GA Body Shop

[CrashNBurn]

Hello all,

I'm in search of some advice. My '73 Z is in need of a new paint job, replacement of the floor pans, some new sheet metal in place of the sunroof, patching of the battery box area, and some body work on the front end of the car where the hood attatches to the body.

Basically, I need to find a decent shop that can do a repaint and all the other mentioned work, at a fair price. I'm not looking for a showcar finish, since this will eventually be a daily driver...someday...and I don't want a Maaco paint job either. I'd like to do all the work myself, but don't have the knowledge, tools, or facilities to properly do so.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good body/paint shop in the Atlanta area? Also, should I strip the car to bare metal before taking it in, to maybe save a little bit of money? Should I get it running first?

Jason

[MarkDixon]

First of all, I would get your car running before you do anything to it. That should be the cheapest part of your project.

You should be able to do most of that type of stuff yourself. (rebuild the carbs, change points & plugs)

If you can't get your car to run and you have a good bit of rust, I would question if this is a good project.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for restoring dead Z cars. Mine is in bad rust shape, but I love her and I am going to restore her no matter what.

As for the paint, you don't need to strip your body down to bare metal just to get it painted. Unless you are going to take every nut and bolt off of the car.

You need to check with the paint shop before you do your own prep work. Most shops will not want you to do the prep work. Surface rust happens within a few hours. If you sand down to metal and don't get it primed till weeks later, you will have rust on your car. Plus they will want to prime it with compatable primer to the paint they use.

Again check with the paint shop.

As for where to get your body shop work done,

My car is at E-radatz in Kennasaw GA. I have not gotten mine back so I can't personally say how well I like their work, but I was recomended to them by the Georgia Z Club.

Good luck with your project.

[gogriz91]

Eddie Radatz didn't do body work when I had him do some work on my car a few years ago. He was willing to do trim, replace rubber etc, but recommended a shop to do hardcore body work.

Whereabouts in Ga are you? I'm going to have my Z re-painted as well and am curious who you choose and how it all turns out.

[MikeW]

My car is at E-radatz in Kennasaw GA.

What color is your car?

[CrashNBurn]

I'm in Marietta. Right now, the car is blue (you can go see it in my gallery). However, I want to change the color to black.

[MarkDixon]

My car is White with Black interior.

E-Radatz does not do regular body work, but he does replace floor pans and certain body panel repairs.

He is replacing a frame rail for me right now, as well as a brake job, clutch, and tune up.

[MarkDixon]

Whereabouts in Ga are you? I'm going to have my Z re-painted as well and am curious who you choose and how it all turns out.

[MarkDixon]

I am near Helen Ga. Just north of Gainesville. I have not decided on who will do my paint job as of yet.

I will have to wait till after the first of the year for that.

I will probably have it done by someone local to me.

[MikeW]

My car is White with Black interior.

That was my guess. This may surprise you but I temporarily "borrowed" your engine timing pointer. Mine didn't come back from the engine rebuilders and since it's not a part that would ever go bad I've never seen one for sale. Eddie didn't have one and all of the parts cars at his place were either missing the pointer or had the later style pointer with notches.

In any case, I cleaned years of grime off of it and fabricated a new pointer out of aluminum using yours as a guide. The original pointer is steel but perhaps it's galvanized or something. I was afraid that if I tried to make one out of steel sheet metal it would eventually rust.

I've been meaning to take yours back and install it but I've been kind of busy. I'll try to do it this week. Do you have an idea of when he'll be done with the work?

[=Resurected280=]

Just a general suggestion CrashNBurn, but try to find a place that will give you a true written estimate for your bodywork as opposed to some shops who will look at the car and give you a ballpark number, but in the end charge you by the hour. I say this because my car was just at an "hourly" type of shop and while the shop did a very good job they also overan their estimate by $500 on what was origionally a $1000 job. I've also heard similar things from other people that have gone to these types of shops.

[MarkDixon]

That was my guess. This may surprise you but I temporarily "borrowed" your engine timing pointer. Do you have an idea of when he'll be done with the work?

No problem on the timing pointer. I can't drive the car till he gets done with it anyway.

I hope he will have mine done next month. I am very anxious to get it back.

I know it doesn't look like much on the outside right now, but if I can just drive it around, I will feel just as good as if it were in concourse condition.

You know they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[MarkDixon]

Hey Mike did you get my Private message???