Wow Paint Prices.

[B5fourspeed]

My B5 blue for my 70 Cuda was 240 a gallon thru finished masters. The painter needed 2 gallons which made 4 gallons.What I didn't know he order clear at 400 dollars a gallon.I had 2700 dollars in paint supplies.

[Mopsquad]

When I was living in Oshawa, Ont 1983, I remember having a friend paint my '65 Mustang in single stage Rangoon Red. Paint store charged me $90 all in.  My teenage ass thought that was crazy expensive back then. LOL

[chargerdon]

I had my 74 Challenger painted by a professional about 2 yrs ago.   FC7   .    He bought a gallon of Sherwin Williams automotive paint and the hardener/mixer that it uses for around $800.   It was barely enough to do the car without doing anything but the "exterior" and the door jambs..   

I know that the prices of paint vary widely...   Usually, in any of the "big names" they will have two grades, the top and then the "shop quality".   Even within the paint line the price will vary based upon the color.   White being the cheapest, and reds being the most expensive...apparently the pigment for red is very expensive.    FC7 runs near the top of the price chain.   

Also, IF you dont care about "matching" a factory color...like C7, then you can buy a gallon of acrylic Urethane 2 stage in the $200 a gallon range....   Example: Summit Racing paints. 

Heck even the Primers cost are all over the place...   A lot depends on the "professionalism" of a painter.   With 95% prep and a painter who knows what he is doing, you can get good paint jobs with lesser quality paint.    Better quality paint makes the painting easier.    As an example, on my 66 charger i tried painting it myself using "cheap" single stage paint and the results were terrible.   I had horrible orange peel, and often had to put on several coats to get good coverage.   But, in doing it i gained a lot of experience.   

When i had my 74 Challenger done by a top professional, he got for me a quart of Sherwin Williams FC7 in its "2nd" quality, so that i could do the door jambs, and under side of the hood, and underside of the trunk lid, and surrounding areas myself to save on his labor.   It cost me around $150...and i could tell immediately how much better it was than the cheap stuff i had used on my Charger.   It "covered" easily and "flowed" extremely well, so that even with my poor expertise, i didn't have any problem having enough, and no runs and very little orange peel.   

So, you kinda "get what you pay for".   

My professional told me, look, if you want a decent looking "cheap paint" that's easy to paint with then buy the Duplicolor Lacquer paint.   It comes in quart cans and requires no mixing for $2a 6-29 quart.    I never used it, but, have been told that Lacquer paint is the easiest to spray, used to be used by the car companies.    Its problem is that No one that i knows of sells it in custom colors, and lacquer doesn't last nearly as long as Urethane Acrylic (or Enamel) before it starts to fade.    Also, because it is "premixed" 1 qt is just 1 quart of sprayable and it doesnt cover as well.    I think it might be getting discontinued do to environmental concerns as it evaporates into the air.   

[E74cuda]

I just purchased the paint, primer, clear coat and all of the other supply's to do a project and the cost was $4000. Roughly ten years ago I was getting a completed car including labor for $4000-$5000

[Marty]

5 quarts of Limelight/Sublime green basecoat for the Barracuda. Diamont. $1200. 

[Rdchallenger]

A gallon of PPG Concept SS Urethane is $850 FJ6, and that's if you can find it since it's been discontinued. I called 6 PPG jobbers and finally found one who still has it in stock!

[dodj]

My car was painted in 1993. The TA stripes on my car are painted.
Paid $750 for the paint and labour.
Paint still lookin' pretty good. It's got a few blemishes over the last 28years but I certainly don't need to repaint it yet.
Some of the numbers you guys are reporting for buying paint is scary! 

[jimynick]

You've got to wonder what in the hell is going on when the painter says he needs 6 ltrs of base! If it's a typical 4:1:1, that would reduce out to 9 ltrs of finished product!! Is he also spraying his brother's car at the same time on your nickel? A couple of years ago we did a complete, on my one son Jim's Honda Prelude, and we had 3 litres of base and we did it all and had a wee bit left over. On a 3 coat clearing, I'd figure you'd need about a max of 6 ltrs spray-ready product for an E body and of course, you can go as high in clear coating as your wallet and brain will stand for, coats and costs-wise. I'm right in the middle of finish painting my Challenger right now and can tell you that there'll sure as hell never be $4000 in paint material costs and I'm sure it'll be considerably less than $2000. I'll admit that I'm also a licenced bodyman and can buy paint cheaper than a walk-in, but $4000 just makes me shake my head.    Having said all that, you can drop quite a few quid on other materials like primers, masking/sanding/glazing, etc. etc.

[DrEamer]

I went through all this a couple of years ago when I had my Challenger painted. I get  shop rate pricing and FC7 in PPG Deltron was $750 a for gallon of base, and Omni was around $400. I considered the newer Plum Crazy Pearl, but the Deltron was over $1250 a gallon. My painter recommended I look into the House of Kolor offerings since I was not doing a factory correct car. I ended up going with a color called Pavo Purple, and am quite pleased with it. I think I was a little over $1000 for the base, clear, reducers and hardeners with a lot of shopping. The one thing I will add about painting a car, it will almost always take longer then you think it should, and cost more then you thought it was going to be. 

[RUNCHARGER]

Yes: I think Greg paid around $2200CDN for the undercoat, base, pearl and clear for the GTM, it was HOK and really nice paint.

[jimynick]

"The one thing I will add about painting a car, it will almost always take longer then you think it should, and cost more then you thought was going to be. " Those're probably the most accurate words I've heard regarding painting a car, in a long while! 

[RzeroB]

I haven't painted anything in about 8 years. Frankly, I'm quite shocked    by these paint prices that you guys are quoting. Use to be you could get everything you needed, to include spray-booth rental, to do a complete quality paint-job on your car for less than a grand.     These numbers today are just nuts!!   

[RUNCHARGER]

I think Centari was around $100/gallon when I did my first paint job. Nothing like doing your first welding/painting on a 69 Hemi car.

[Rdchallenger]

A gallon of PPG Concept SS Urethane is $850 FJ6, and that's if you can find it since it's been discontinued. I called 6 PPG jobbers and finally found one who still has it in stock!

To add to this... the more I've thought about it and may bite the bullet on Shopline, even though it is PPG's econo brand, the car is going to be a driver and as hard as it is to find PPG DCC Acrylic Urethane it got me thinking if a repair is ever needed or god forbid I mess up while painting. The jobber I found that has DCC in stock told me they may not even have enough toner for a full gallon. Also Shopline is about $500 dollars cheaper per gallon.