How much $$$ does a Rotisserie Restoration REALLY Cost ?

[moparmaniac59]

I think what's not been said is the market is driven by supply and demand. It's called free enterprise. When I was trying to get a paint job two years ago all the shops were overflowing and had a backlog in my area. Now things aren't so busy and shops will tend to offer a little better price. I had more work than I could turn around in a reasonable time when I was doing furniture refinishing & had to turn work away. So I had my prices a little higher. (supply and demand again). Later on, having an almost empty garage, I lowered my prices a little to generate a little more work. Supply and demand again. It's a market driven enconomy. It has nothing to do with trying to "steal" a job from a body/paint shop. The market drives the prices!! I've been in business for years (not cars) but know this to be true. I wasn't about to cut my own throat, nor do I think any shop owner is going to let a customer rip him off or "Break it off" in the customer because he was stupid enough to contract a job that cost more than he would make!!! Just my

                                                               Matt B.

[buzzard]

 Mopar for a good show and holiday driver 60K and for a #1show only 90-100K plus an enclosed trailer. I'm sure most people on the CC would be more than happy to help on your project. Good Luck   BUZZARD

[Mopar7890]

Thank you guys for the great responses and inputs this is very educational for me.
I am glad to be a member of this clean and professional forum.

[1ownr]

Thanks for posting the question Mopar7890. I was also interested in the replies. 

[MyMopar]

US Car tool offers a "body in white" for $15k.  Not sure how good it is or what they really do or how accurate the price will be for your job.  But considering that they get the car ready for paint it just gives you an estimate on how much to expect to pay for body work.
If you do everything but paint/body work then I'd say you can restore a pretty solid car for under $30k.  Of course depending on driveline the price can go way up.

[cudagirl4406pk]

Well to restore a car with alot of metal work and complete resto with parts new engine etc can run between 25-50k usually.Now kenny charges $40 a hour only charges $30 to the two guys in his garage at the moment but future cars are $40 and he is doing two cars right now and the one is almost ready for block sanding  no parts included but welded rear 1/4's ,front floors,trunk pans,frame work 7 spots ,4 patches in doors and 2 on hood and fix the rockers in and out and also rear wheel housing and complete front windshield channel and both bottoms of front fenders replaced with new patch panels and  some other stuff and all the body work done and the guy has about 13k in it before blocking.Kenny says that is cheap for all that work.And that included taking the whole car apart and also glass beading alot of parts and taking motor and trans out and changing the rear.He doesnt have any overhead so he doesnt need to charge alot and he is in demand people wanting to get into the shop due to he is cheaper then alot of people.He says to do a car right takes year to year anda half due to he dont work on them everyday.Now after car is done it is being done as a nice high quailty driver not a show car but good for local car shows and cruises.If you want the car on the rotisserie then expect some more money if your looking to paint floors same color and car insted of undercoating alot more work to paint the floor pans.Also time and effort to put car up on the rotisserie.

michele

[FM3V6M]

As I mentioned in another post, there are other costs that you just don't always think about: we always try to figure the cost of dismantling the car, blasting the body, metalwork, body prep and paint, drivetrain rebuild, etc.  But it's easy to underestimate the cost of restoring components...this is where the cost add up fast: $800 to restore the dash pad (Just dashes), $1900 to restore the dash assembly (RTE), $2200 for the level I suspension (XV Motorsports), $2000 for date coded glass (ECS), and on and on.  Then there is the cost of NOS sheet metal   NOS fenders, NOS inner fenders, NOS fr valance, NOS dutchman panel, NOS trunk floor and NOS extensions = $$$$$$.  And don't forget Murphy's law; things always go wrong!

['Cuda Hunter]

Cudagirl, that really sounds about what I would expect for a car to be made into a daily driver and not a show car. 
  I would think by purchasing a rotisserie on your own for around 1200 would help you do most of the underbody work yourself for much less than a shop .  After all, noone ever really sees the bottom.
A car without much rust is going to be much cheaper than that.  But finding a car without much rust will probably help drive the price up.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I think its extremely irresponsible to to put it out that restoration shops might be cheaper now . has your job been down graded ,mine sure as he77 has not .who ever does your work i hope they break it off in your azz .what a punk azz comment .

I'm a pretty hardend guy from being in the biz for 25yrs.... but that comment was way out of line IMO 

[Moparal]

I was hoping it would stay buried deep on the first page. That wasn't like him to post that. Seemed out of his charactor. I believe he will chime back in with an explanation of some sort.     

Lots of other good comments have been made tho.  Either way. It is pricey to have a rotissery job done inexpensive.   It's all about for the hobby anymore and not resale. Well worth the price to have a very nice muscle car to enjoy if yur wallet can take it.  I'd love to do my car.

[cudax34me]

Depending on how much body work and rust repair has to be done and which paint materials you use you are probably looking at anywhere between 20 and 50k. For example the clear I like to use cost roughly $1,000 a gallon, and you still need base, sealer and you primers and other materials. So high quality paint materials can cost more than $3,000 and then you still have to pay someone to do the work and that doesn't cover panel replacement either which can cost thousands of dollars for panels plus days of time for install.

i too am curious.what type/brand paint are you refering to??also is that the cost country wide or just in california,thanks to c.a.r.b.??

[wiging19]

I had a place do my car on the side of his other work in 1998 and buy paying him cash it only cost me $25K.  I think that took about five credit cards to do.  Took a while to pay off the credit cards but it was worth it to just get the car done right.  My experience has been that prices relating to work on our cars have increased as the perceived value has gone up.  It would be nice to see some of the prices go down but over the last ten years I've seen the price of parts go from an avg of $100 - $400 minimum.  On the other hand there are a ton of new replacement parts that were unobtainable ten years ago.  So that part has been a benefit to guys like us in the hobby.  

The toughest part though is having to do work in stages and then sit on the car until cash becomes available to do the next step.  I'm in that stage again and it is just the reality for most of us with these cars.  I'm hoping by next summer to have my car back on the road but it is going to be close to three years since I drove it.  Unfortunately you really don't remember how much you love driving your car until your back on the road.  

[Moparal]

When you are having your car restored, does the shop charge list or cost plus for the parts like seat covers, carpet, Engine stuff, battery trays..you know.  Do they mark that up in the restoration?

[72hemi]

i too am curious.what type/brand paint are you refering to??also is that the cost country wide or just in california,thanks to c.a.r.b.??

The clear is PPG Global High Solids clear. That is what I was told the retail price for it is. Due to my painters connections I get it for almost nothing (last car my total sealer, base, clear and all the fixing was about 250).

[cudax34me]

that being said that c.a.r.b. speculation may have been somewhat correct??