well Ive got about 15 or so owners that im good friends with across the country, and would be willing to help any of the Z people out in setting up

paint jobs. The owners I know, are in: So Cal. (me)

San Leandro/San francisco area,

Bremerton Wa. area,

San Deigo Ca. (el cajon)

St Louis Mo.

Indianapolis IN.

3 in Texas, dallas, houston, & Pasadena TX .

Ashville NC

Waterford CT

Laurel MD

and 1 friend in Canada...

if I can help just let me know

That's a good start. Asheville is 1 hour away from me.

Hhhmm sure wish you were on the east coast. Conneticut or Maryland? Not bad............Anyone in the NYC area?

That's a funny looking Z Bobby Lee. Gonna put one of those Cobra or Ferrari bodies on it?

Wow, looks like I am in luck. I live around Irvine and would have no problems taking my 240z to jackboxxx's MAACO franchise if that is the quality work I can expect (same color too!).

uh oh...I think you are misinformed..

As a Maaco Owner I will try to shed some light on what Maaco does or does

not do. It needs to be said that Maaco is a privately owned company, and all

the Maacos across the U.S. and Canada are privately owned franchises,

since they are franchises, they are required to operate within specific guidelines laid out by Maaco Corporate...or could lose thier franchise...

though there are owners out there that dont follow the corp guidelines as they are supposed to. these franchises will be targeted and eliminated

from the chain as Maaco is undergoing some major changes that will require ALL the centers to do work at a certain quality level more akin to that of a collision shop rather than like a "earl schieb" or "one a day paint" type

shop. All Maacos will have to be "certified" in the very near future or be eliminated from the chain.

Ok, in regards to what Maaco does or does not do....

Ambassador service: (single stage enamel paint just like a 240 came with...)

Maacos cheapest paint service, Nationally advertised on TV for 249.00....

prices vary...some shops sell it for a bit more...299 329 etc...

What is done for 249.00?? well, this depends on the current condition of your cars paint, if its just old and faded for example, we are just going to

(depending on what state) powerwash the car, or hand clean the car, remove some items like emblems, then, machine & hand sand the vehicle to a 320grit smoothness all over, then mask off everything, windows, lights, bumpers etc...then put it in the booth apply a primer/sealer, then paint the vehicle, then bake it, then take it out, de-mask it, and detail it.

We dont require that you mask off the car yourself...

We do sand the car...

We do use a primer/sealer on the car prior to painting...

We generally make 2-3 passes (coats) around a car when painting.

Maaco is not "getting away" from bodywork, in fact we are moving more

towards doing more..targeting "spotwork" specifically...minor hits..fender benders on late model cars...

all Maacos do bodywork...almost all do serious collision work as well...

the majority of Maacos have frame machines as well.

Will your car be perfect for 249.00? nope...not a chance in hell any paint shop can make your 25-35 year old car look perfect for that kind of money.

but it will look much better than it did.

Now that being said, its time to help you understand other paint issues,

1st, being this is a classic Z forum, most of the owners here have 20 yr+

old cars...most of these cars if in orginal condition, are restoration projects

needing quite a bit more than 249.00 worth of painting..(my 3 240s included)

a restoration shop may charge 5000-10,000 to restore the body and paint of a classic car, a collision shop may charge 2500-5000 to do a 1st rate base / clear paintjob.

for example: my nice 240Z, the blue one, which I searched for for several months, has no rust to speak of, orginal shiny blue paint, garage kept all its life, and has about 120k miles...it needs:

20ish dings straightened: 20x $22.50 = $450.00 bodywork then about 8 hours blocking on each side of the car, 16x$45.00 = $720.00 bodywork

$300.00 in sanding/prep work, hand & machine sand, prime then hand wetsand entire car to say 400grit. then mask and shoot it with my paint of choice..I would have no problem painting it with single stage ambassador

paint if i park it in a garage..so lets add $249.00 for paint..

so, 450+720+300+249= $1719.00 plus tax of course...

