Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Before you buy an old car as a project;

photo source: MAACO.com
A fresh paint job can be a critical part of a hobby car project.

Better line up the resources that you'll need, beforehand.

I've been thinking of getting another older car. It wouldn't be a total project, but it would probably need some work.

I'm always looking for that old Acura Legend, Honda Prelude, or Infiniti G37 coupe. These modern cars will all probably have sunburned clear coat paint, like my 46 Plymouth.

It would also be nice to have it painted in the color that I want, like I did with my '66 Ford truck, '72 Datsun Z, and  '70 Mustang. These cars were all painted at what are called "production" shops. I have covered this subject in an earlier post.

An Earl Scheib cheapie.

A cheapie job can look okay with the proper home prep.

I have used Earl Scheib in San Jose (now defunct) and a shop in Fremont called Almost Everything Automotive. A production shop is a crank 'em out enterprise. They are not a specialty, high quality paint shop. They do low priced insurance repairs, but are most often selected by customers that were footing the cost themselves. Not the place to take your Ferrari restoration, but they do have a real attraction. They are fairly low cost, and they are willing to do complete resprays, even color change jobs. These paint jobs are done in a timely manner, they are not the equivalent of "paint jail."

The Almost Everything Highland Green job was quite satisfactory.

One shop, the former Almost Everything Auto, has recently undergone a change of ownership, I wondered if they had also undergone a change of orientation.

It turns out that they did.

The former shop did complete re paints, and color changes, as well as restoration work. It was like an old Earl Scheib or Maaco type shop. They specialized in lower cost re sprays. Inside they had a big wall display of swatches of the different colors that they offered. There were also big placards that described the various levels of paint service; from economy to the deluxe.

That's all gone now, the lobby has a few chairs and several rows of desks. It is a very professional looking lay out. 

The new shop is now part of a family run chain that specializes in insurance repair work. That's not a condemnation, there are good shops that concentrate on that area. I had my Flex repaired at a Caliber Collision shop that did excellent work. The repaired areas was expertly blended in to the existing paint.

I had asked the Caliber Collision service writer if the shop would do complete paint jobs, and they said ...no. They told me that they would paint the panels that needed to be refinished but that a complete re spray wasn't on their menu of services.

This change kind of knocked some of the wind from my sails.

I had two cars repainted at the Earl Scheib in San Jose.

Almost Everything Auto in Fremont and done a complete respray on my '70 Mustang and had redone the front bumper of my Lincoln Navigator.

While I like doing lot's of different kinds of work on my cars, I've realized that major paint work is out of my wheelhouse.

I had a similar experience in trying to find a shop that would do a suspension rebuild on my Jaguar XJS.

A lot of times the DIY car guy will need to seek out a professional shop to do work that is beyond their scope.

I remember how difficult it was to find a shop that would rebuild the automatic transmission of my '56 Cadillac. 

When I needed to replace the top on my '96 Mustang, I found a local convertible top/upholstery shop. They did a nice job, but the owner and his helpers were already pretty old guys. I wonder if that shop is still in business.

Even if the shop is still around, the cost of many things has gone up dramatically. That is not an understatement. Buying and fixing up an older car is now not always a money saving alternative.

Factoring everything, it makes a lot of sense to carefully evaluate your options when it comes to picking out your next hobby car. 

Having a realistic idea of the costs to refurbish the car, up front, is vitally important. You'll find many different examples of a car that you might be interested in that will vary in price and condition. You need that info to make an informed choice.

For example, one car might have a straight body, well preserved paint and interior, lower mileage with a good running engine. It might even have newer tires. The other might have a straight body with a few minor dings, but the clear coat is oxidized and the color is faded. The interior might have a damaged driver's seat. And the tires are almost completely worn out.

The price difference might only be a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. But the car in better shape, still might be the better buy.

If you start out with a car in better condition, you'll probably be dollars ahead.

Freiburger laid down a few rules about buying project cars back in his Car Craft days.

One; was to buy body and paint that you can live with. If the car already looks acceptable to you the way it is, that's a win. Paint that can be polished and waxed back to life is a big plus.

If the car looks acceptable to you as it is, you will not need to immediately spend money on cosmetics. You can drive and enjoy the car right away.

Two; was to avoid buying a car that doesn't currently run. There are big problems in evaluating the condition of the drivetrain when the car isn't up and running. If it's running and driving them the engine and drivetrain is usually complete. There are lot's of cars advertised that state; "the engine turns by hand." While that is better than a stuck engine, there can be a lot of serious problems that can't be detected. Another thing that can't be evaluated is the condition of an automatic transmission. 

Three; was to avoid a disassembled or a partially dismantled car. This is even worse than the non running vehicle. Parts may/will be missing, and it's huge project to reassemble a car that you did not dismantle in an orderly manner. Even when, or especially when, you are looking at a vintage vehicle. Locating arcane parts for that project will certainly be soul crushing, and may cause any refurbishing to come to a screeching halt.

Of course if your plans entail a total rebuild and restoration of the body and interior then you already know that the costs of the project will be very high.

In the case of my search for a low cost paint shop, I thought that I might have to look outside the area, maybe in the Central Valley, like Tracey or Stockton. During my investigation I learned that MAACO was still in business in San Jose.

I decided to pay a visit to my local MAACO paint shop to investigate.

The shop was very well lighted, modern looking, and clean. The lobby had the big placards on the walls describing the different levels of paint services. All that was missing was the big color chip chart but the counterman had a thick stack of color cards. They can also match paint by the OEM code. The counterman was very friendly and did not mind answering my questions, and even let me see the shop area and some cars that had just been painted.

They looked pretty good.

But lets talk about price.

A basic scuff and spray job starts around 500-800 bucks. That's a single stage acrylic enamel. 

Their second tier consists of urethane enamel and includes a coat of primer sealer. That starts around 1,000-1,800 bucks.

The top tier is a two stage, base color with a clear top coat. Again it includes the primer sealer. This will be around 2,500 bucks. A color change would probably run between 2-3000. 

Basic prep is included; cleaning, masking of trim, then spraying. Additional dent repair, and more sanding will of course be extra. Additionally, a color change that requires door jambs, under hood and trunk lid areas will add hundreds of dollars in additional expense. Incidentally, the choice of color can add to the price, some colors just cost more.

Needless to say any rust or collision repair and removal of dents and dings will add to the cost.

MAACO has a very informative article on their website, that provides a lot of info on getting a car painted there, or anywhere. 

I was happy to discover that there was a place in town that could handle a possible re-paint of a future project vehicle. Yes, prices are quite a bit higher than they were when I had my car's repainted years ago. They do offer "specials." They currently had 40% off of any paint service. I would ask about upcoming specials before taking my car in. They might give you the discount before or after the special offer period starts or ends.

I want to add that I am not endorsing MAACO, I do not have any relationship with the business. I haven't even had a car painted there myself. I'm merely suggesting the shop as a possibility in the future.

Paint and body work is one area to consider. Finding a shop that will handle mechanical repairs and rebuilding is another important area. 

While vintage cars are quite simple and straightforward, many shops may not want to work on them. Their mechanics are unfamiliar with diagnosing and working on older cars. They prefer working on modern cars that will not need time spent chasing down parts and expertise. 

More on this subject in future posts.