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Bodyshop required - price over location!


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Hmm... my car (‘81 SC) needs a bit of rust chopping out and a paint. I may change colour, may even backdate, haven’t decided yet.

Like everybody I want a really good job done for the price of a packet of Spangles.
 

Am London-based but the car is driveable and I’m happy to travel pretty much anywhere, so bodyshop doesn’t even have to be in the South East...

Any thoughts?

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Sportwagen will always get my vote (especially if you are going as far as a colour change. but it may be 2 packets of Spangles!

If you can strip and reassemble yourself you’ll save and it is fun. 

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3 hours ago, Wingnonut said:

Sportwagen will always get my vote (especially if you are going as far as a colour change. but it may be 2 packets of Spangles!

If you can strip and reassemble yourself you’ll save and it is fun. 

 

2 hours ago, Ian Comerford said:

Sportwagen gets my vote too.  Take a visit and then decide, it won’t be difficult 

 What they said ^^  

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Wouldn’t a paint job at sportwagen be more like 10k + as opposed to 5k tops from most body shops? I asked at several local good places  as it was meant to be done earlier this year but now on hold thanks to covid. The dearest was 5k, cheapest 2.5k.

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8 minutes ago, MarkJ said:

Wouldn’t a paint job at sportwagen be more like 10k + as opposed to 5k tops from most body shops? I asked at several local good places  as it was meant to be done earlier this year but now on hold thanks to covid. The dearest was 5k, cheapest 2.5k.

All depends on whats found when stripped and if you want it done properly

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Thanks all,

I know Sportwagen are one of those places one should go to for provenance etc, but they will be expensive and Covid's hit my pocket hard. I wasn't planning on painting my car yet tbh, thought I had a few years yet but I discovered yesterday that the window scuttle's rotted through. My car's a bog standard SC, not sure it warrants the prestige of somewhere likes Sportwagen if I can get as good a job elsewhere. I like the sounds of a Midlands bodyshop who know what they're doing.

The other option is just to change the cuttles; those corners cost about £100 each, I could just get that done for now and wait till I can afford the whole job. There's a fair bit of rust on my car. Gives me a bit of time to decide on colour change or backdate options too...

Incidentally, I rang 911 retro Works today. A couple of years ago they were quoting 10-15k for a steel panel backdate, including colour change. Now they're it's more like 35k!! WTF??!!!

 

 

1 hour ago, Nige said:

MJ Fahy painted mine, the do full restos and anything inbetween too.  Midlands based though, but friendlier prices.  They also stick to deadlines and have what would be considered warp speed turnaround for a bodyshop.

https://www.instagram.com/mjfahypaint/

Don't suppose you have any pics Nige? They don't have any reviews online, which is a bit weird, and a lot of vans on their Instagram...

 

1 hour ago, longman said:

All depends on whats found when stripped and if you want it done properly

They're gonna find a lot of flaky brown stuff, guaranteed...

 

1 hour ago, MarkJ said:

Wouldn’t a paint job at sportwagen be more like 10k + as opposed to 5k tops from most body shops? I asked at several local good places  as it was meant to be done earlier this year but now on hold thanks to covid. The dearest was 5k, cheapest 2.5k.

It seems consensus nowadays is 10-15k!!, rather than just 10k...

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5 hours ago, Wingnonut said:

Sportwagen will always get my vote (especially if you are going as far as a colour change. but it may be 2 packets of Spangles!

If you can strip and reassemble yourself you’ll save and it is fun. 

I wish I had a place I could do things like strip. I can't even trickle charge where I am!

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By the way I did speak to Bruce a few years ago when I started the 356 project. I thought the guy was really rude. TBH I don't care how good he is I don't feel I could take a car to him after our conversation. Maybe he wasn't rude, maybe it was me, but we didn't click so he's out. I do like the idea of the Midlands and further afield; I have time to transport the car and I can't pay prestige prices for a jumped-up Beetle.

(last bit was a joke, don't shoot...)

Edited by GoldenLane
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Don't base your decision only on the quotes, read the other signs that are there: what's the standard of work coming out / how booked up are they / what paint brands are they using / are they really interested and talking sense or not? Might sound daft but I always look at the state of the office too.

You are not trying to find the impossible, but there is a lot you can do not to find yourself thousands of pounds lighter with a car that has been poorly painted.

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1 hour ago, GoldenLane said:

Did they do the backdate work by any chance?

I did the backdating they did the paint.  You have to go back quite a bit for the Porsche work they have done, did a lot of work for Cavendish Porsche.

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10k isn’t unreasonable for a top quality paint job from a bare metal base. And that’s outside London in the cheap Midlands 🙂

That’s just paint though - if you need significant rust repair and a backdate too I’d expect to budget 20k to get it done properly. Done well it will increase the value of a rusty car significantly.

If that’s out of range perhaps get a localised repair and paint for much less.

I’d be suspicious of any paint job under say 3.5k - it’s simply not possible to do properly at this price and you’ll just end up doing it again in a few years.

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2 hours ago, reddevil said:

10k isn’t unreasonable for a top quality paint job from a bare metal base. And that’s outside London in the cheap Midlands 🙂

That’s just paint though - if you need significant rust repair and a backdate too I’d expect to budget 20k to get it done properly. Done well it will increase the value of a rusty car significantly.

If that’s out of range perhaps get a localised repair and paint for much less.

I’d be suspicious of any paint job under say 3.5k - it’s simply not possible to do properly at this price and you’ll just end up doing it again in a few years.

I agree that if it’s done at all it should be done properly. But I think it might have to be localised repairs for now, the scuttles and maybe a wing. I don’t even mind them unpainted tbh, I just don’t want the windscreen falling out!

My car is stock, and not particularly low mileage at 140k. Do you think a decent paint job would increase the value by the cost of getting the body sorted. Interior is average.

4 hours ago, Dr Rock said:

They did mine and do all GCR’s paint :twocents:

Thanks 🙂 

Who are GCR?

2 hours ago, Nige said:

I did the backdating they did the paint.  You have to go back quite a bit for the Porsche work they have done, did a lot of work for Cavendish Porsche.

Thank you will have another look 🙂

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25 minutes ago, GoldenLane said:

My car is stock, and not particularly low mileage at 140k. Do you think a decent paint job would increase the value by the cost of getting the body sorted. Interior is average.

Thanks 🙂 

Interiors are (relatively) cheap to sort. You’re a carpet set, RS doorcards and a spot of retrimming/pair of buckets away from having a mint interior 😇

As for mileage the youngest of our cars is 31 years old - I personally wouldn’t be put off by 140k if the rest of the car had been cared for - price on condition at this age.

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