I'll paint any car for $19.95

[Guest 49 Packard]

I want to let everyone know that I'm in the midst of a great experience getting my '49 painted at Earl Scheib. I (like many of you, probably) grew up hearing Earl's radio advertising "I'll paint any car for $19.95". With diamond-gloss paint, no less!. As you know, their basic paint service (now around $260 for single-shot urethane paint) gets you sanded, masked and painted. Door jambs, etc, are all extra. They'll do the body work too, if you want them to. In short, you get what you pay for.

I had rust spots, dings, a crease in a door, a football-sized dent in the left rear taillight area, and a bunch of cracking and checking in the old original lacquer paint. Lots of stuff to deal with, and all over the car. I'm a novice at body work, but I launched into it with the kids helping and four or five days later it didn't look too bad. Well, let me qualify that - it DID look bad, but that's because it had body work all over it. But it was much smoo-oother!.

I decided to opt for Scheib's "Pro-3" job for $400. Three coats of paint and some other services. (http://www.earlscheib.com/pro3.php if you're interested). They have a "deep metallic blue" that is a lot like the original Packard color.

Driving the car on Thursday the fifteen miles to the Scheib shop (I had the front bumper and all the trim removed) I was feeling pretty good! That is, until the vapor-lock hit. I know someone will ask, so "Yes" I have the heat shield installed over the fuel pump. As it turned out, I wound up on the side of the road FOUR times. Each time there I was, pulling the fuel line off the carb, sucking (yuck) gasoline up the line to fill it, plugging it back on real quick.

Eventually I got to the shop, driving it into the lot under its own power. "Sure," the manager said, "I'll open the door and you can just bring it in." Great idea, but it wouldn't start! So, the four or five guys standing around helped me push it in. Boy, was I embarassed. But the manager there was very helpful and kind, and said it was no problem for him at all.

I decided to get an electric fuel pump and avoid this hassle, so the next day (after scouting around for a while - they're hard to find) I found an Airtex E8011 6 volt pump at a Carquest on the east side of Indianapolis, about 30 miles from my house. I picked that up for $57, noting when I saw it that it is the same as Max Merrit's "kit", except that he includes a toggle switch.

I called the Scheib guy the next day, Saturday morning, and asked him if - when he gets done painting it - if we could just push it out the door into the parking lot at that time so I could install the electric pump. This is the amazing part to me. Instead he says, "That's too much trouble for you. Do you have the pump now? Just come over and I'll make space for you in the shop here and you can do the work inside, out of the sun. If you need anything I can help you." I asked him, "Don't you close at noon on Saturday?" But he responded that sometimes they were there till 1PM. So off I went, and when I arrived there was the car, off it a corner with a big clear space all around it. The manager gave me a work light (on a stand), and a trouble light to throw under the car. He let me borrow a jackstand and a floor jack, too. I had everything else with me. To make this story short, I finally got done, but it was close to 2:00. I had everything put away, the car was running great. I went up front and saw that the manager was the only one left. It turns out he had been waiting for me, but never once applied any pressure on me to "hurry" the job. I questioned him about that and his response was "When your car is painted I just want you to have a really good experience. I didn't want you to have to take it outside and work on it - just to be able to drive it home and be happy with the new paint job".

I am not accustomed to being treated this well at retail shops. These people have been considerate, thoughtful and very professional. I stopped by last night to see the paint job. It was still wet, but it looked g-o-o-d. Tonight I pick it up and drive it home.

For any of the rest of you that may need to get painting done "on a budget" I don't think I could recommend a better option.

[Twitch]

I've seen some $600 paint jobs that look really good so your budget paint may be alright. It's like everything it depends on the people. One Scheib shop can be terrible and another can be far better. It's like mechanics and doctors- all are not created equal.

I'm puzzled by the vapour lock though. My 50 has never suffered from it whatsoever and it is 100% stock configuration as far as I can tell. My engine has a neoprene fuel line from the fuel pump to the glass filter and I'm not certain that is original engineering. If a steel line ran up there close to the engine and radiator heat I'd wonder if that isn't the cause.

A friend who had a stroke and had someone else finish restoring his family owned since new 57 Bel Air developed the problem that the pre-restored car didn't have and it was ultimately traced to a non-stock copper fuel line that heated up and vaporized the fuel.

Anyhow it's great to know your car looks good and is running well!

[Packard8]

The real key to painting is good prep and the experience of the guy with the spraygun. Several years ago I had a couple of Studes done at Miracle Auto Body in Alameda CA (a friend had a garage down the street and knew the guys). I would strip the car of all chrome, trim, lights, door handles etc?everything that would come off and then had a ?freelance? Mexican guy come in and do the body work on his off time Sat & Sun.

