Reasonable cost paint job near Chicago

[ALFAJAG]

I just purchased a 1982 Slate Metallic Blue (boy does it look green) Spider. It is rustier than I would have liked, and the last paint job was .......not so good. I want to drive it all summer to make sure that the car is not a "money pit". I believe that it is a good candidate for a cosmetic restoration. Does any know or can anyone suggest a body shop or body man (that works on cars from his home garage) that can take on a car that needs some rust repair in all the usual places at a reasonable cost within 100 miles from Chicago? I do not need the work to be perfect, I really want to stop further rust to the body without making it a "trailer queen". I hate to sound cheap, but the car does have other needs.

[124JOE]

im up in so wi i found a guy back in 99 that did mine
but i had no rust
do you have time to do any work yourself
its cheeper that way

[ALFAJAG]

No time, and even worse, no skill. The car in question runs strong, but it has a lot of needs. I just replaced most of the brake system. It needs a windshield and some interior work, so I am at the point of trying to save some money somewhere on this car.

[Ragno124]

ALFAJAG,

Most of the Chicago group that can help you do not hang on this forum so you may want to checkout the Chi-FLU website. We have over 70 active members and 115 or so web members who have all kinds of experience in restoring their Fiats and Lancias in the Chicagoland area. We have had at least 4 cars repained just in the last couple of years alone and I believe one is currently in a shop as we speak.

http://www.chicagolandflu.com/

Just a suggestion if you want some local help. Signing up for web access is free.