Looking for Body / Paint work help - Western PA / Pittsburgh

[bhap]

Hello - I have a 62 Chevy C10, short bed, step side that I'd like some help with. It is a pretty solid, southern truck that needs minimal rust repairs (bottoms of front fenders). The body is straight but needs to be taken apart, cleaned, prepped and protected underneath. This will be a driver and may or may not need repainted, depending on the extent of repairs and how much paint is disturbed. Ideally I'd like to find someone local (Pittsburgh area) who is willing to either take on the project or if possible, let me do some of the disassembly "grunt" work. I don't have a shop or tools to do the work myself, but I do have experience sanding! I'm not looking for a show truck, just something solid and "presentable".

Thanks for any help or referrals.

Bob

[Phil V]

I would guess you are looking in the neighborhood of around $15,000 for a nice presentable truck. Not concours.

[bhap]

Thanks, but wasn't the question..

[Len]

Hello - I have a 62 Chevy C10, short bed, step side that I'd like some help with. It is a pretty solid, southern truck that needs minimal rust repairs (bottoms of front fenders). The body is straight but needs to be taken apart, cleaned, prepped and protected underneath. This will be a driver and may or may not need repainted, depending on the extent of repairs and how much paint is disturbed. Ideally I'd like to find someone local (Pittsburgh area) who is willing to either take on the project or if possible, let me do some of the disassembly "grunt" work. I don't have a shop or tools to do the work myself, but I do have experience sanding! I'm not looking for a show truck, just something solid and "presentable".

Thanks for any help or referrals.

Bob

If the rust isn't through the metal and just topical and there's only a few small dents you're probably looking at between $5000 and $8000 in our shop without stripping off the paint and applying good quality base/clear.

[Phil V]

Thanks, but wasn't the question..

Sure sounded to me like the question you were asking. You are looking for someone to restore your truck on the cheap. In most cases you get what your pay for when it comes to autobody/paint work. There is an old body shop saying " you can have it good, or you can have it cheap. But can't have both."

I have heard the phrase at least a hundred times "I'm not looking for a show car, just a nice driver." But in reality their definition of a nice driver IS a show car. They just don't want to pay for it. Give them a nice driver and they will nit pick the hell out of it. (looking for a show car restoration).

Based on the one picture you posted of the truck the existing paint job is terrible (professionally speaking). It looks like it could be rattle can paint in several areas or a really bad enamel shade tree paint job. In order for that truck to look decent at all it would have to stripped to bare metal and go from there. That's not cheap. You are looking at a minimum of $1,000 to $1,500 just in paint materials (and that isn't top end paint products). I wouldn't touch the job for under $12,000 and will probably end up close to $15,000.

So just to be completely clear, exactly what were you asking ?

[bhap]

I never mentioned budget and maybe I could have been clearer.

I am looking for shop reccomendations.

My truck is a hobby - I enjoy working on it. If there happens to be a shop in my area that would be willing to let me help, it would be for enjoyment, not to keep costs down.

Maybe the more appropriate saying for this post would be: Labor rates - $75/hour, $86/hr if you watch and $100/hr if you help!

[bmarler]

nice truck! i love the stepside versions of that. do we understand that you're more concerned about rustproofing the underside and repairing the fenders than painting the whole thing?
it looks pretty clean actually, especially for how old it is. there's no reason to farm out the underside work if you're good with your hands. it's dirty and time consuming, but doesn't really take much skill to do. i don't know if i'd take it apart (remove the body) unless there's a good reason, especially for a driver. that kind of work can really add up the dollars quickly if you pay to have it done. i'd get it up on some stands, get under it and get to work. clean it well and apply some zero rust. you'd be amazed what a difference it makes. take the money saved and drive it out to lens shop for a paint job.