I've got my 67' convertible ready to paint and can't find anyone willing to paint it. This car is my commuter five days a week and my kids drive it also so I don't want to spend 10k. I'm looking for a good quality paint job for under 5k.
Anyone have any recommendations? Who did you use in this area?
I live in Walnut Creek but could take the car to ????
Thanks,


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1967 Chevelle convertible with a 1999 LS1 engine and a 4L60E transmission.
Also, looking to purchase a Posi rear-end, 10 or 12 bolt, prefer 3.08 or 3.36 ratio, for a 64 thru 67 Chevelle.

I've had excellent work done by David Rodrigues at D Rod's Street Rods, 1621 Old Almaden Road, San Jose. His phone number is (408) 286-3365. Tell 'em Mike with the green '49 vegetable truck sent you, and see what he can do.

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Mike Ahlmann
'69 Elky SS-396
Sunnyvale, CA
There are no atheists at 150 MPH!

I'll call them. Thanks for the lead.
Anyone else?
Thanks,


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1967 Chevelle convertible with a 1999 LS1 engine and a 4L60E transmission.
Also, looking to purchase a Posi rear-end, 10 or 12 bolt, prefer 3.08 or 3.36 ratio, for a 64 thru 67 Chevelle.

Anyone know the shop that MARTINSR works at or owns? Id definitley pay him a visit if I knew where he worked. I thought he mentioned that it was in S.F. That man knows his stuff backwards and forwards.

Try a search in this forum by that user name and fire him off an email. Maybe he would be interested in the work? Worth a shot.

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'70 SS 396
4spd, 4.10's and a smile
TC# 1341
Beaux
The SS (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/btmyss.JPG)
My sloppy engine bay (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/btmill.JPG)

Life is a game. You just have to know the cheat codes to win.

I live in Fremont and ended up taking my 64 SS all the up to Clear Lake (town of Lakeport) to get my car painted. Went through a shop called Pilgrim's Auto Restorations.

Martinsr gave me some info that turned out to be right on the money. He knew of Pilgrims and thought they looked like a decent shop but felt that their skills were more on the
restoration side and may not be painting
experts. I think Martin feels (Martin correct me if I'm wrong) that there are restoration
experts and there are paint experts and often times, it's not the same people.

Martin gave me a name of a shop in Petaluma and said that they were more "paint guys" vs.
"restoration guys". Don't remember the name
of that shop.

Anyway long story short, I decided on Pilgrims. Since I don't have the time or skills to prep the car myself, I needed a shop to do everything for me (starting from taking off the trim, etc.). Pilgrims did a
great job of taking the car down to metal, doors/hood/trunk lid/fenders removed & getting the body really straight. When it came to painting they ended up having a lot of trouble. The story is too long to go into here but to their credit, they got it right in the end. They spent a ton of extra time and didn't try to charge me anymore. I paid $8K for everything. Jerry at Pilgrims is a
stand up guy (old school).

Before I decided on Pilgrims, I was going to
go through Steve's Body Shop in Fremont. He was going to charge me $6K but I gave up waiting on him since he mostly does insurance work and does classic car painting on the side. I think there are a few shop like that out there. The problem with those shops is that it will take forever to get your car done (afterall, insurance work is their bread and butter).

I had talked to D Rods Street Rods also but they were going to be a lot more than what I paid Pilgrims.

However, if your car is all ready for painting then the price should be much less.

Hope that helps,

--Bob

Thanks,
Pilgrams sounds like they may be too much money for me but I'll call and talk to them. I really don't want to spend that kind of money on a car that gets driven 25-30k miles a year, sometimes with teenage drivers.
Has anyone heard of Old School Painting in San Carlos? They were recommended and when I talked to Larry there, he said that older cars are their business and base coat clear coat paint jobs are about $3500 and up, depending on body work.
Another guy that has been recommended is Brian's Auto Paint in Concord. He does the body work in a large garage behind his house and rents spray booths from local body shops on weekends. I haven't seen any of his work yet but will this weekend.
Has anyone heard of either of these places?

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1967 Chevelle convertible with a 1999 LS1 engine and a 4L60E transmission.
Also, looking to purchase a Posi rear-end, 10 or 12 bolt, prefer 3.08 or 3.36 ratio, for a 64 thru 67 Chevelle.

Dennis,

I have another idea for you to think about. You said the car was ready to paint. I assume this means all the body work is complete. Since you and your teenager are driving this car 25 to 30 thousand miles per year I would suggest researching some franchised paint shops like Miracle or Macco.

Now, before you start flaming, remember this is a car which is going to get nicked up from gravel trucks and door dings from parking lots. Do you really want to get chips in a $5000 paint job or one that might cost your $1000. I have seen some pretty decent paint work come out of my local (Dublin, CA) Miracle shop. I can't say anything good or bad about this shop's body work. With the money you save, you can paint the car several times.

Please keep in mind, I am not saying it's the best idea. But it is something to really consider. That's just my 2 cents worth.

64SS-Bobb - I had a similar experience with Steve. He had a long wait to get the car into the shop. But he does great work. Another shop in Fremont that does great work but you can't get into is Vic's Township Body Repairs.

Good luck,
Bill

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The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Bill -- Yes, I had heard good things about Steve's from a couple different sources. Forgot to mention that. I just lost patience with waiting to get in.

You also have a good point about a daily driver. My car with a $8K paint job is only a
Sunday driver and to car shows. I'd be scared to death to park it at the grocery store ;).

