31 replies to this topic

[Down&Out]

 

Now that is bloody expensive.
£4K for bodywork?? What you have said there should be more £1500. So I take it the front wings are in that price as well??

Yes sorry so panels to be replaced are front panel 2xwings 2xa panels 2xdoor steps 2xouter sills and a small repair to driver side quarter and a rear valance repair. They've quoted all this as until the strip back there not 100% sure what they'll find which I get. Then they have quoted for the respray all this for 9K. It's just the 4K for respray and that's only exterior.

Gonna have a shop around.

 

 

If its a restorers thats essentially the going rate. I work in a classic car restorers and i've done the bare minimum to a rubber bumper MGB. That, plus a respray, plus a bit of free labour they threw in is standing at £5.5k. 

Even i was astonished, sadly paying for someone else to do the work means it costs a fortune. Either you pay, or learn to do it yourself.

[Cooperman]

I'm glad I do my own, even if it does have to be cellulose. About £300 for all the paint and materials (from Jawal Paint), then a lot of work getting it right.

I generally use Magnum panels, but I have done a lot of sheet-metal work over the years, despite it not being my favourite type of work.

For the prices being quoted you could buy all the panels from Heritage, buy a big compressor and a decent gun plus a 150 MIG welder and a lot of tools.

That's what classic car ownership is about unless you have a very large bank account  .

[Eds.mini.lulu]

The problem with that Is I don't have the space or the time to do that amount of work myself. Am looking around at other places hoping to save a few quid.

[finch661]

mine (finished last week) cost me a bottle of whisky and £30 to transport the mini to the workshop

[FlyingScot]

mine (finished last week) cost me a bottle of whisky and £30 to transport the mini to the workshop

Bargain! Was it a dear bottle of whisky though?

FS

[Midas Mk1]

I find a lot of bodyshops have a license to print money. Often quoting stupidly high prices as they don't want to do the work. I've found that if you do a lot of the work yourself, or get bits done by other peeps, then you can save yourself a fair bit. I've had a bodyshop say they will charge me £2k for a full respray of my cooper S when complete as long as its primed. They'd flat it, give it the once over and spray inside and out. I've asked for it in writing too

 

Risky business, any flaws and you wont be able to get them to fix it, as they will use the 'not primed' by us excuse.

 

As above, you get what you pay for, and having had resprays done by a pro on my Mini's, i'd strongly advise it, it's just worth the extra cost. 

[finch661]

 

mine (finished last week) cost me a bottle of whisky and £30 to transport the mini to the workshop

Bargain! Was it a dear bottle of whisky though?

FS

 

 

ASDA smart priced scotch..... nah a nice bottle of Laphroaig quarter cask :)

[iains]

just a suggestion, but have you considered wrapping rather than respraying?  Can look just as good in my opinion, though I know it won't be for everyone.

[finch661]

what about roller painting (http://www.theminifo...opic=29632&st=0)

[Cooperman]

It does seem as though classic car ownership falls into two distinct areas:

 

Those who love owning a classic car and who do virtually all of the work themselves as it's their only way of affording a classic, or those who can afford to pay whatever it costs to have their classic car in superb condition.

 

It is not a good idea to 'wrap' of 'roller paint' a classic car due to the value of them in good condition. If you have a rust-free classic car of any type you will want to keep it at its best, so a good paint job is vital. With painting you usually get what you pay for. It's not a quick job to get it all right and hours cost money if you can't DIY.

[Daz1968]

I also find that if you want a job doing right you are best to learn and do it yourself, not many restorers are aware of all the areas of a mini and production changes by year, I also get more enjoyment out of the work than driving the finished article. Might take longer but the labour is free. Panel fit is something I find appalling on some professionally restored cars especially door fit on mk1 and mk2 cars, they just fit a doorskin but don't put the time in building up edges etc to get gaps right. Maybe a top end restorer would but most mini owners would find a professional restoration of this standard well beyond their means.
Paintwork can be awkward without facilities but not impossible with cellulose and a cheap gun. But the effort in getting panel fit right before paint will be worth the effort even if a pro paints it.

[finch661]

i agree, but some people dont have the budget to get a professional paint job or might not have a suitable garage to do a home spray. hence a roller paint job. i would rather have my mini on the road than keep it off and save for a year to spend on a paint job. i was lucky in my rebuild as my neighbour is a car painter but i was ready to roller mine

[iains]

It does seem as though classic car ownership falls into two distinct areas:

 

Those who love owning a classic car and who do virtually all of the work themselves as it's their only way of affording a classic, or those who can afford to pay whatever it costs to have their classic car in superb condition.

 

It is not a good idea to 'wrap' of 'roller paint' a classic car due to the value of them in good condition. If you have a rust-free classic car of any type you will want to keep it at its best, so a good paint job is vital. With painting you usually get what you pay for. It's not a quick job to get it all right and hours cost money if you can't DIY.

 

I can't help but feel that that suggesting there two kinds of people is a bit of a judgemental thing to say.  frankly, I have a mini because its fun and i love it - I expect the same is true of all mini owners.  do i love owning my car any less because i don't have the kit and maybe skill to do a pro paint job on it?  and were I to buy a fantastically expensive mini (trust me when i say i cant afford that!!) in showroom condition should i expect someone who has slogged away on a restoration to sneer at me and assume i have any less passion for the car?  I'd argue no on both points.  I do work on my mini but I'm not particularly skilled (yet!), I'm very jealous of anyone who can do it all and if anyone ever offers to teach me skills like painting, upholstery and that kind of thing I'll be there all day long!

 

anyway!

 

For me wrapping will protect the body work and can look every bit as good as a very expensive paint job so if you want your car to change colour for purely cosmetic reasons its worth considering - though granted even wrapping isn't exactly cheap!

[sonikk4]

The biggest problem with wrapping a mini is that the bodywork needs to be spot on, no rust otherwise it will look crap very quickly. Not keen on the process on old cars with a propensity for rust.

[MIGLIACARS]

PandO - Can I be cheeky and ask where you had your paint done as I'll be getting my GT done next year.

 

Ger

doing my gt inside and out and underneath as we speak