Macco Paint special

[DAVES89]

Just got an email that Macco is running a 4^99.00 paint special. Fine print says paint only. Does that mean any color? Include taping? Anyone check into this?

[dship]

I checked into "offers" online within the 3 Macco shops near me.  None had any type of special but did explain their "paint only" service.  They do no prep and use single stage enamel paint.  Couldn't check into them any further cause they are closed on Saturdays.

[pont35cpe]

Back in the 60s my brother used Earl Scheib on several of his cars. He learned right quick, if you took them an unprepred car, it was painted as is, zero prep work, paint over bugs/dirt. If you prep the surface first you got a pretty decent paint job. That was a $29.95 paint job at the time. Don`t expect much from a $499.00 special.

[DAVES89]

Lazy fingers. $699.00. Just threw it out there for comment.

[Harold]

If you do your own prep, you can get a decent paint job at a fair price.  Many body shops 'sub out' complete paint jobs to Maaco and charge their customers hefty retail prices.  Back in the '80's the exterior-only commercial price at my local Maaco was $165.00.  Times have changed!

[keiser31]

Years ago in San Diego, a friend had his 1931 Dodge coupe in a Maaco ad on TV.  There was a dog on the running board and the old "hillbilly" was saying, "Yours is the red and white jobby....riiiight?"

[Paul Dobbin]

We had a Facto-Bake Paint Shop in the 1960's & 70;s.    They hired anyone who claimed to be a auto painter.   Some people got

decent results, most didn't.   Removal of trim was extra, including door handles & bumpers.

[JFranklin]

On Maaco's no frills jobs they do some generic prep work but not much, clean, tape, featheredge some scratches and scuff to make the job hold. If you take time to sand and prime and remove trim you can get an excellent job if they have a good paint guy. I used to do the prep for a side job and send to shops such as Maaco or to Maaco and my customers were very happy. I found that they would do a great job because they knew it would be good advertising and look good on their lot!

[TTR]

1 hour ago, JFranklin said:

... excellent job if they have a good paint guy. 

Obviously excellence depends on personal expectations, but in my experience, an excellent paint job (on a vintage car) usually requires at minimum couple of hundred hours of (quality) prep, i.e. before applying/spraying any final color (which is the easiest/quickest part of the entire process). Post-spray cleanup & prep will usually also require at least couple of dozen hours.

None of this ^^ will obviously include disassembly/removal or re-assembly/installation of any trim or panels, etc.

YMMV.

 

Lazy fingers. $699.00. Just threw it out there for comment.

 

How many hours of reasonably(?) good prep work can a Maaco or any other high volume, quick turnaround, collision repair shop afford with $699.00 ? 

That's why most such shops won't do "vintage" (hobby) vehicles.

This is not "rocket science" to understand and just like anything else in life "If it sounds too good to be true, ..."

 

 

Edited July 13 by TTR (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

27 minutes ago, TTR said:

YMMV.

What do your initials mean?

I can think of "Year, make, and model of vehicle."

I remember the late forum-goer "Padget" who

was known for indecipherable initialisms!

[TTR]

16 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

What do your initials mean?

I can think of "Year, make, and model of vehicle."

I remember the late forum-goer "Padget" who

was known for indecipherable initialisms!

"Your Mileage May Vary", often used as a (simplified) reference (or a pun) to indicate something like "Well, this has been my experience, but yours might be or end up being different", at least in automotive circles I'm familiar with.

 

 

Edited July 13 by TTR (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

Like most franchises, quality of MAACO work depends on the individual franchise owner. Some turn out way better work than others.

 

It might not be super-expensive paint but at least they don't have proprietary paint colors that don't match any known factory color like Scheib did.

 

Hmm. Like any carmaker is going to use super-expensive multi-stage paint on their assembly lines.

[Frank DuVal]

8 hours ago, rocketraider said:

they don't have proprietary paint colors that don't match any known factory color like Scheib did.

Diamond Gloss colors, $19.95 in the late 60s in Richmond. Colors not found in nature I used to say! That blue, you could tell it was painted by an Earl Scheib Franchise from a block away!

 

Friend of the family had their 54 Ford painted red for his wedding in the late 50s. He paid the cheapest and did no prep. Yep, the stuff his & her friends at the wedding did to the car pulled the paint off! Made quite the impression to me as a young boy looking at the peeling great looking paint. I learned what prep can do to make the paint last! 25 years later I open a paint shop. Never skipped the prep work.

 

I was down the street from one of the local Maacos. People would stop in looking for a cheap  paint job and not like my prices, then they would get Maaco to paint the car. OK, but then they would stop back by and complaint to me why their paint job was so poor! I just shake my head and say price. 

 

Yes, in Newport News there was a Maaco franchise that used Sikkens paint and if you aid for the upgraded work, they would give you a GREAT paint job! I know some Corvairs still running around the Tidewater area that still look good.

 

One of the Richmond (and just that one, not all of them, no broad brush) Maacos did poorly on some "classic" cars ('58 Buick, 63 Falcon conv, 356 Porsche are the ones I remember) and had the dissatisfied owners bring them in at one time. Then they set the place on fire! Oops.....😮  The fire Marshall could not prove arson, as too much gasoline was present in the vehicles to show an accelerant was added. Not only were the car owners bloody mad, but so were the technicians whose tools burned up!🤬

 

You want the easiest prep work to get paint to stick? Green/gray (the fine stuff) Scotchbrite and Comet, wet sand the car with that combination. I got this from the Sikkens rep at the time. Makes the paint stick, does nothing to feather edge chips, etc. that is more work. 😉

Edited July 14 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)

[Frank DuVal]

8 hours ago, rocketraider said:

Hmm. Like any carmaker is going to use super-expensive multi-stage paint on their assembly lines.

I'm not sure what you mean, Glenn, auto assembly lines have been using three stage pearls since I was still in business. Then there is that one year Ford color (early 90s) that had pigments also used in US MONEY! That was a proprietary BASF color found on some Mustangs, Mystics, and to order the paint you had to show you had a damaged car in that color. And only get what you needed. Sometimes with a guard. Not enough to paint another car. Hmm, I wonder if it can be bought now? ❓

 

And then there was the Mystichrome, a couple years later, a PPG version, that did not have so much Greenback pigment, but still had to have the car to buy some.

Edited July 14 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

When I restored my 77 trans am I talked with the local Maico shop. He had one guy that did 'special jobs'. When I was there he had a 'cuda and a 442 that he was working on. The owner told me that this guy liked working on classic cars and he let him do his thing. To save money on my part I was going to do the jambs, put the car in primer, have it as a roller and they would spray the finish coat. He quoted me $3500 which I thought was a bargain. In the end I ended up painting it myself. I talked to another maico shop and they wanted nothing to do with it. Like painting anything, the prep is the hard part. Spraying the paint is just one step in the process, however the better that is applied the easier the following steps are.