[AMC-List] Paint Job or Snow Job?

["Kim Bueler" <kimbueler@xxxxxxxxx>]

 I don't know if everyone remembers, however last Summer I had my car at my 
engine builders and Dream Car Garage expressed an interest to my mechanic 
that they possibly would like to consider my car for the TV show.  Well I 
tried contacting them a few times to follow-up, however they never responded 
so it looks like they are not interested in the car - no matter, it was an 
exciting thought and made for interesting discussion amongst my buddies.

Now Dream Car Garage - aka Legendary Motor Cars is just north of me in the 
town of Milton and my friend and I have been there a number of times to look 
at their cars, which are all beautiful but pricey, over the past 6 months 
and the last time we were there we asked get a tour of the facilities and 
also enquired about getting a quote for a paint job - they said bring it up 
and we will give you a quote.

Fast forward to yesterday, I took my Gremlin for spin up to Legendary to get 
a quote. I rolled into the parking lot and asked at the front desk about a 
estimate, they directed me to Jason who at the time was test driving a nice 
green convertible SS impala.

Jason introduced himself and began to look over the car and this where the 
fun began.  Now to be clear I have no hard feelings about my car being 
ignored from the original interest, I just thought that since they did some 
nice restorations maybe a paint job from them would be the way to go.

Jason began by stating it was not original paint - it is and I pointed that 
out, he then indicated that it was a laquer paint job, I told him it was 
enamel. He then looked over the car and the few dings the car had - this car 
has no rust what so ever and only a few dings that are easily repaired. It 
is a car that has been stored for all of its life and has only been on the 
road on sunny days in the last three years, it is pristine with the 
exception of a few small dings and has only 36 thousand original miles - I 
purchased it brand new.

Jason started telling me that the car needed at least 400 to 500 hours of 
work for prep and paint - I was nodding my head at this point, listening but 
not fully comprending the amount of work he was suggesting, then he said at 
his shop rates this would (and this where my ears pointed to Spock like 
resemblence) equate to around 25 to 30 thousand dollars. You read it correct 
folks 30 thousand dollars (Canadian but still alot of money) to paint my 
frigging car!

At this point, I started to put some distance between him and me as he 
proceeded to explain why so much work was needed, namely, the shop had a 
name to uphold, they needed to completly strip the car, each section 
required special work, their paint jobs were almost as special as their 
restoration and should be compared to the same.

I looked at him incredously as he proceeded to tell me the car was not worth 
it (I readily agreed) but that they a reputation to uphold and that they 
targeted higher income individuals and perhaps if I won a lottery and still 
wanted to proceed I should come back.

To say I was floored, is an understatement, but as he blathered on about 
bleed throughs because of incorrect feathering, etc, etc, I began to hear 
that dinging bell - this guy didn't want the work. At about the same time I 
was thinking of this, he stated the same thing that although it sounded like 
that, it was not true, they would take the work, but it would be 25 to 30 
thousand dollars.

I thanked him for his time and left.

Now my question to the list, I want to get the car painted, but I don't need 
a concours paint job, how much should I expect to pay.

Cheers everyone!
Kim Bueler ' 75 Gremlin X 360 V8 

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