$1750.00 for a Z in pretty decent shape...

if you have other issues,

costs can raise the price alot..

strip bad vehicle paint to metal. (per panel..) 100.00

rustwork...cut and weld... one 2"-4" spot 90.00

dents... one 3"x5" dent 45.00

dent on bodyline add 1 hr.

so, lets look at a bad case...say 4 dents, a few parking lot dings, say 10, 4 rust spots, and real bad paint needing the whole car stripped to metal...

dents = 180.00 4x45

dings = 225.00 10x22.50

rust = 360.00 4x90

strip = 800.00 (8 major panels)

block = 720.00

sand = 300.00

paint = 249.00

Total: = 2834.00

add for base /clear 850.00

add for colorsand /buff 350.00

*of course these costs are just examples, prices very alot from car to car...

some need more of 1 thing and less of another..my average "nice" paintjobs

with some work needed are 1500-2500 dollars. my average "cheap" paintjobs are about 400-500 dollars...the average Maaco paintjob in california hovers around 850-900 dollars..nationally the average is about

650.00 or so.*

Maacos use one of the following paints,

Dupont

Sherwin Williams

PPG

This is the choice of the owner of the center...I use Sherwin Williams, mainly because they are local to me, so I get great support and service.

I also prefer the way Sherwin Williams single stage paints lay down on a car

they seem to be easyer to apply, nice and flat and shiny. for base / clear

I think dupont probably lays down a bit better, but sherwin williams is just as good quality but a touch harder to lay down.

with any classic car, I personally would "detrim" the car before bringing it

to a paint shop, pulling all emblems, marker lights, bumpers, headlights,

mirrors, etc..

ok ive typed enough i think...heres a couple pics of a car we did,

499.00 presidential single stage paint service, 200.00 for the stripes, and a few hundred for bodywork...

My painter carlos, Me in the middle and the owner on the right.

Excellent post !

Wow, looks like I am in luck. I live around Irvine and would have no problems taking my 240z to jackboxxx's MAACO franchise if that is the quality work I can expect (same color too!).

it is what you can expect

Did I mention that im pretty darn close to Motorsport auto as well...

so I can get and install parts on my way to work that you might wish to have

replaced after painting

Ordered a lot from Motorsport. Been very happy and they seem to know what the hell they are talking about!

I had my paintjob done at maaco *white 240sx on the right of hte pic* at maaco. They had alot of custom cars being worked on when i went there. I just needed a cheap paint job to get the job done. Cost me over $980 becuase I had them paint seperate parts like body kit, and minor fiberglass work done to my rear spoiler.

THe paint job came out pretty good. Nicely laid down paint.

THe sucky part is it wasnt sanded down previously before the paint and I shoulda put more prep work into it, otherwise it woulda been a hella good paint job.

*240z on the left is a friends car*

:cheeky: BlueMeanie that's another one of my $ hobbies that I get to spend my not so disposable money on:D And besides my 260Z doesn'[t like getting air like that.........

I'm with ya there Bobby Lee! Any time the Secretary of War starts to b!tc# about me spending money on the Z, I remind her that I didn't go out and finance a Harley or a Porsche like my neighbors did. Then she's fine with a few hundred here and there. Hehehe.

I had my paintjob done at maaco *white 240sx on the right of hte pic* at maaco. They had alot of custom cars being worked on when i went there. I just needed a cheap paint job to get the job done. Cost me over $980 becuase I had them paint seperate parts like body kit, and minor fiberglass work done to my rear spoiler.

THe paint job came out pretty good. Nicely laid down paint.

THe sucky part is it wasnt sanded down previously before the paint and I shoulda put more prep work into it, otherwise it woulda been a hella good paint job.

Nice SX...drove one of those to San Francisco once from L.A., great ride, lotta fun to drive.

How good was the "fit and finish" on the bodykit you got for it? (and what kind was it)

I paint them all the time and see a lot of them not designed all that well..

(gaps where it should fit tight up to or against the body etc..)

also which Maaco painted it?

partial sponsorship from nsptuner.com. Fitment was good

and it was painted at the maaco in moreno valley..