It's finally out my 69 Camaro! - Lateral-g Forums

**GregWeld** · #1 02-14-2015, 09:54 AM

Drip rails? On a Ridler car? Even my race car has them shaved.... LOL

People can never fathom why these cars cost so much to build.... yet want perfection everywhere... and moan about seeing a "million dollar" car and make statements about "how could it cost that much"? I always just laugh. The hours and hours - days and weeks it takes to achieve perfection. You're lucky Mario that you can do these things yourself. When Rudy and I were doing his Camaro and we'd work all day... at the end of the day I'd look at him and say - "okay, that's two guys @ 8 hours..... so 16 hours of labor today @ $80 an hour" and we didn't get that much done!

The car is going to be spectacular Mario!!

**DOOM** · #2 02-18-2015, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Drip rails? On a Ridler car? Even my race car has them shaved.... LOL

People can never fathom why these cars cost so much to build.... yet want perfection everywhere... and moan about seeing a "million dollar" car and make statements about "how could it cost that much"? I always just laugh. The hours and hours - days and weeks it takes to achieve perfection. You're lucky Mario that you can do these things yourself. When Rudy and I were doing his Camaro and we'd work all day... at the end of the day I'd look at him and say - "okay, that's two guys @ 8 hours..... so 16 hours of labor today @ $80 an hour" and we didn't get that much done!

The car is going to be spectacular Mario!!

Well put Greg! I now fully understand why it cost so much for "HIGH END" body and paint. I just had a conversation this morning with Rodger from Iron Works . We talked about this very subject. The amount of detail you have to attend to is incredible , every line ,every corner ,every piece has to be tended to . The more detail, the more work, and thats where the money comes in. I just finished fitting the front and back window moldings on my car. I spent 16 hours and I'll use Gregs hourly rate 16 hours x $80.00 per hour (two full 8 hour Sundays) fitting these moldings so there PERFECT. $1200.00 to fit moldings WTF!!! If Troy or anyone would of told me that before I did it myself I would of laughed my azz off are you kidding me!. I've been keeping track of my hours and where my car sits at this point I have close to $12000.00 not including the first round of fill n blocking Troy did $5000.00 ! $17000.00 and still more detail work to complete. Not one coat of primer on the car yet. Bottom line is when you see these RS , RingBrothers, Dutchboys, etc,you can fully understand why these cars look the way they do the owners payed for perfection and it didn't come cheap.

spode · #3 02-18-2015, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DOOM

Well put Greg! I now fully understand why it cost so much for "HIGH END" body and paint. I just had a conversation this morning with Rodger from Iron Works . We talked about this very subject. The amount of detail you have to attend to is incredible , every line ,every corner ,every piece has to be tended to . The more detail, the more work, and thats where the money comes in. I just finished fitting the front and back window moldings on my car. I spent 16 hours and I'll use Gregs hourly rate 16 hours x $80.00 per hour (two full 8 hour Sundays) fitting these moldings so there PERFECT. $1200.00 to fit moldings WTF!!! If Troy or anyone would of told me that before I did it myself I would of laughed my azz off are you kidding me!. I've been keeping track of my hours and where my car sits at this point I have close to $12000.00 not including the first round of fill n blocking Troy did $5000.00 ! $17000.00 and still more detail work to complete. Not one coat of primer on the car yet. Bottom line is when you see these RS , RingBrothers, Dutchboys, etc,you can fully understand why these cars look the way they do the owners payed for perfection and it didn't come cheap.

Your car is looking great and nice job on those moldings!

**syborg tt** · #4 02-18-2015, 01:03 PM

Car is looking great & I can't wait to see it in person.

**waynieZ** · #5 02-18-2015, 01:10 PM

I love it Mario, its going to look killer!

Musclerodz · #6 02-18-2015, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DOOM

Well put Greg! I now fully understand why it cost so much for "HIGH END" body and paint. I just had a conversation this morning with Rodger from Iron Works . We talked about this very subject. The amount of detail you have to attend to is incredible , every line ,every corner ,every piece has to be tended to . The more detail, the more work, and thats where the money comes in. I just finished fitting the front and back window moldings on my car. I spent 16 hours and I'll use Gregs hourly rate 16 hours x $80.00 per hour (two full 8 hour Sundays) fitting these moldings so there PERFECT. $1200.00 to fit moldings WTF!!! If Troy or anyone would of told me that before I did it myself I would of laughed my azz off are you kidding me!. I've been keeping track of my hours and where my car sits at this point I have close to $12000.00 not including the first round of fill n blocking Troy did $5000.00 ! $17000.00 and still more detail work to complete. Not one coat of primer on the car yet. Bottom line is when you see these RS , RingBrothers, Dutchboys, etc,you can fully understand why these cars look the way they do the owners payed for perfection and it didn't come cheap.

Next time someone complains on hours, I am pointing them to this thread. Even after I spend the hours doing it myself i still look back and say no way it took that amount of time.

**GregWeld** · #7 02-18-2015, 01:26 PM

What I love to hear at car shows....

"WOW! Really nice hot rod!! Must of cost you 10 grand for that paint job"!!! I nod... and smile.... and think to myself -- try 4 times that.

**syborg tt** · #8 02-18-2015, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregWeld

What I love to hear at car shows....

"WOW! Really nice hot rod!! Must of cost you 10 grand for that paint job"!!! I nod... and smile.... and think to myself -- try 4 times that.

Try building an s10 and have people tell you they could have built the entire truck exactly like mine for $20,000 dollars.

I even had a shop owner say he could duplicate my truck exactly for 20 grand I told him I would give him an additional 20 grand in cash if he could. He gave me his Shop phone number and told me the bet was on and I have never heard from the guy.

96z28ss · #9 02-19-2015, 10:28 AM

I'm one of those guys that never would of thought paint was so expensive.
Having gone thru it now, and learning all the steps involved to make a show quality paint job, when I hear $40-50k for body and paint, I'll just be like "yep".

**GregWeld** · #10 02-19-2015, 05:07 PM

Well -- and just because a lot of people are reading these things -- I'll add that "paint" is subjective.... like how much paint?? Painting the block? The transmission? The chassis? Does your paint job include gapping or is that someone else doing that? Are we painting the engine compartment show quality or just blacking it out?

On little hot rods --- my chassis is every bit as nice as the body... and that included all of that being bodyworked to perfection... and the jambs etc are just as perfect... and the master cylinders are painted body color and bodyworked...

Obviously the less you want perfect.... the less labor it takes. But people fail to really look at all the details of these show cars -- and then equate that to what they're talking about money wise. I've seen engine bays with incredible paint and detail... and I think WOW! OMG...