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Looking for a good auto painter
- Thread starter Alien
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You can come up to my shop in Gloucester and check it out if you like or I will be at the World of Wheels next month doing the chop.
No bondo or fillers in the last pic. 57 chevy truck hood center on 55 chevy car hood.
Below are a few of the recent projects.
No bondo or fillers in the last pic. 57 chevy truck hood center on 55 chevy car hood.
Below are a few of the recent projects.
May have taken in only a handful of collision jobs in 30 yrs. Never cared to not found much satisfaction in crash and dent. Had a shop in Manchester MA for 3 years when I first started. Good $ but let the lease go when it ran out.
Today's fun...
lead on a Porsche 356.
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Please keep posting pic's
lowbuckbob
NES Member
Sarge's Auto Body in Portsmouth, RI.
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D&D Auto Body in Norwood
ddautobodyinc.com
Sarge's Portsmouth Auto Body
Sarge's Portsmouth Auto Body, Portsmouth, Rhode Island. 223 likes · 2 talking about this · 5 were here. Complete Auto Body Repairs Foreign & Domestic FREE ESTIMATES, No appointment needed!...
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D&D Auto Body in Norwood
Auto body repair services
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I didn’t think guys like you existed anymore. I learned about body work from a guy with a double digit appraisers license number in MA...needless to say he was pretty old school.
that is art, sir...feel free to share more pictures as I, for one, eat this stuff up.
Sadly the IKEA mentality has slipped into trades as well. Slinging bondo is a lot cheaper.
Most people don't / won't see the value. I work 80+hrs a week and barely make my Bill's (need about 4k mo) with no health benefits or retirement so I need to die on my feet but I love shaping metal so there is that.
I did a lot of "stated value" claims on really high end cars.
on say a 1953 Cunningham that slammed a guard rail down the right side, a car with a known history and one of a few made, as long as the shop is reasonable I don't have a problem.
I had ways of getting around insurance companies..especially ones that wanted to negotiate rates.
I'd ask a shop what their hourly rate was, they would say 100, I would say print a sign that says 135 and put it up on your wall for me.
I'd take a picture, tell the insurer the shop had a posted rate of 135 but they negotiated it to $100/hr.
problem solved.
on say a 1953 Cunningham that slammed a guard rail down the right side, a car with a known history and one of a few made, as long as the shop is reasonable I don't have a problem.
I had ways of getting around insurance companies..especially ones that wanted to negotiate rates.
I'd ask a shop what their hourly rate was, they would say 100, I would say print a sign that says 135 and put it up on your wall for me.
I'd take a picture, tell the insurer the shop had a posted rate of 135 but they negotiated it to $100/hr.
problem solved.
Please keep posting pic's
05 Chrysler 300 a customer wanted to look Bentley-ish. He got 3rd in class at WOW Boston and the engine bay nor trunk were judged as they were not finished. LOL
Owner was excited because a guy who claimed to be from the Bentley club thought (briefly from 100ft away) it was a model he had not seen. He admitted the rise did not last long but it was one of the best clones he had seen.
I am an idiot and screwed up. I had pictures taken of all the known trouble areas and they all looked mint.
The blazer arrived today and is a total POS I over paid by about $10,000. It is my own fault I know better than to not inspect or have inspected. My dad has Alzheimer's and I have 2 bad shoulders so I couldn't do it myself and I took a gamble and lost. I am sick to my stomach but it is what it is. Rather than waste good money after bad and even strip any of the paint I am just going to have someone install a new cab floor, inner and outer rockers, doors, and bed sides all reproduction parts. While I am at it I really want the 1968 front clip so new fenders, radiator support, hood and grill. Except for the rockers everything else is all bolt on and should require less preparation than if the body of mine was not a piece of crap!! I priced out all the parts
The blazer arrived today and is a total POS I over paid by about $10,000. It is my own fault I know better than to not inspect or have inspected. My dad has Alzheimer's and I have 2 bad shoulders so I couldn't do it myself and I took a gamble and lost. I am sick to my stomach but it is what it is. Rather than waste good money after bad and even strip any of the paint I am just going to have someone install a new cab floor, inner and outer rockers, doors, and bed sides all reproduction parts. While I am at it I really want the 1968 front clip so new fenders, radiator support, hood and grill. Except for the rockers everything else is all bolt on and should require less preparation than if the body of mine was not a piece of crap!! I priced out all the parts
Don't need the second opinion I have seen it with my own eyes. With rust where there is a little there is more. By the time a body guy stripped paint, welded and smoothed a patch panel he can bolt on a new bedside. Same with the doors by the time you strip and reskin you can have the door hung and adjusted. Same with the floors except the floors and rockers require "some" welding. I bet a good body guy could hang all the new parts in less time than striping and repairing just the quarters?
STOP!
You are throwing good money after bad, you will be so under water on it you'll never be able to sell it
MANY of the aftermarket reproduction parts are JUNK, they don't fit and what it takes to make them fit is what we call cost prohibitive
You will be able to buy a good one for less than fixing that one will cost trust me
you are talking 20K plus easily on top of your initial 10K
no production body shop will touch that type of work, there is no money in it, it is work you only take if you have NO other work, and it is the first job to be pushed into the corner when the money jobs roll in.... I've seen projects like that started and never finished... the shop says come and get it.