When ready to paint, I would buy all the materials (paint, reducer, thinner, hardener etc?I liked DuPont Centari or Imron at the time?much better than the budget stuff they used at Miracle) and deliver the car to Miracle on Sat AM. They did the final prep and masking and the guy only charged $100 to shoot the car in their spray booth. This guy prolly averaged 2 or 3 sprays a day, 5 days a week and was a real artist with the skill to lay down a beautiful coat of enamel without any runs, drips or fisheye. They would leave the car in the booth until they reopened Mon AM, so there were no worries about dust etc as it cured.

Anyway, I think the whole job on the ?51 Stude 4 door was under $700 for materials, bodywork , prep & spray (with me doing all the unskilled grunt work). That car placed highly at several shows and most ppl thought it was a 2 or 3 thousand $$ paint job (back in the 1980?s).

Anyway?hope to see some pix soon!

<img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Guest 49 Packard]

I forgot to mention, although they will paint door jambs for $50 apiece, the manager there also offered (and I accepted!) to give me enough paint when the job was complete so that I could do them myself at home.

And yes... I'll post some pictures of the job, both before and after I put all the trim back on.

[Guest 49 Packard]

I'm pleased with the paint job. There was some fisheye on the front left fender, but they're going to repaint that for me. Actually, they told me that if there was anything I didn't like they'd repaint that area no charge. He gave me half a gallon of paint to do my own door jambs (and a couple cans of hardener) too.

Not a bad $400 paint job!

I did have some inline pictures here, but have revised it to give you a link to a few more.

[Packard8]

WOW!! I had to put my sunglasses on!

Looks great! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Tom M]

That looks really nice. From what you started with.

[Guest Randy Berger]

I like the paint job. Not a suggestion, just an observation. I have seen several 48-50 Packards that had the center of the bumpers painted the same color of the car. To my eye, it looks very classy. When I say the center I mean the area between the top and bottom ridge from one end of the bumper to the other, both front and rear.

[Guest 55_Clipper]

maybe I need to give earl a call.......... I am on a very restricted budget, Navy pay don't go very far, especially in San Diego! Gas is 3.25/gal.

[Ozstatman]

Great paint job, love the before and after shots - I'm amazed.

Ozstatman

38's are Great

[Guest 49 Packard]

Randy,

I've seen the same kind of paint on bumpers on a couple of good-looking cars on eBay. I'll consider that. I think the only reason I wouldn't do it would be the beatup, rusty condition of my bumpers. Perhaps I'll run a piece of colored duct tape around the bumper just to see how it would look (no, I won't leave it there!). If it looks right I could paint it with the paint they gave me at Scheib.

Thanks for the idea.

[Guest bkazmer]

The painted center section is more prevalent on earlier cars - the stylists wanted the bumper to look like two thin bars. Customers in some cases wanted some more "bling" so the all chrome came along. There are also different front bumper shapes (closed and open lower section)

[Matt Harwood]

Good prep can make any paint look good. I often tell people to do their own prep--it's expensive if a professional does it, but easy to do. If you screw it up, just sand some more and try again. Applying the paint is actually the easiest part of the job, and anyone with even a little experience can do a nice job. Most modern paints are more than adequate for our babied old cars because they don't spend much time out in the elements or slogging through winter salt.

That looks like you got a great job and excellent customer service for your money. I had good luck with a Maaco job a few years ago where I did the prep and for about what you paid and an afternoon wet-sanding the new paint, I had the nicest paint on any of my cars.

Speaking of wet sanding, if you feel confident, you could take that finish to the next level by wet sanding and buffing it. There's a difference between shiny and smooth. Even the best paint applied by the top painters needs wet sanding to get that flawless finish we're used to seeing on show cars. You could achieve this yourself with a weekend's worth of work and the results will knock your socks off. All that for such a bargain price!

I'd recommend checking out http://www.autobodystore.com and their message board to get more information on the process. I learned everything I know about wet sanding from the guys there and as a first-timer, my results were amazing, even for this perfectionist.

Hope this helps and it looks awesome!

[West Peterson]

Matt

You are so right about the wet sanding. I would like to add that you should start with a course grit paper, and move up to 1500 or 2000. Many people make the mistake of starting with too smooth of grit. The problem is that the smooth grit will follow the "orange peel", making your result a smooth "orange peel" finish. I suggest starting with a minimum of 600 grit, possibly 400 if your working over a few coats of clear. If you painted with a one-stage paint, especially with metallic, you have to be very careful or you'll end up with blotchy dark spots.

