55.2-59 Paint job for a 59 GMC

[72 k15]

How much does a decent paint job cost going with the original teal/green and a white top. one cab corner needs to be replaced but that is it.
Didn't know if I should put this in the paint section or not.

[mr48chev]

There are far too many variables involved to even try to count them.

I've had a couple of buddies actually have pretty good luck with the Maaco 65 miles down the road from me. Both had all the body work finished and had the bodies slicked out as good as you would do if you were painting it yourself. Both were stripped to the bare shell and fenders and hood and hauled there on a trailer. Both look great at weekend shows and one actually won best somethng or other at one shocking the owner to no end as he isn't a trophy hunter and usually leaves shows before the awards start.

On the other hand this green truck has a 10,000 dollar paint job done on it in a friend of mine's shop around ten years ago.


The body work and prep work and actual paint is as close to perfect as you will ever see on any AD truck no matter who painted it. It as a seriously nice truck before they redid it but they had hundreds of hours in getting it perfect and that paint job has held the test of time and the truck looks just as good today as it did the first year it was painted. The owner takes it to almost every show in the area and does mid week cruise nights with his club on a regular basis. That is the far end of the extreme.

It may depend more on how much work (correct work) that you do yourself and what you expect them to do cost wise.

There is a local rebuild shop in town that rebuilds and sells wrecks that often does Lexus or Mercedes and turns out some world class paint jobs that you can't tell from new that I want to talk to about painting my 48. I'd have it blown apart so they can paint individual pieces and then haul them home the two miles to my house to assemble. I don't even know if they do outside work though as they stay real busy with their rebuilds. One of my former students is a top notch painter but he is a bit expensive. He can and does turn out show car paint work though.

The other thing is that if you have a place where it can be painted, do all the body work and most all of the prep work there are usually "local guns" who moon light shooting paint jobs for guys after work and on weekends and bodymen and painters seem to moonlight more than other car repair folks.

[e015475]

Interpretation of 'decent' makes the answer very subjective. But I'll tell you what my experience was and maybe others can jump in with their experience and you can dial in what you want and get in the ballpark.

You said "one cab corner needs to be replaced but that is it" - but that's usually just the tip of the iceberg. My cab only needed "one corner replaced" when I bought it too, but after blasting the cab, there were holes in the A pilar base and floorpans from a leaking heater core too. My truck spent its life in the California desert.

From a blasted cab/hood/fenders to all the metalwork complete and the truck trial assembled and in Feather Fill it was about $10K. This did include bear-claw latches welded into the doors and a custom firewall. This was at a shop whose rate was about $50/hr. All repairs were metal-finished, but not to perfection, and a bit of filler was used.

Disassembling the truck, blocking the Feather Fill (and some panels were sprayed with polyester a couple of times and blocked), coat of primer, and a two stage non-metalic paint job was about another $6 -7K

So all-in, the body and paint was $16-17K. Mine is certainly 'above average' and I'd rate it as a 'good driver' paint job. (Just remember, however, in a room of 100 people, 95% of them think they are 'above average)

Makes a pretty good case for 'patina', huh

[72 k15]

Originally Posted by e015475

Interpretation of 'decent' makes the answer very subjective. But I'll tell you what my experience was and maybe others can jump in with their experience and you can dial in what you want and get in the ballpark.

You said "one cab corner needs to be replaced but that is it" - but that's usually just the tip of the iceberg. My cab only needed "one corner replaced" when I bought it too, but after blasting the cab, there were holes in the A pilar base and floorpans from a leaking heater core too. My truck spent its life in the California desert.

From a blasted cab/hood/fenders to all the metalwork complete and the truck trial assembled and in Feather Fill it was about $10K. This did include bear-claw latches welded into the doors and a custom firewall. This was at a shop whose rate was about $50/hr. All repairs were metal-finished, but not to perfection, and a bit of filler was used.

Disassembling the truck, blocking the Feather Fill (and some panels were sprayed with polyester a couple of times and blocked), coat of primer, and a two stage non-metalic paint job was about another $6 -7K

So all-in, the body and paint was $16-17K. Mine is certainly 'above average' and I'd rate it as a 'good driver' paint job. (Just remember, however, in a room of 100 people, 95% of them think they are 'above average)

Makes a pretty good case for 'patina', huh

Yeah the truck is actually very rust free, I was hopeing for around 5k for a good driver paint job not that many dents and a very straight truck. Its a western small town North Dakota truck and they didn't use any salt.

[mongocanfly]

if you could get a shop to do it all for 5k id be surprised...I got a quote to paint just the cab on my C30 and they wanted 7k for that...wound up doing it myself

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by 72 k15

Yeah the truck is actually very rust free, I was hopeing for around 5k for a good driver paint job not that many dents and a very straight truck. Its a western small town North Dakota truck and they didn't use any salt.

12 years ago I was quoted 6500 to paint a 67 bug that was already in primer. said another way, materials alone for a two tone job would be almost 3k for the cheapest base/clear out there.

I dont usually like discouraging anyone, and I dont know the market where you live, but I think 5k here would find the most desperate drug addicted painter in my area to park my truck in his garage for 3-4 years, eventually needing a court order to get it back.

[72 k15]

Originally Posted by joedoh

12 years ago I was quoted 6500 to paint a 67 bug that was already in primer. said another way, materials alone for a two tone job would be almost 3k for the cheapest base/clear out there.

I dont usually like discouraging anyone, and I dont know the market where you live, but I think 5k here would find the most desperate drug addicted painter in my area to park my truck in his garage for 3-4 years, eventually needing a court order to get it back.