A restoration shop is not going to touch it for less than time and materials at $100/hr ... rot work is the WORST, trying to jigsaw puzzle cheap Chinese knock off parts on top of rot work is pure hell
You are throwing good money after bad, you will be so under water on it you'll never be able to sell it
MANY of the aftermarket reproduction parts are JUNK, they don't fit and what it takes to make them fit is what we call cost prohibitive
You will be able to buy a good one for less than fixing that one will cost trust me
you are talking 20K plus easily on top of your initial 10K
no production body shop will touch that type of work, there is no money in it, it is work you only take if you have NO other work, and it is the first job to be pushed into the corner when the money jobs roll in.... I've seen projects like that started and never finished... the shop says come and get it.
A restoration shop is not going to touch it for less than time and materials at $100/hr ... rot work is the WORST, trying to jigsaw puzzle cheap Chinese knock off parts on top of rot work is pure hell
zboys
NES Member
Exactly, and I'll repeat, get an opinion of a good body guy
Just googled this and watched a 30 minute video. I had never heard of it. I do my own maintenance but body work is voodoo to me. Whew, talk about a skill!
what did you watch? Lead work or pick & file?
One of my HD's is a "anniversary" model, 2003, and HD for some reason didn't sell the decals , if you needed one you had to send the old part back and they would sell you a new one.
The prior owner ( I inherited the bike ) had damaged the front fender. I bought a used fender, painted it, and tried to get a decal only to be told huge money.
Harley fenders are made from pretty heavy metal
so out came the hammers, dollys , picks and files..... I masked the decal, tin knocked the fender until it was perfect, feather edged the area around the damage, a couple of coats of primer in the damaged area, then painted it black, removed the masking over the decal and cleared the whole part..... not a spec of bondo.
I learned to do it when a friends Dad was restoring an Model T and someone had used chains on the tires or something because there were golf ball sized humps on the tops of the fenders
A little shrinking work, and patience with the old school tools and when I was done it was all metal.
The first time I saw lead work was a guy in night school with me was filling in an antenna hole in a fender... brazed in a piece of metal and then he finished it in lead.
this was 1982..... and it was old school then.
One of my HD's is a "anniversary" model, 2003, and HD for some reason didn't sell the decals , if you needed one you had to send the old part back and they would sell you a new one.
The prior owner ( I inherited the bike ) had damaged the front fender. I bought a used fender, painted it, and tried to get a decal only to be told huge money.
Harley fenders are made from pretty heavy metal
so out came the hammers, dollys , picks and files..... I masked the decal, tin knocked the fender until it was perfect, feather edged the area around the damage, a couple of coats of primer in the damaged area, then painted it black, removed the masking over the decal and cleared the whole part..... not a spec of bondo.
I learned to do it when a friends Dad was restoring an Model T and someone had used chains on the tires or something because there were golf ball sized humps on the tops of the fenders
A little shrinking work, and patience with the old school tools and when I was done it was all metal.
The first time I saw lead work was a guy in night school with me was filling in an antenna hole in a fender... brazed in a piece of metal and then he finished it in lead.
this was 1982..... and it was old school then.
I understand but as it sits its probably worth $15,000. A restored two wheel drive Blazer is worth $50-70,000. I am a member of the 1947 to present Chevy truck forum and many people have bought $50,000 Blazers that appeared mint only to find hidden rust and end up going through the same thing I am experiencing. NOS parts would be not only impossible to find they would be more than this whole repair using reproduction parts would be. I have actually been in discussion with Jay from this forum and thread. He is doing a 4 X 4 Blazer using these same bedsides and floor parts. There are not many other options out there? Kindig can make his own parts but I don't have $250,000?
As far as under water It is what it is. How many times has someone spent $100,000 building and restoring a classic muscle car only to sell it for half the investment. I am 58 and disabled trying my best to take care of my 91 year old dad with Alzheimer's and really have no joy in my life. And of course before I order a single part I am either going to have Jay look at it and work something out or have the fabricator in Walpole that is doing the suspension and engine work his opinion. He does this kind of work also and has used these same reproduction parts with success? Many of these parts are GM authorized restoration parts.
I understand many of you probably think I should sell, take a loss and find a better one to start with. I have been looking for a couple of years. There was one on Smokey mountain traders that started at $100,000 and eventually sold for $75,000. I almost bought that one and found a few issues that made me walk. I have owned 2 previous first generation Blazer 4 X 4. They only made 3300 2 wheel drive Blazers in 1972 so they are rare and finding one in better shape with factory AC is next to impossible. A month or two ago southern motors had a beautiful one for $50,000 and it sold in 1 day?
I am sick to my stomach and appreciate trying to save me from myself. I am single with no kids. I don't drink, gamble, or do drugs. Car shows and cruising with an open air vehicle is my last enjoyable thing I have (I have even sold most of my firearms as it hurts my shoulders to shoot).
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I am going to try to get all the glued on carpet out over the next week (I need help as I am physically unable) to see how bad it really is. In the least in needs rockers, doors, and the bottom of one of the quarters. I will then see what Jay and or my fabricator suggests?
I have listed this Blazer for sale. I think it is in OK shape just not what I was looking for. Here is the for sale add. I am still looking into repairs. I have seen people buy finished Blazers for big money with the same issues. If it sells it sells if I can get it repaired I am still undecided.
LISTED HERE IN TRUCKS FOR SALE
LISTED HERE IN TRUCKS FOR SALE
That thing is n better shape than the 8 yr old trucks I work on now!
That looks to me like a good base for a summer cruiser. Get it mechanical sound. Do some rust conversion/preventive measures and drive the shit out of it.
