The cost of bodywork

[halz]

I'm starting this thread as a record of the cost of bodywork on your Z. When replying, please try to include:

1. The nature of the job (eg baremetal with significant rust removal?, minor touchup?, colour change?, engine bay included or not?, interior and exterior?)

2. The date

3. Your country and currency (eg US$, AU$, GBP, PESOS...)

4. Your decision - did you get the work done or not?

(5. try to be honest!)

[halz]

...and I'll get the ball rolling with a quote I recieved on the weekend:

Full stripdown to metal with sandblasting and machine removal of old paint, rust cut out, new sections butt welded in - sills, 1 door, tailgate, quarter panel, both guards. Treatment of all panels with corrosion inhibitor. Repaint in original colour (excluding engine bay and interior).

Cost: AUD $16,500 (May 2006)

The same work but on a spot-by-spot basis with local painting rather than the whole car:

Cost AUD $6,500.

Decision - I'm looking for more quotes... this is the top end of the market.

[ZeroHour]

1. baremetal with no rust removal , engine bay included, interior and exterior

2. 05/24/06 (started 02/10/06)

3. project have cost me approx. $150US thus far ($30 for paint remover $10 in scrapers) and the rest in various grits of sand paper...

4. DIY project

5. didn't shop around yet but i'll update when i start getting quotes in the next few months

[c david]

1. cursing the imature biotch who hit me in the right rear. $100.00

2. praising her for not totaling my beloved z. -$50.00

3. thanking the lord of car enthusiast she had state farm ins. -$5,000

4 loss of work for a day and 20 hrs of contacting the insurance adjusters, getting rental cars, tow trucks, dertermining the extent of the damage, realizing i can't reliably drive the car without getting stranded as a result of the wiring harness damage. $1,000.00

5. being blessed to get an ins adjuster who had just bought a 30k 25 year old car. -$950.00

6. spending 3 days getting quotes from quality shops who don't want the job and from jerkoffs who think it would be fun. -$350.00

7. the pain of haveing your first choice of shops say no because a former good friend brought him 2 cars and was such an arse the painter vowed not get involed. $2,500.00

8. pulling into a new shop of guys with skills that have just opened thier first bodyshop and haveing them salivate for the oppourtunity to work on your car. -$3,000.00

9. a month later seeing more cars than they could finish in a year arrive at thier shop. -$2,000.00

10. warning said skilled shop owners about the pitfalls of owning a new business and the consequences to me. -$50.00

11. watching the pitfalls become reality over the course of a full year to do a 3 month job. $2,000.00

12. paying for services included in the qoute but not credited as payment. $ 600.00 (soda blast)

13. paying for parts. wiring harness, floor pans, rear bumpers, weather strip kit, spoilers, $1347.68

14. a collective 120 hours calling said part suppliers, cleaning and storing and restoring parts not replaced. $300.00

15. haveing body shop not admit to business difficulties and the subsequent roller coast ride of believeing they will actually finish the car knowing they paid a very skilled employee more than my qoute to get the car to 80% done. $2,000.00 -$1,500.00 $2,500.00

16. buying a beater to drive during the year my daily driver zcar is in the shop. $250.00 selling said car -$750.00 realizing you spent $750.00 keeping the beater road worthy only to get your money back. $0.00

17. equating the pride of ride quality of the beater (1981 benz) to the head turning stance of the z and adding in the cost of insuring 2 cars with only one on the road. $37,356.00

18. arriving at body shop to see your car outside. $16,000.00

19. telling jackass tow truck driver to stop and get my car off his truck $45.00

20. calling another tow truck to transport from a construction site. $138.00

21. car arriving at first choice of shops and expertly skilled shop owner accepting the prior work as quality and willingness to finish the car.

- $ 23,000.00

22. sleeping easy knowing my love is in the best place she can be and focusing on getting her back on the road. -$3,000.00

23. not adding the above cost because you know that you can't put a price on love. - $4,100,000.00 which equates to the current highest winning bid for a vehicle at barett auto autions.

cheers, cdavid

[Blue Meanie]

1. Striping to bear metal

2. Removal of minimal rust and glassing small spots in wheel wells or welding in new metal

3. Painting entire car deep metallic blue, with two 6 inch white Dayton stripes down the hood.

Estimates ranged from $10,000 (US) down to $3,500 (US)

The low estimate is actually from a guy that builds show cars for a living. He told me the 10K was nuts and was just trying to rip my head off. I don't do body work and I didn't want to learn on my Z.

The low estimate is going to have my car for 3-4 months where the high was just a month. I can wait 2 months for $6,500!

[Pop's Z]

No. Colo. 5 estimates to repair minor surface rust on hatch from previous vinyl roof and paint "as close to factory color #114 metallic brown" with clear coats. Bids were from $3,000 to $8,000. I went with a local shop who paints custom cars. $3,500 including under hood, but no engine bay, door/hatch jams(they didn't really need painting as the color wasn't changed). They did a marvelous job and I was completely satisfied. I did run into many shops that were not interested in painting a whole car...it slowed down their insurance repairs. Go to car shows and ask around about paint shops. You will get some answers there. Gday, Mike

[jmark]

No. Colo. 5 estimates to repair minor surface rust on hatch from previous vinyl roof and paint "as close to factory color #114 metallic brown" with clear coats. Bids were from $3' date='000 to $8,000. I went with a local shop who paints custom cars. $3,500 including under hood, but no engine bay, door/hatch jams(they didn't really need painting as the color wasn't changed). They did a marvelous job and I was completely satisfied. I did run into many shops that were not interested in painting a whole car...it slowed down their insurance repairs. Go to car shows and ask around about paint shops. You will get some answers there. Gday, Mike[/quote']Pretty close to my experience on my son's '78 280Z. $3500 included some rust repair (including battery tray area).

[26th-Z]

I budgeted $10,000 to strip 26th to bare metal, removal 100% of the rust by dipping the chassis, replace what was once rust and now is a hole, prepare the bare metal and paint the babe green again. It looks like I am going to do it for about $8,500 because the vast majority of the labor is from me. I paid for a welder and a painter. Everything else I did. I can easily see another $5,000 for my time if I paid myself $45 an hour. Body work is not cheap. It is not easy. It's dirty work. And to prepare the metal correctly, takes a lot of time.

[jmark]

I budgeted $10,000 to strip 26th to bare metal, removal 100% of the rust by dipping the chassis, replace what was once rust and now is a hole, prepare the bare metal and paint the babe green again. It looks like I am going to do it for about $8,500 because the vast majority of the labor is from me. I paid for a welder and a painter. Everything else I did. I can easily see another $5,000 for my time if I paid myself $45 an hour. Body work is not cheap. It is not easy. It's dirty work. And to prepare the metal correctly, takes a lot of time.

I agree. Most of the time was taken up in body prep. The actual painting and buffing happened pretty fast. See my gallery for pics during the process.

[Palmer]

To date:

Major rust repair and new body panels or metal welded in, $1200.

See the bodyshop pics at www.project280z.com

To be updated shortly

Either way. When I'm done with the rear-end mechanical attributes and I get the engine/tranny pulled it'll be time to start thinking about the body work.