That’s why I made a post about it. Now I know it’s going to be a lot more than 5k got to fix the brake lights then I’ll drive it to one of the respectable paint shops in my town and see what they think.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by 72 k15

That’s why I made a post about it. Now I know it’s going to be a lot more than 5k got to fix the brake lights then I’ll drive it to one of the respectable paint shops in my town and see what they think.

who knows? it may not be a lot more than 5k, but luck favors the prepared. any amount of fixing dents will add to it exponentially.

I am working on pedals in a guys 52, the shop charged him 25k to fix rust and get all panels in primer and he cut them off when they wanted 10k to paint it. I told him 10k was a bargain to paint all 4 sides of everything.

[72 k15]

Originally Posted by joedoh

who knows? it may not be a lot more than 5k, but luck favors the prepared. any amount of fixing dents will add to it exponentially.

I am working on pedals in a guys 52, the shop charged him 25k to fix rust and get all panels in primer and he cut them off when they wanted 10k to paint it. I told him 10k was a bargain to paint all 4 sides of everything.

I agree I hope it didn’t sound like I was getting mad at you or anything, hard to convey what your feeling are in writing. Who knows I might save up just enough to get a good driver paint job by the end of the summer.

[burnin oil]

Noone said it but stay away from any color with yellow in it. It makes the price skyrocket for paint. I painted my 72 about 5 years ago with Nason single stage in a darker blue color. It cost me about a grand for paint and primer. Orange would have been about 3 times that.

[72 k15]

Originally Posted by burnin oil

Noone said it but stay away from any color with yellow in it. It makes the price skyrocket for paint. I painted my 72 about 5 years ago with Nason single stage in a darker blue color. It cost me about a grand for paint and primer. Orange would have been about 3 times that.

I’m set on the original green and white top with the grey inside. Not a color wizard do any of those have substantial yellow?

[burnin oil]

Yes. Green does have yellow in it. My personal preference was orange, then green, but settled on blue. I also skipped the white top at the time since I was strapped for cash. I didn't budget enough cash for the new paint costs. My 72 is my daily driver and was a work truck rebuild done in 30 days so no waiting on cash flow. When I painted my 60 back around 1995 I got a gallon of blue and a gallon of black gloss for $100 at Napa, including reducer and hardener. Times sure have changed.

If you have space I would suggest trying painting it yourself. Painting isnt all that bad for a driver quality paint job. Heck I still have people trying to buy mine almost every time that I go to the gas station. The biggest thing to paint is prep and paint gun adjustment. Spray light coats and be prepared to sand a run. It's not rocket science. There is a true artistry to a show car paint job, metal flake, pin stripping, and ghost effects. Straight paint is pretty straight forward.

[mongocanfly]

any half way decent body shop will stop at nothing short of a show quality job...for daily driver you may want to try maacc or one of the lower budget joints...

[e015475]

Along the lines of what Mongo/Greg says...........

I've had pretty good luck prepping a car for paint and taking it to a auto body shop (usually with the car on a rollback tow truck) to be painted in their booth.

I see a couple of places on Facebook Marketplace around here advertising the availability of paint booths for rent. The local autobody supply store here also keeps a list of booths and painters 'for rent'

90%+ of the cost to paint a truck is in the prep work.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by e015475

This was at a shop whose rate was about $50/hr.
.....
So all-in, the body and paint was $16-17K.

must have been quite a few years ago. i don't think you'd find any shop charging $50/hr anywhere

Originally Posted by joedoh

I dont usually like discouraging anyone, and I dont know the market where you live, but I think 5k here would find the most desperate drug addicted painter in my area to park my truck in his garage for 3-4 years, eventually needing a court order to get it back.

probably the best statement here. you get what you pay for. having the truck in paint jail is repeated in this forum constantly. you may not loose money, you will definitely loose time... years of progress

Originally Posted by burnin oil

Noone said it but stay away from any color with yellow in it. It makes the price skyrocket for paint.

problem with yellow is coverage. most of truk has 4 to 7 coats of yellow paint, on top of multiple coats of primer (expensive sanding dust). yes it does make the price go up, but... i'd do again

i did all the bodywork on truk myself, with a lot of help. i bartered electrical/building/maintenance work at a hotrod shop, same shop i had my truk in the corner for 5 years of an 8 yr build. cash outlay for all the body/paint was zero dollars
there's a reason most of us end up with a diy paint job. paying a shop to do the work can break the bank/marriage in a hurry. the more you can do to your truck, the less work the shop needs to do.

[72 k15]

Originally Posted by e015475

Along the lines of what Mongo/Greg says...........

I've had pretty good luck prepping a car for paint and taking it to a auto body shop (usually with the car on a rollback tow truck) to be painted in their booth.

I see a couple of places on Facebook Marketplace around here advertising the availability of paint booths for rent. The local autobody supply store here also keeps a list of booths and painters 'for rent'

90%+ of the cost to paint a truck is in the prep work.

I could change anything or do anything on this truck I am very good with the mechanics part but the whole paint part sorta scares me I guess my father did do all the prep work with his mustang maybe he could help me.

[e015475]

"must have been quite a few years ago. i don't think you'd find any shop charging $50/hr anywhere"

From the interwebs.......2018 data from a national bodywork trade publication

About 4,650 individual body shops nationwide have submitted labor rate surveys to us using our free survey. From that survey data, posted rates for body labor saw a national average of $57

My experience is from 2016 to 2019 paint jail sentence