Pre-paint jail
 

Needs some opinions from the group to see if I'm thinking "normal".

This spring I found a guy to paint the Canadian Z28 my son and I went and got last summer. I looked at a couple cars he painted and even found a guy I used to work with that had a similar car the guy painted 15 years ago and and he raved about the guy and how good the car still looks so I felt pretty comfortable that I'd found my guy. He told me before we came over for him to see the car that he had two customers that were on the fence about when they would be ready to do there cars so he couldn't give me a time frame to get me in at that moment and I was fine with that. When we took the car over for him to look at he was pleasantly surprised how solid it was and said the other two guys still hadn't committed to bring their cars in and said if I wanted to be next in line all he needed was a verbal commitment. I said ok and asked when he'd be ready and he said the car he was currently working on would be done by the end May so he should be able to get it in by early June and be done by October which was fine with me. He gave me a huge list of parts to buy that would save time and money in the long run so I bought them all and waited to hear from him. I didn't so in early June I called him to tell him I had all the parts and was wondering when he'd be ready and he said the owner of the car he was working on wanted more work done to his car so it would probably be around the 4th of July before he would be ready. Today is the one year anniversary of my son and I picking the car up and I still haven't heard anything from him so I called and left him a message today and am wondering if any of you guys would be upset about this or if it's just business as usual? I'm in no hurry to get the car done but leaving a guy hanging for two months without a single call isn't the way to do business IMO and now that I started thinking about it today I'm kind of upset about it. What do you guys think?

I would find another painter myself.

Let’s just say, I’ve heard this scenario way too many times. I’m face, just about par for the course, I would say. I found the best guy you would ever want. My only criticism is he mad the car too nice. I wanted a factory quality resto. He has this thing baby butt smooth and perfect fit and gaps. The problem with body/paint guys is they are “inspired” kind of like no-polar (not all are). They have a moment when thy do phenomenal work, as wel as times when they have a mental block. If you push them, they will do crappy work, if you let them be a free spirit , who knows? Plus, they always have a quick job, here or there that makes them fast $$. Making your car pushed back more. Plus, if the are good and don’t have a bake booth, they will go a month between sprays to cure the primer/paint. It a ulcer season when a car is painted. I will agree, I’d have second thoughts on having a guy who does not communicate. I’ve gone through 4 guys to find the right one. One guy quit in process anc abandoned my car losing or stealing many nos parts. It’s just the price of tuition. But you 1st instinct is probably the right one?

He just called me back and said he'd be ready for me by September. I told him I'm not in a hurry and don't want to rush him but if he can't get me in by the date he tells me I'd like a simple call or text to let me know so I'm at least in the loop and he seemed to understand. Hopefully he doesn't hold it against me but this should be a common courtesy IMO.

Paint and body is an extremely stressful, time consuming job (at least if you do quality work) and it's very difficult to estimate the amount of hours it's going to take. For me to do a complete restoration paint and body, it's about a 6 month job. All it takes is one little SNAFU to throw a wrench in your schedule that will last for a year or more. If you've seen his work and talked to multiple people that are happy with him, then be very, very patient. It's a hard job. It sounds like he has a good reputation, check in with him to make sure your project progresses but give him plenty of breathing room. Once the car is done and looks great, you'll forget about how long you waited. If you rush him, neither of you are going to be happy. Hope your car turns out great.

I've had 3 cars painted over the years, all of the experiences were frustrating. I'm at the point where the painter has to have great reputation with 2-3 folks I trust, otherwise I won't even consider them.

My recent experience pretty painful as well. Did great work, just constant timeline changes from start to finish.

Not going to get going on my nightmare. It's still too fresh to get over. I'll just say, I am going to paint my cars from now. I can do just as good a job and procrastinate just as long...:rolleyes2:

I've had 1 car to 3 different people now, one of them is a 1,000 miles away, and I gotta say, trying to get this car painted correctly and to my satisfaction has been the most frustrating experience I've been thru with a vehicle.

Sorry you have to experience this too.

My Merc took 2 years but there was a lot of rework needed when the car was stripped to bare metal.

I had a '72 Mach 1 painted, was just going to be a scuff and repaint and took a year.

I have a firm rule of thumb when having ANY work performed. NEVER tell them you are not in a hurry, you will regret it. However well intentioned on your part it doesn't necessarily equate to a better end product.