There's a lot of variables here, which deeply affect the costs. If you mean taking a rusted hulk- and I heard what Alan said- and then repairing/painting it, there's a very grey area. The usual allowance for a complete refinish runs about 25-35 hours and in our area, that's at approx. $90/hr for refinishing and includes material. That's for a straight squirt job and doesn't include any removal/repair time. Having the removal time included in the prior metal work would be plus times. Then you have to figure how much straightening/blocking the car needs on top. Personally, as an old bodyman/painter, $15,000 sounds like way too much to me. I've written hundreds if not thousands of appraisals for paint repairs over the years and the upper average for completes runs around the $6-8000 range, all in. I know what some of the lads pay for this and I'll only say that the work on buddy's Lexus, BMW or Benz is just as fussy as any E body. Let the flames fly, but at the end of the day, YOU know how much time you've got in the job, so using your door rate, where do YOU think it should be? As usual, just my