Yesterday I was at a friend's shop hoping for a lead. This guy is on a new car resto show on cable and has a lot of contacts. Actually saw a 66 Mustang that they restored on the show. Nice little car but not as nice as it appeared on the show. I got some good leads on a machine shop that knows FE motors but I came away with no solid leads on a classic car body shop.
I got up early today, drank three cups of coffee and set out to consult with my friends and find an old skool body shop where I can get my truck bodyworked and painted.
I went to Chino'z first. He's been doing quality paint and resto for 40 years. Turns out he too took a hit during the pandemic in terms of shop help. Many employees left when the economy shut down, never to return. He even moved his business to a smaller location. He said he'd like to do my truck for me but he's backlogged at least six months.
Next I headed to my buddy's high-end fab shop to see if he had and ideas. This guy does amazing work. He's been on Monster Garage and has been featured in many print publications. I've known him since he was 21, he's in his 40s now. Probably as good a metal fab specialist as anyone on any of the restoration shows on TV. Seriously. I spent at least an hour listening to him tell me things I didn't want to hear. It's always awesome to go there though just to see what's in his shop. Really, some of the most amazing cars you'd ever see in person.
Today, I saw a done car that I had seen a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised to see this car taken apart. The car was bought at a popular televised auction. Sooooo much wrong with this car. It was truly unsafe to drive. My buddy is repairing the car and documenting the repairs.
This is the car...
Kevin Hart paid $825,000 for this 1959 Chevrolet Corvette convertible restomod (motorauthority.com)
I should have taken pics but I didn't think about it until after I left. My hood and doors are at the blaster that is located in the same industrial complex as Mark's fab shop.
Anyway, Mark never tells you stories. I told him what I was looking to do and he told me what I knew was true; I can't and shouldn't do this truck the way I had planned. There aren't really any local old body shops around here anymore. It's a dying profession, giving way to fast money, late model, collision repair shops. Because of the classic car auction shows and the high end resto shows as well as the fewer number of classic car shops, it's basically pushing prices up out of range for the average classic car hobbyist. A decade ago a basic full paint job with bodywork and jambs started at $10k. With less shops doing this type of work and the increased cost of paint and other supplies, the cost today is about $20k for quality paint in California. I was already prepared to pay the increased cost but after talking to Mark today I came to the conclusion that I need to take it a step farther for just a little more time and money.
I left Mark's and headed to Paul's
I know Paul owes me a paint job but I couldn't just let him park on this truck for a month and make no money. We talked and decided to rotisserie this truck. We're going to take the body off the frame, put it on a rotisserie and send it to Freddie's to be completely blasted, top and bottom. Then trailer it back to Paul's, seal and undercoat the bottom, put it on the new frame, bodywork the top, then take the frame to get powdercoated. I'm going to pay Paul whatever he wants and we will work the difference out on my other two cars. So that's the plan. Not really what I had planned initially but now I'm not running around trying to make things happen.
Prolly gonna sleep good tonight.
just left this morning for Grave’s Plating in Alabama…