The answer to the most commonly asked question on this site.

[Corvette]

“ How much does a respray cost?”

Here is my answer. An answer from my experience not Google.

So, in 2023 I got the paint guns cleaned and set everything up to paint wings/bonnets/wings, not on Corvettes but daily cars. After many years of painting absenteeism I was back.

Roll on 2024 and I put up for sale a Manual 1976 Corvette. Cheap enough but no one wanted it. After two weeks of hearing dross I hatched a plan. Change the 76 T-Top into a 69 lookalike and paint it while we had good weather. The photos below have a timeline from 22nd June 24 when I gave up trying to sell the car to 16th September when the weather stopped play.

 

[Corvette]

write up later

 

[Corvette]

Write up still on its way!

 

[Corvette]

In some of the photos you will see an old reddy/brown deck lid, this is on as I didn’t want the newly painted deck lid being marked by the hardtop.

And so the total cost to repaint the car? £300.00. This is for sealer, primer, colour, clearcoat, thinners and panel wipe. on top of that price are blades to take the old paint off, sanding discs, gloves, mask, and numerous sheets of wet and dry, plus about £57 for the bonding gear for flares and rear tub install.

 

[Roscobbc]

Wow Frank!.......what sort of paint did you use?.......ones hears 'horror' stories of many times the price you noted just for finish coat alone!

 

[CaptainK]

I thought the answer to the most common question on this site was "YES"......

 

[Corvette]

Good morning Ross, clearcoat is cheapo Upol at £65 for 5 litres nothing special. 2 x 2.5 litres of basecoat and slow and medium for the thinners as it was so hot. Along with loads of consumables and most importantly free labour.

 

[Roscobbc]

Good morning Ross, clearcoat is cheapo Upol at £65 for 5 litres nothing special. 2 x 2.5 litres of basecoat and slow and medium for the thinners as it was so hot. Along with loafs of consumables and most importantly free labour.

Enviromentally friendly, no breathing gear type paint then Frank? (Last time I sprayed a car it was in a barn and a 3/4 year old Firenza 2300.......that alone should tell you how long ago that was!)

 

[Corvette]

'Environmentally painted V8' theres an oxymoron for you. Masks gloves and full skin cover is a must if only to save time cleaning up.

 

[CaptainK]

Along with loafs of consumables

I guess many sandwiches and toast was eaten then?

 

[Nassau65]

Wow, that price is unbelievable. How many hours do you think you spent on it?

 

[Chuffer]

'Environmentally painted V8' theres an oxymoron for you. Masks gloves and full skin cover is a must if only to save time cleaning up.

Is Oxy More On a new brand of rust proof paint ?

 

[Mad4slalom]

Wow Frank!.......what sort of paint did you use?.......ones hears 'horror' stories of many times the price you noted just for finish

'Environmentally painted V8' theres an oxymoron for you. Masks gloves and full skin cover is a must if only to save time cleaning up.

great pics, good work in challenging conditions. It turned out really well. you obviously know your way around a paint shop. I painted around 40 cars back in the early 80’s, from trade flash overs in sikkens autoflex for around £250 to bare metal repaints on 911 and mk 2 jag at £1500. I see a lot of painters in the usa seem to polyester prime once the vette is stripped , then do their bodywork and repairs, then prime and block sand. The bit that baffles me is that some of them then apply some sort of sealer and then pain the colour costs straight on top of this sealer. What sealer do you use and at what stage of the process do you apply your sealer. 40 years out of the trade so trying to understand a bit more about modern day systems. Completely dry sanding prep being one of them, no more wet flatting , seems so alien .

 

[Corvette]

Mad4, I am much the same as you, started an apprenticeship 40 years ago but only lasted 6 weeks, those were cellulose days. I am very much an amateur/enthusiast. The primer, basecoat, clearcoat seem to do all the work for you nowadays, I should have started the car earlier in the summer so the primer could be given time to move or sink. I waited only 2 weeks before colour and clear due to the weather forecast in September. 6 months on and I have got away with it as nothing has changed. I used a polyester sealer after the filler used to blend the flares. There are so many myths and opinions with painting Corvettes, bare fibreglass being one. I always strip all the paint off with a blade then sand remainder and stop when you get to white or black fibreglass. I don’t need to get into those myths just thought I would show what £300 of materials can get you. Hours? Not sure, 4/5 hours a day in the sun over a 3 month period on and off. At a guess 120hrs. I sold a 67 to a painter 9 years ago, he said the repaint took him 200 hours a figure I have heard a few times.

 

[Roscobbc]

Frank - is a 'resale'/off the shelf red or other basic colour less expensive that a supposed matched 'period' match?

 

[Corvette]

Solid colour or metallic they are all the same price. A 1969 Corvette red is quite too much on the orange side for me so I opted for a 1989 Ferrari paint in the darkest shade for a F40 ( paint code courtesy of a Ferrari forum where they were discussing shades and paint codes. Thanks guys!).

 

[Steven Smith]

Wow, that's amazing.
I have a C4 with a bad previous paint job, I have been quoted £5k + to have it resprayed. I have painted a couple of cars many years ago in cellulose !
I was looking to wrap it but even that is well over £500 to do it myself so very interested in how you did yours.
When you say "strip the paint off with a blade" do you literally mean scrap it ?
What brand and type of paint did you use ?
Was it painted in a booth or under the gazebo in the pictures ?

 

[Corvette]

£5k to paint a Corvette seems too cheap. There is between 120 - 200 hrs labour to pay for.

If you can use cellulose you can use 2k paints. Basecoat from an ebay seller along with Upol sealer primer and clearcoat.

As you posted today I had the blade on the C1 hood. Takes time and at 8pm still have a way to go.

I have a video somewhere

 

[Steven Smith]

A video would be great.

 

[Corvette]

It’s only a quick blade video done a few years back.

long strokes are the way to go on flatter surface.