Reliable yet Reasonable paint prep and painter in Mid Atlantic region

[mwelther]

Anyone know of anyone within 2-3 hrs od DC Metro that does "side work" with these Old Mopars for a good yet reasonable work for paint prep (sanding, bottom quarter rust patch) priming and painting
that is within a 3 hour drive of the DC Metro area? I have a 68 Fury in need of some work.

All the "body shops" around here charge an absolute fortune due to the overhead and plus alot don't know what to do with these older cars. When I was a kid we had a 66 Dart and 67 Belvedere and my dad always could find these "experts" out in the sticks that did miraculous work and were very reasonable -- seems they've all died off or moved.....any ideas?

 

[bluefury361]

You might try another planet......

And .

 

[saforwardlook]

Even finding a good body and paint guy that is fairly expensive is hard these days for working on our cars. And a "little rust" always turns into much more than you expect given our cars are usually at least 45 years old now. There are a lot less difficult and taxing jobs to pursue rather than this kind of work that also pay much better. Other jobs that pay better also have less constant exposure to toxic chemicals and the tedious sanding, welding and other respiratory hazards that are ever present. Have you checked the cost of paint and related supplies lately too? And where do you find a vocational class in high schools or other levels of education anymore? And too many millenials are tied up in their smart phones and snap chat to be bothered with hard work, or any at all for that matter.

The future we are all racing towards is one where we do as little thinking or work as possible, with self driving cars, robots to do our chores, and artifical intelligence to figure out our needs and problems. Our goal is to sit in a chair and do nothing, just watch the latest movies and listen to music. We will probably have to still exercise our fingers though, until the artifical intelligence can be wired into our brain as Elon Musk seems to be pursuing, to even take that difficult task away.

Get with the wonderful future we all seem to be seeking mindlessly!

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

[stubs300]

Is the vehicle stripped of trim, grills, bumpers, etc. and mostly ready for paint?
How much more bodywork needs to be done, is it mostly sanding?
Is it primed?
In other words, do as much as you can to get it ready to roll into the booth.
Seriously, you have any Maaco's in your area? If you have a car that's ready and you find a shop owner that will take it, you can get a job done for about 3k. Stop by and ask questions, some have a wall of paint jobs they've done for old cars. The one in Vacaville Ca. has a cool wall and they painted my brothers 66 Satellite. Here's a vid of it., that's a Macco paint job. Good Luck

 

[rapidtrans]

+1
I used Maaco a couple times. Did all the prep work myself. Pulled all chrome that i could and still drive it. I wasn't looking for a show finish just wanted the cars to look as close to new as possible. Even their top level paint package was reasonably priced and matched the factory color very well. If i paint the Monaco i'd consider Maaco since i have one within walking distance of the house.

 

[saforwardlook]

Is the vehicle stripped of trim, grills, bumpers, etc. and mostly ready for paint?
How much more bodywork needs to be done, is it mostly sanding?
Is it primed?
In other words, do as much as you can to get it ready to roll into the booth.
Seriously, you have any Maaco's in your area? If you have a car that's ready and you find a shop owner that will take it, you can get a job done for about 3k. Stop by and ask questions, some have a wall of paint jobs they've done for old cars. The one in Vacaville Ca. has a cool wall and they painted my brothers 66 Satellite. Here's a vid of it., that's a Macco paint job. Good Luck

What were you doing in that God awful State "where you hate everyone and everything" in that miserable place?

 

[Carmine]

The future we are all racing towards is one where we do as little thinking or work as possible, with self driving cars, robots to do our chores, and artifical intelligence to figure out our needs and problems. Our goal is to sit in a chair and do nothing, just watch the latest movies and listen to music. We will probably have to still exercise our fingers though, until the artifical intelligence can be wired into our brain as Elon Musk seems to be pursuing, to even take that difficult task away.

Get with the wonderful future we all seem to be seeking mindlessly!

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Yup.

 

[stubs300]

What were you doing in that God awful State "where you hate everyone and everything" in that miserable place?

I've been out since 30 Jan of this year, best move I ever made,
I love shooting at things in Ca. from out of state! I can see California from my house! I'll still rag about it every chance I get, thank you.

 

[Wonderwagon]

uhm, have you tried to find a vocational school that teaches auto body and paint?

 

[rapidtrans]

Good call!
A neighbor did the community college class and was able to paint two of his cars at the school with all their equipment. After he took the auto body course to prep his cars. Ford street rod and a 57 T-Bird driver came out pretty nice.

 

[saforwardlook]

I've been out since 30 Jan of this year, best move I ever made,
I love shooting at things in Ca. from out of state! I can see California from my house! I'll still rag about it every chance I get, thank you.

Sounds like a move that is a win - win for both of us!

 

[moper]

I'm out of your range, and I am not a 100% perfection resto type guy, but I do that. I try not to book any further than a year out and I'm booked through the end of next year, never mind my engine customers. Just an example... the falcon I'm working on was a floor repair, and a strip to metal and repaint deal with somewhere around 80 hours total. 140 hours later, the car has 40% of the entire floor replaced, structural components replaced, trunk panels repaired, and the aftermarket skins were only suitable for patches, and it's ready for epoxy. Still need to seam seal and do bodywork before blocking and paint. It is never cheap or easy when dealing with rust. Chances are very good that if you get both of those, the guy probably just screwed you and hacked your car.

 

[ayilar]

I see that you posted the same request last Friday (In Search of Relaible and Reasonable bodywork and paint person within 100 miles of Washington DC), so you must still be looking.

Smitty, from Contemporary Automotive, does good work on old Mopars. I've entrusted mine to him, and I am happy with his mechanical and electrical fettling. Mark (@Imperialist67) recommended him to me and speaks highly of him.

Neither Mark nor I have used his services for body/paint work (my car is rust-free and the original paint is good), but I have seen his shop and to my eyes he'd be good. You may want to give him a call and/or drop by his shop in Beltsville, MD -- about 30' from Falls Church outside of rush hour: Contemporary Automotive

 

[jct]

Even finding a good body and paint guy that is fairly expensive is hard these days for working on our cars. And a "little rust" always turns into much more than you expect given our cars are usually at least 45 years old now.

i found one of those guys, well my wife knows a guy that does body and paint work. total driver quality. it's all almost perfect but not quite, is good enough for me...