My 72 is about ready for body work and paint, I am looking for some decent shops near Detroit Lakes Minnesota (NW minnesota/Fargo ND is nearest metropolis LOL), would like to stay within about 100 miles or so. Anybody have good leads, let me know.
Looking for good body shop in Minnesota
- Thread starter Kevineng
- Start date
MOPARMITCH
Well-Known Member
Good luck with that. I have been restoring cars for 30 years. I always would have a body guy do the bodywork and paint. Then I assemble the car and everything else. 10 cars or so in the past. I am now on my 70 Cuda. Can't find people who want to take a whole car project, even though mine is almost zero dents or rust. They ALL have gone to production Insurance work. Easy money and quick for them. Finally found a guy. Came here and looked. Gave me a ridicules price to do my car. I have done every aspect of Car Restoration for many years, but never body and paint. I know how they do it , because I have watched it for years. Guess what ? I am now learning bodywork. One panel at a time. So far three panels in 7 weeks. I figure I have 3 hrs a day or so to work at it. Rant Over....
pschlosser
Well-Known Member
I concur with moparmitch. more people are willing to shoot (paint) it, but fewer willing to take on the body work, unless they have a love of muscle cars. some are just indifferent.
Challenger RTA
Well-Known Member
The length of time you look for a good shop. Plus the waiting time 6 mo to 6 year in body shop jail. You might as well start watching videos on body work and paint. I would start by getting a compressor to handle a few air tools. DA, line sander primer gun 1.8 - 2.0 tip that will put it on. 1.4 tip from Harbor freight will work too.
You are pretty much set up to paint the under side. Rotisserie. Look for a 1.2 tip spay gun. There are a number of types of spray guns. Gravity siphon, pressure. Then there is a myriad of transfer rates.
Conventional (HP, High Pressure) HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) LVLP (Low Volume Low Pressure) HTE (High Transfer Efficiency) & RP (Reduced Pressure) LVMP (Low Volume Medium Pressure) Trans-Tech / Compliant HTi (High Transfer improved)
A member here stated that his paint jobs start at 10k. Not including body work. I think I recall that correctly. Let that sink in. I think you are looking at 25k for body work and paint.
Developed you skills. So what My advice is to get a $20 spray gun at harbor freight. a respirator is a good idea too. Get it all in a 2K primer. Inside, engine bay, door jams trunk, underside then the outside. By the time you get there you will have the feel of it or not. The the inside and under side and other you can paint with an other $20 spray gun. Then you could get a better spay gun for the body paint. But here again it's not the gun that make a good job it the prep work and the painter. A very good spay gun is more so for saving product and for production. I'm suggesting after you have got the body straight with very little filler and block sand. Just depends on how good you want it done.
I'm suggesting to get. a move on it. Being untreated there will be issues with rust before you know it.
The other thing is to check product compatibility. Prime, fillers, paint and top coat depending what you are using. You are a lot further ahead with the rotisserie. Roll it outside to work on. Make a containment area in one end of the garage for your final paint.
Somewhere in the midst of the work of doing it. Looking for advice or other. You could find a painter to spray is. I myself have run across a few. One was the only body and paint guy at a Subaru garage. I had him spray a few for me over the years. He is now retired and still paints.
Last edited:
Similar threads
- Locked