Bill,
When I say my car is ready to go to the paint shop, I meant it is stripped of all trim, bumpers, door handles, interior, etc. It even has L78-15 wide white wall tires on bright Red wheels, that have been on cars to be painted a number of times already.
I had all of the holes in the body welded up but have not done the body work on them. I leave that for the pro's.
I looked at the Maaco and Mircle shops in the San Leandro area where I work and in the Walnut Creek area where I live. I agree with you that the paint was not bad and I would have to kill myself or my kids a lot easier if one uf us ganked a $1000 paint job as opposed to a $5000 paint job.
First off, all four shops were in the $2000-2500 range, by the time you add up all of the little things like door jambs, under hood, etc. And other then the weled spots, which are ground down already, the body of my car was uncanily straight for a car this old.
The second and biggest issue I had with all four shops is their masking work. I am doing a color change so even though the car is pretty naked, there is still the interior and under the hood/trunk to protect. The cars I saw were a friggen mess. They must think that if they don't paint the engine directly its ok. Painting it almost completely with "paint dust" seems to be acceptable.
I have not gone by the Miricle shop in Dublin as I just don't get down that way, but I will now. I'll report back as to their masking quality.
Thanks for the help.



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1967 Chevelle convertible, SS clone, White w/Bright Blue interior. Powered by an all aluminum 1999 LS-1 engine with EFI and a 4L60E electronically shifted 4 speed auto transmission.

Well, the miracle shop in dublin is right down the street from me. I have seen numerous muscle cars outside being redone (Elky's, Firebirds, Chevelles, and a couple of camaros) They didnt look bad. I did stop and ask the guy about his paint work and he offered to show me an album of muscle cars he has done. I didnt look as I wasnt really on the market just then for paint and body work but just stopped by to see the shop. Cant vouch for the quality other than to confirm that I have seen atleast 15 muscle cars at various times, in various stages of completion at this shop.

They are right next to Kassabian Motors.

I would suggest not allowing them to drive your car though. I saw some youngster there move a 69 Cougar out of the shop and drove it outta the parking lot squeeling the tires and such. Maybe it was his car but still I wouldnt risk it.

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'70 SS 396
4spd, 4.10's and a smile
TC# 1341
Beaux
The SS (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/btmyss.JPG)
My sloppy engine bay (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/btmill.JPG)

Life is a game. You just have to know the cheat codes to win.

Bob, thanks for the good words. The shop I work at is collision ONLY. They wouldn't think about anything else.

I am glad to here that Pilgrims worked out well for you. I have to say, I really stay away from recommending places. You can really get kicked in the teeth! Every job is different, I could have been treated like a king and you get ripped off. I am just so careful about recommending. So I am glad it worked out for you (never mind the bit of head aches you had).

On the idea of M....M.......Mir.....I can hardly say it M......M....Miracle doing a "good" job. I am sorry but I have tried. I have tried with different McPaint shops like MACCO and Miracle, different shops in different towns, what ever, THEY ARE HORRIBLE. This is a personal experiance here, sorry. But they are theives, and do total HACK work to boot. I am sure that there is one out there that is just wonderful, I sure have never seen it.



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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Damm, I'm stressing out here.
Having your car painted is a pain in the a...
I sure hope the two places I'm going to over the weekend give me some kind of comfort level.
If I don't get this thing into a paint shop soon, I fear that I will come home from work one evening and my (non-car loving) wife will have painted it with a brush and insist that it looks great.


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1967 Chevelle convertible, SS clone, White w/Bright Blue interior. Powered by an all aluminum 1999 LS-1 engine with EFI and a 4L60E electronically shifted 4 speed auto transmission.

Dennis,

I hope your wife has not painted your car with a semi gloss latex yet.

It sounds as if you car is not quite ready to paint. Having the parts stripped is good start. But I suspect there is a whole lot more prep work to be done before it's ready to paint. In my opinion, I wouldn't trust the "McPaint" shops to do high quality prep work. (I could be wrong.)

Unfortunately, here in Bay Area there are a lot of cars and poor drivers. Finding a shop locally will take time. It took me over a year of research before I found someone to do my Chevelle. Like Bob, the shop charged about $8k for paint and body work. That's just what the market is.

Here is something to think about though: how much have you been quoted to get the body prep done? How many tools and supplies can you buy for that price? I suspect you can buy a lot of tools for the price of the prep. If you have the patience to give it a try you might just save a couple of bucks and teach yourself a new skill. It's just a thought.

Just hang in there. You will find a shop soon enough and get your car back on the road with shiny new paint job.

You have mail.

Bill

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The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Bill,
I know my car needs body work but it's ready as far as I can go.
I've always been led to believe that body men didn't like to paint others body work. They would get blamed because their paint didn't fill and hide all the bad body work.
I actually worked in a body shop for about a year when I was in my twenties, so I under stand the concept and tools of prep anyway. They never let me near a spray gun. My car was arrow straight besides the holes all being filled, so I don't know, maybe.
What do you body guys think about painting the body work of others? Will your paint hide my flaws? Will your paint hide the natual flaws that I miss? Can I live with you for a few weeks so my wife won't kill me while I get the body work done?
What do you guys think about the concept of me painting the under hood area, door jambs and under the trunk myself to save $$ ? A color change really adds to the bottom line. Can this be done with the custom mixed rattle cans I can get at the local paint supply house?


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1967 Chevelle convertible, SS clone, White w/Bright Blue interior. Powered by an all aluminum 1999 LS-1 engine with EFI and a 4L60E electronically shifted 4 speed auto transmission.

I live about 20 minutes from Lakeport and I know the Pilgrims paint place. I also have a guy that does excellent custom body fabrications, painting, etc in the Lakeport area as well. His name is Jim Ezell and his paint shop is called C.A.R.S., it's acronym for Custom Auto Restoration Service or something like that. He's from the bay area, but very busy now, as he works pretty much by himself with an occasional helper. He does excellent custom work on all kinds of cars. I don't have his number, but his business is behind a place called Jones Automotive in Lakeport. Good Luck