Full Respray Costs

[RLJB]

Hi

I got a quote today on getting a full respray and the guy came back with Aussie$14,000 (which is about US$12,000). The guy is obviously good cause he had 2 concourse Austin Healys in his workshop.

Ok, I love my spider but comon, all restored in Australia they sell for about $17,000, so at $14k you have to question the value.

Just a quick question, specially for any Australian owners, have you had a full respray and how much did it cost?

Thanks

Rod.

[Curly]

G'day Rod, are we talking 'just an outside respray' here, or does it include stripping everything off the body inside and out, removing all the old paint, patching any rust, straightening out any small or large dents, doing a complete bare metal respray, reassembly etc. If it's the former he doesn't want your business, if it's the latter, it's still expensive but understandable.
Give us some more details.

[RLJB]

Good point, sorry I should have added some more detail:

- just outside spray job (ie not engine bay or inside boot but doing the door bay etc
- removal of all outside stuff eg bumpers, windscreen, badges, door handles etc
- paint stripping, not sand blasting, but I assumed the stripping would be back to bare metal (?)
- a bit of body work eg there are a few dings and some rust spots on the doors
- full respray with quality paints

He is quoting Aus$80 per hour plus materials.

What do you reckon?

Also, do you think I should consider removing all the stuff myself and paint stripping it, can't be that hard (could it?)

Cheers

Rod.

[RLJB]

Curly - that's a damn nice spider mate, I bet you've spent a bit on that, question...

Can you send me a picture of your wood grain dash, I love it... where did you find a RHD version of such? Or did you have it made?

Thanks

Rod.

[Curly]

Curly - that's a damn nice spider mate, I bet you've spent a bit on that, question...

Thanks Mate, nice of you to say so. I bought it very cheap ex-California - fair body shell, but not going with burnt out wiring loom and trashed interior. Spent 2 years and about 12 grand to convert her and get on the road. That would be over-capitalising in the U.S. but over here I would hope to get my investment back if I ever decided to part with her.

Can you send me a picture of your wood grain dash, I love it... where did you find a RHD version of such? Or did you have it made?
Thanks
Rod.

Dash , console trim and gear knob are home-made from a piece of 'birds-eye' Silver Wattle coated with numerous coats of 2-pak epoxy clear gloss.

[Curly]

Good point, sorry I should have added some more detail:
- just outside spray job (ie not engine bay or inside boot but doing the door bay etc
- removal of all outside stuff eg bumpers, windscreen, badges, door handles etc
- paint stripping, not sand blasting, but I assumed the stripping would be back to bare metal (?)
- a bit of body work eg there are a few dings and some rust spots on the doors
- full respray with quality paints
He is quoting Aus$80 per hour plus materials.
What do you reckon?

He obviously doesn't want your business, that's 150 man-hours of work and there's no way it would take that long to do what you are asking. I would say $4000 should get you a very nice spray job. Shop around, try the smaller shops that don't pander to the insurance industry, or if you don't need it done 'tomorrow', some shops might take it on between their regular jobs over a period of 3 or 4 weeks and not charge you as much.

Also, do you think I should consider removing all the stuff myself and paint stripping it, can't be that hard (could it?)
Cheers
Rod.

By all means do as much as you can yourself, it wil save you heaps and you'll learn more about the car at the same time.

[RLJB]

Thanks again Curly all good advice, I will tell you how I get on.

Your dash is great, I'm going to copy that effort.

[Jazgeek]

wow... 14K?

I just had mine done as you described for $2K and there was a bunch of body work required (check my post with pic's)

I even chose some pretty expensive paint (BMW Titanium silver) and the black is so deep that someone thought it was tinted plexiglass.

definately shop around. I saw a 73 complete teardown and paint for 9K and that was a complete (I mean complete complete) teardown absolutely nothing but metal left before painting.

[mbouse]

very nice looking cockpit! although, at first glance it kinda made me dizzy, being right hand drive. Not often we see right hand drive spiders on this forum.

thanks for sharing.