I will try to make this short. I have a 68 SS 396 and am going to have some body work done to it. I have taken it to several body guys and they have all come back with $10,000-$15,000 worth of work.

The work that needs to be done is
both rear inner fender wells,
both rear quarters need to either be replaced or fixed near the the wheel wells,
Area behind both front fenders on the bottom near rocker panels
Some work done on the area behind the rear window where there should be seams, but those have been filled in with something.
A little work on the door bottoms
A few other areas with some minor rust like front fenders.

Oh yeah I forgot about having it painted.


There might be some more work, but I do know that they might find more as they go along.

Without sounding too ignorant, is body work that costly?

Thanks
HovsSS

To have it done correctly...yes. Most shop rates are around $40-$47 an hour around here. What you need to have done takes quite a bit of time. From my experience, you're probably looking somewhere between 300-400 hours worth or work there.

You better have it done now as I can tell you that everything keeps going up, I expect to see replacement sheetmetal go up as well due to rising cost of steel. I do this for a living and even at these prices you would be surprised what our actual profit is on these jobs. I will tell you..........about 10% net to the owners. You do the math.

You didn't mention if the car is now a driver. If you want it to be a turn key when finished or if you will be doing some of the work. I am doing a 68 convertible now. Including engine, transmission, and rear end. Frame off. When finished the car will be a turn key show car. Labor, 20k, material and parts, 14k. It's condition, not a driver when delivered to me. Sitting in barn 24 years. If you are bringing car back to original, expect to invest 25 to 35k not including purchase price.

I have less than 16K in my 69 Charger and I started out with a rot bucket that should have been junked 10 years ago. You can achieve this also if you can do alot of the labor intensive work yourself. I'm fortunate enough to be able to weld, do bodywork and paint, as well as most of the major mechanical stuff. The only thing I can't do is automatic transmissions.
If you are not able to do any of the major work yourself, expect to dump in at least 30K.

Do it yourself, for that amount of money you can have a welder and a nice compressor in your garage, and probably have it done in less time. I am trying this for the first time on my GTO and it is not too bad if you take your time and ask a lot of questions.