[55chevy]

For a real budget paint job use Rustoleum and rollers! I have seen several threads in other auto forums, basically you roll two layers with those 4 inch white foam rollers, wet sand with 800, repeat and sand with 1000, repeat and sand with 1500. I havn't tried it but bought some rollers and paint, now just need a Round Tuit.

http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx

http://www.automotiveblogger.net/paint-your-car-for-fifty-dollars/

http://carpainting.wetpaint.com/page/Home

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...part=1&vc=1

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...part=1&vc=1

[West Peterson]

I'm hoping that he meant that he'd work up to 1500-2000 grit on the last couple of coats, starting with 600. (I think I'd start with 400, actually).

Home Depot and Lowes have round tuits in several different sizes, including metric. However, they're off-brands and they really don't withstand heavy use. You need to custom order from the finest suppliers if you want high-quality round tuits.

[FomocoService]

400 is really to coarse to use for color sanding in my opinion, unless you have a ton of orange peel.

600 with soapy water so the paper doesn't load up when working is best to start.

On the cars I spray I usually start with 1000 and work up from there, but I always over reduce about 15% to help with flow out.

Metallics are a pain to color sand as a single stage- in fact for the novice I don't recommend it. You can mottle the finish really quick if you're not careful.

[Restorer32]

For the absolute best job you wet sand then rub the paint with $100 bills.

[FomocoService]

I use one dollar bills... my shop has very little overhead.............

I've also been known to use monopoly money.

[West Peterson]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">400 is really to coarse to use for color sanding in my opinion, unless you have a ton of orange peel.</div></div>

Well... if you put your paint on with a roller, I can't help but believe that you're going to have a "ton of orange peel." Of course you have to be very careful using 400 (putting an extra coat of clear on helps), but it does wonders when cutting down the peaks. You do not want to start with 1000, as it tends to follow the dips. Then you end up with a real smooth orange peel.

[Guest BJM]

West and others,

Of course everyone has heard of and seen how to's regarding wet sanding BUT I'm still apprehensive about SANDING a say, $2,000 paint job and burning through. I'm still several years away from the paint jobs on my 3 cars (3 to 6 years) but I wring my hands even now wondering how this is practically done. And I've never seen sand paper grits in the 1000 to 1500 range at places like Home Depot, maybe I never looked that close.

The how-to's are typically in books. I think a video is what I need. I want to see it done. On those wizz bang TV shows you see like Overhaulin' and on the SPEED channel, they show before and after but they never take the time to show the tedious process of wet sanding and buffing.

OK, so you have this newly painted car sitting in front of you - say it's my 49 Roadmaster Sedanette. In beautiful dark maroon paint that already looks pretty shiny. I then..... pour water in a bucket, then...... drop the say 800 grit sand paper in to soak up the water, then start on the front driver fender. How much pressure do I apply? Do you do it for a certain amount of time then keep moving on? Do you dry it out after each rub and then buff it out? Oh man, my hands are wringing and my brow is furrowed.

How long does it take to do a "typical" body. Then I redo it with 1000, then 1400 grit, then finally I buff it out? Right? Then apply wax to seal all that work I guess.

[Restorer32]

To confuse you even further...the lastet "wet sanding" system from PPG is not actually wet and uses grits up to 3000 on a power sander. Works very well indeed but requires a reasonably large outlay for materials. Best bet for you would be to find a shop that would let you watch the process. If you ask a thousand amateur restorers you'll get a thousand suggestions as to the "right" way to do it. Ask a thousand professionals and you get maybe a dozen or so suggestions as to the "right" way. There is no magic to it and you would learn more by watching a pro than you ever will reading books, watching videos or asking your friends. Where are you located?

[Bryon]

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about your better than good experience and treatment when getting your car painted. Mine needs the hood and doors done and I'm all ears about getting it done on my Reatta. Thanks again for your excellent experience story!

[FomocoService]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You do not want to start with 1000, as it tends to follow the dips. Then you end up with a real smooth orange peel. </div></div>

Ok I see where you were referring to roller paint job... my mistake!

In my defense, Almost every car I've painted (64 vehicles since '03)I've used the 1000 grit method, but then again I'm an automotive painter by trade. You just have to look at the finish to determine what grit you should start with. Like I stated above I usually over reduce and also give a mist coat of reducer to aid in flowing out. I'll post some pics later.

[Guest BJM]

I'm in central Iowa. I suppose I could ask someone but at the moment have no hobby contacts locally. My 63 Bonneville will be my guinea pig on these things. It has several flat panels, not a lot of complext curves like the 49 - and is intended to be a local shows and driver car, not a 100 point type car so if I mess up - I'd rather do it on that car.