up with one of his rookies who are working their way up to work on the "cars of the stars", and that's fine. He'll be wanting to impress the boss, and won't be wanting any complaints.

I take it in Thursday morning. He said he will need it at least 10 business days, and to expect up to 15 in case there are problems. (I have rust on the driver's rear quarter panel he's fixing).

I can't believe I'm going to get a paint job at Maaco, and I'm actually looking forward to it. But if you had seen that shop, and the cars in it, you would be excited too. I keep forgetting how many rich people live here, and that they have classic cars needing full paintjobs.

I'm going to do before and after shots, and post them when it's completed.

Ummm..... I don't know how you could go wrong............

[Electrophil]

Originally Posted by thndrmtn92svx

Ummm..... I don't know how you could go wrong............

A gallon of Latex interior paint in mauve and a garage sale paint sponge?

[SSSVX]

Originally Posted by Electrophil

Finally getting around to getting the 92 painted, and nobody will do it!

We don't do whole cars. We won't paint a car over 10 years old. We do insurance work only. The vehicle must be a repair job in order to fully paint.

The only one I've found so far that will paint the whole car is that Earl Shieb thingy. They said "Drop it off today, and you can pick it up tomorrow afternoon." 3 cars freshly painted on their lot and all 3 look like some kid with a spatula and a texture sponge painted them.

Is it just Vegas? I never dreamed this would happen.

I can't believe this either.

Maybe you should go to other state to have your car painted?

[Budfreak]

This is my 87 GTA that Maaco brought back from the dead. cost me 4K but it came out about 90% perfect. The only imperfections were a little overspray on the door weatherstripping and foglights, and the side emblems weren't placed right and came off. Not bad considering the wrecked broken heap I dropped off to them. For an idea of how much of a heap: I paid 200 bucks for it.

[Electrophil]

Originally Posted by budfreak1

This is my 87 GTA that Maaco brought back from the dead. cost me 4K but it came out about 90% perfect. The only imperfections were a little overspray on the door weatherstripping and foglights, and the side emblems weren't placed right and came off. Not bad considering the wrecked broken heap I dropped off to them. For an idea of how much of a heap: I paid 200 bucks for it.

I dream that it comes back looking that good.

[SilverSpear]

Originally Posted by budfreak1

This is my 87 GTA that Maaco brought back from the dead. cost me 4K but it came out about 90% perfect. The only imperfections were a little overspray on the door weatherstripping and foglights, and the side emblems weren't placed right and came off. Not bad considering the wrecked broken heap I dropped off to them. For an idea of how much of a heap: I paid 200 bucks for it.

For the overspraying, get 1000/1500/2000 sand papers, remove the excess lacquer, then get some polish and restore the paint brightness.

This technique is widely used here.

I met a guy 4 days ago who works in a paintshop, he took me to see a 1965 mercedes 190 that was restored in his garage. I was really from the professionalism of his work and started showing me pics of how it was done. I only saw this technique on Discovery channel (Rides), they emptied all the car out, hooked it on a stretcher, flipped the car while sanding it. The car appeared on bared metal, inside out. Metal adjuster masters refurbished the metal, then sanded it down until it became smooth on bare metal. Then Bondo/smoothing, then Primary/smoothing, then first two layers of dark grey paint then smoothing, then 2 layers of Burgundy (its color) then smoothing, then the last two layers of paint. After that, they sprayed two layers of lacquer, then smoothing, then last two layers of lacquer.... after a week, they got her back to the shop, smoothen the excess lacquer with sand paper also and polished the car.

That thing looked better than the time it got out from the factory.

The secret to checking the professionalism of a car's paint job is to put it under a neon light and checking the paintjob smoothness under it. It should look like a piece of glass with no dots (microscopic points) appearing on the level of the lacquer...

[Budfreak]

Originally Posted by SilverSpear

For the overspraying, get 1000/1500/2000 sand papers, remove the excess lacquer, then get some polish and restore the paint brightness.

This technique is widely used here.

I met a guy 4 days ago who works in a paintshop, he took me to see a 1965 mercedes 190 that was restored in his garage. I was really from the professionalism of his work and started showing me pics of how it was done. I only saw this technique on Discovery channel (Rides), they emptied all the car out, hooked it on a stretcher, flipped the car while sanding it. The car appeared on bared metal, inside out. Metal adjuster masters refurbished the metal, then sanded it down until it became smooth on bare metal. Then Bondo/smoothing, then Primary/smoothing, then first two layers of dark grey paint then smoothing, then 2 layers of Burgundy (its color) then smoothing, then the last two layers of paint. After that, they sprayed two layers of lacquer, then smoothing, then last two layers of lacquer.... after a week, they got her back to the shop, smoothen the excess lacquer with sand paper also and polished the car.

That thing looked better than the time it got out from the factory.

The secret to checking the professionalism of a car's paint job is to put it under a neon light and checking the paintjob smoothness under it. It should look like a piece of glass with no dots (microscopic points) appearing on the level of the lacquer...

Too late. Sold it when I got the SVX

[NapaBavarian]

Originally Posted by budfreak1

Too late. Sold it when I got the SVX

I still have mine but paid a little more

[SilverSpear]

Originally Posted by budfreak1

Too late. Sold it when I got the SVX

Well this technique is universal, you never know when you can use it

[Budfreak]

Originally Posted by NapaBavarian

I still have mine but paid a little more

I would have kept mine a little longer, But after the 4th tranny in a year I was fed up and can't come up with 1500 bucks for a tranny that could take the engine.

[Electrophil]

Well, dropped the SVX off this morning. He went around it again, and with a wax pencil circled every single parking lot casualty we could find. He said if there are any we missed, the body guy will find it and just do it.

Price stayed the same at a little over $2,700 and I'm keeping it teal. I'd rather have it silver or Pewter, but the money I'm investing isn't enough for a top quality paint color change. There will be too many "Hey! this car used to be teal!" giveaways.

Suppose to get it back in 10 business days.

[NapaBavarian]

congrats

[Electrophil]

I took the front bumper off the parts car yesterday. I'm going to try and deliver it tomorrow. I have until tuesday to get it there, and then I take pictures of the body work.