Amen brother

so many factors
 

There are a lot of factors to take in. A good body man is important and there are a few things that have been said that is really great advice. Body work is the base for any good paint job! Then make sure they refit all the panels. We use Sherwin-Williams Paint and the cost of your supplies and paint is a huge factor as well. You only want to do it once that is for sure. An open door policy is important...just allows for a unexpected visit and see what progress is really being done. The Hugger Orange is an expensive color. I would say definitely more into the $15K+ for a good shop with a warrenty.

These guys should be able to give you an estimate...

http://www.st-autobody.com/

free plug for my buddy helping me with my car :D

Why is hugger orange so expensive?

I'll throw in the plug for PPG. Every high quality painter that I know shoots PPG and the results are telling. Not to say there that some of the other systems aren't good... as long as you stick with a quality product it is more about the painter than the system. I have seen repetitive issues with Dupont.. especially the clear. It gets a cottage cheese reflection that you can cut and buff out but it comes right back after sitting in the sun.

250-300 hours for final body prep on a high end paint job is probably average of for a good shop to fit all of the panels on a stock bodied car, make adjustments, set all of your body gaps, fit windshield moldings and body parts as needed, prep, primer, block, and paint your car. The result of your final finish will depend greatly on the prep, and blocking. Cut corners on blocking out the body and you will have a clarity in the reflection and no matter how much you spent on the car it will be diminished by what will appear to be a cheap paint job. Average body rate across the country for custom body shops is going to be around $65/hr. If you are lucky to find a good shop that will do it for their collision work door rate expect to pay around $45 an hour. Figure at least another $2500 for paint and body supplies. So given a good quality shop that is going to be fair with you expect to pay between $15,000 to $20,000 from where you are right now.

Car is mostly through paint finally. Been in the paint shop for going on 7 months. He's done good about sticking with the original quote, car is being buffed/cut right now. He still has undercoat (lizard skin) and paint interior/cage, engine bay and tail panel.

Looking at ~$8-9k still for the paint/body work. That is aside from the metal work and the gapping that was already done (door bottom/rear and trunk). He ended up blocking the car 5 separate times to make sure it was perfectly straight. Put the color coat and 3 clear coats on it, let it cure and wetsanded with 800 and put 3 more coats of clear on it.

Going to go see it this weekend. Hoping to have it back together this weekend or next week so I can bring the car back home and start to play with it myself!

William

good luck with it Will,hopefully its coming home

Wow 8k-9k for what he did is a smokin deal!!! Car looks great Will!!

Well it was 8-9k and 3 months initially. He's more than doubled the time it's taken him and been a pain to stay on his ass to work on it.

Hasn't been the best experience, so just hoping at this point it turns out as well as the work I've seen that he's done in the past.

Just ready to have the car back at my house. I'm coming up on the 1yr anniversary of taking my car to the shop...

I would love to see how it turns out as well. I am building a Hugger Orange 69 as well.