Mumbles

Whats up?

I have an 84 trans am t-top, so I was wondering where I should go to get a paint job? I'm going to take all the dents n dings out and primer it, so basically all I would need is someone to handle the painting. My budget is no more than $2000.00 but thats pushin it. I would rather pay less than 1200.00 but, at the same time i would want a quality lasting paint job. As far as color goes i probaly go with a original black but, i want to find a color that would bring the car out (i still dont know what color yet) Some people say Maaco or Earl Scheib arent that bad as long as you do the prep work or maybe a local body/paint shop?. I am in Ventura County about 30-40 mintues from downtown los angeles. Any ideas would be helpful.

Thanxs

89 TA

I'm going to take all the dents n dings out and primer it.


If your going to do all that, might as well spray it your self.

BretD 88GTA

Some people in the club have used Julian's Auto Body in the NoHo area and been happy with the results.

Julians Auto Body & Collision
6926 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91605
(818) 765-8500

Russ-So Cal

I don't know about Maaco or One Day, but Earl Scheib scimps on paint. A friend of mine who worked at a Chevy dealership in Oregon was talked into doing some side work for Earl Scheib. He picked up a custom color mix from the parts room, and shot his "tack coat." When he returned to get more paint, he was told "I forgot to tell you, that gallon of paint was supposed to do the whole car, tack and finish coat." You'll get what you pay for.
Juliens did a great job on Tom Kelleher's car, and it was in your budjet (high side) if I remember correctly. One trick Tom did to reduce the cost was he took all off the trim pieces, light lenses, and anything else that would need to be removed or masked before they could paint the car. Taking your car apart and putting it together for the body shop saves a ton of labor.

Thomas

I also recommend Jullian's. I have sent hundreds of my customers there and have had nothing but good feedback about the price and quality. I have known and used Julian and his father for about 20 years when I was doing restorations. He and his father used to manage the Car Coa in Canoga Park for many years before they purchased the Car Coa in North Hollywood and changed the name to their own. You will not be sorry!!!

Thomas R. Cox
House of Camaro
www.houseofcamaro.com

BretD 88GTA

Tom,
How long ago did they manage the Car Coa in Canoga Park? I'm curious because a friend of mine had her El Camino painted there back in the late 80's and it turned out pretty nice.

However, around that same time my mom took an '81 Oldsmobile of hers into that same Car Coa and I couldn't believe the poor quality. To try to keep it short, we were told the car was ready, but when we went over to pick it up a team of guys was scrambling to get the car out the door.

There was overspray everywhere, both paint and primer, and they were going at it with paint thinner to clean off the headlights, grill, edges of windows...etc. It looked like they hadn't masked everything off. Just rolled the car into the paint booth and started shooting. There were also pieces of moulding that were missing and needed to be re-installed. To add to it, not all that long after the car was painted, the paint started to blister on the nose of the car.

The real kicker to the whole experience was that we had also had the engine redone right before it went to paint. The shop we used was recommended by the guys at Car Coa and was right around the corner. Don't even get me started on the shoddy engine work that was done (or undone I should say).

The engine was supposedly rebuilt, but it looked more to me like all they did was repaint and/or clean the valve covers, intake manifold...etc. The engine never ran like it was new and it when it came time to change the oil it was as black as crude oil.

Needless to say, the whole deal (paint and engine) cost my mom a little over $2k and she got nothing but ripped off. I held my tongue at that time, but if I were to see that today someone would get an earful and a complaint to the B.A.R.

Fortunately, not long after I helped her negotiate a great deal on a used Cadillac at the local Chrysler dealer and we unloaded the Olds on them. So she did get some type of reimbursement in a way.

I'm just wondering if all this was before Julian and his father stepped in?



My experience says stay away from the "chain" style body shops — Maaco, Earl Schieb, Car Coa, Holmes Auto Body...and so on... and find a good independent shop to do the work. You tend to get better attention to detail.

82FirebirdTA

I've been looking for a place to get the '82 painted... Guess I'll give them a call...

__________________
1983 Trans Am

Looking for GTA

Thomas

Hey Bret,
Yes, over the years Car Coa went through many changes. They brought in many people to manage that knew nothing about the automotive industry but had a business degree. They tried to bring in the corperate way of thinking (cut labor and amount of paint used) and increase profits. Well as you mentioned that sure did not work and that is when they brought back Jullian and his father to straighten it out. Just as they started to fix the problems they tried to pressure them to make cuts. They then said FORGET ABOUT IT and left to start a towing company for a few years only later to purchase the North Hollwood Car Coa and change the name to thier own and go back to doing things the way they knew would work. I too went through some situations with Car Coa when they were having problems. I used to run 5 to 10 cars through there a month.

Thomas R. Cox
House of Camaro
www.houseofcamaro.com