Picking a body shop is obviously a big deal. The work is expensive, and if you pick wrong, you end up paying a lot for shoddy work. Here's how I did it.

I took the car to four shops. I brought them a list of what I expected done, and what I would do before bringing the car in for work. Mainly, I was willing to remove the interior. I was not willing to remove the bumpers or other exterior parts. More on that later. I also brought them a list of parts and the sources I had found for those parts, listing the obvious parts I knew I would have to buy.

I wanted all exterior trim, bumpers and glass removed. I then wanted all rust to be cut out and replaced with new metal. Its important to show them what is available to buy vs what they will have to fabricate in the shop. For example, you can get replica floor pans, weatherstripping and rear quarters. I'll comment on parts quality later.

While they are checking out your car, check out their shop. I like to talk to the owner about his other projects. Is car restoration even part of their normal business? Some shops don't like doing it. Can you talk to some previous customers? I got lucky and ran into someone who used the shop I picked to restore Fiats and Volvos. He was bringing his third car to the shop I picked. He was very happy, to say the least. At another shop I ran into someone who was getting his El Camino restored. He was happy with the work, but warned me that the shop low balls estimates. One shop had a lot of high end classics sitting under tarps. They did beautiful work on them, but it soon became clear that they were all 2-3yr projects, and the owner was a perfectionist who would make my car into a museum piece, although for a reasonable price. I thought 3 months was a reasonable time frame. He thought 3 years was more reasonable.

The shop I picked had some cars that had obviously been sitting a while. I asked them what the story was on those cars. Turns out that he was storing those cars for customers who were basically dragging out their projects due to finances. He was doing a little work here and there as the customer got the money. On my second trip, I noticed that some work had been done on some of those cars, which was a good sign. It showed he wasn't just collecting jobs, and not finishing them.

Its important to tell the owner what you expect. In my case, I'm expecting the car to be preserved. I don't want to mess with rust removal for another 10 years of frequent driving, and I live in a coastal area and will drive the car in the rain. I will put the car in some local shows and parades, but I don't expect it to win any contests. I mention that I heard of the shop via a local car club that I joined. All of this lets the owner know that his work will be visible and I will happily tell people who did it.

Finally, understand that the estimate you get is a pretty loose estimate. Nobody can tell what's going to show up once they start stripping your car. Don't accept an estimate unless they put it up on a rack and look at it from all angles, though. If they don't do this, assume they aren't that interested in your project.

In short, find a shop that regularly does restorations, gives you as complete an estimate as possible, and will let you talk to previous customers. Help them out by being willing to do the stuff they don't like, such as removing the interior. Also bring them cataloges of parts to show what is available.

That's the best you can do. Now, to see if I picked right, we'll have to wait a few more weeks.