no i dont want the 25K special, Seems like you hit up all the messageboards with your spam. i am looking for someone qualified to do OEM work thank you

personally I hate OE as they sucked back then the paint was crappy and even had runs in it.I for one go Over retored every time when it comes to paint and who wants to do all those paint dabs all over the car. To me Mopar OE quality wasn't that great back in the day and I want a car that is built better then what they had to offer back then.I'm biased as I restore everything over-retored as trying to make the paintjob crappy and peely takes more effort then doing my showcar smooth as glass mirror finish.
It's your car and get it done the way tou want the best you can for the money you can afford.

my question is to all those who are refering the shops and pushing them,what's your kick back?,LOL
this thread has more resto shops begging to do your car. I never begged for work when I had my restoration shop I just did nice work and the word spread and I had too much work that I couldn't possibly do myself but had only helpers from time to time and never had qualified body and paint restoration help so it soon got over whelming and burned me out fast.

Complete restorations take time so make sure your choice of shop doesn't promise you the moon then don't deliver but give them adequate time to do the type of work you desire but make sure they keep on shcedule and keep you updated with progress photos if you choose a shop that isn't local.require that they include your VIN tag in the photos as not to send you photos of another car that looks like yours that is also getting restored and ahead of yours in progress.
personally I would stay clear of shops that are banging down your door to do this job as the quality shops that do great work let the work come to them as they don't need to solocite for work.
IMO, the ones who have no work and are begging for yours sends up signals, why don't they have other work if they are so good??

I would rather pay a little more for a reputable shop with references then then take it to the shop that is offering a discount or they will beat anyone elses price cause from when I had my shop the materials have increased big time and if they don't charge more they aren't using quality products and cheap paint and materials isn't what you want for quality work and have it last.
above all get everything in writing and all additional work must be authorized by you.
another tip is never pay too much in advance,pay for it in stages as they do the work and prove to you with photos that the work has been done then pay them the next installment this way it insures your car will get done in a timely manner and that you got what you already paid for or they don't get anymore money.


Good luck and choose wisely

do me a favor if your gonna quote me don't delete half of what I said cause it's not what I said and how I said it the way you quoted it.
it looks like i'm too lazy to do it the OE way and that is not what I said when talking about takes more effort to make the paintjob have peel and runs or sags.
I personally like to paint them out of the gun as smooth as I can without runs and orange peel and I have been painting that way so long it's hard for me to do a crappy paintjob,without totally messing it up cause you have to paint it bad on purpose and sometimes it's not as easy as it sounds when your trained to do great paintwork. basically what I would have to do to get a OE type paint job is put a spraygun in the hands of
a beginner and tell them to go paint this guys $20-30K car,yah right

Also todays paint is different then what yesteryear had to offer and even the Enamel sigle stage paints are better so you would be hard pressed to really duplicate an authentic 70's paintjob.You may get close but a perfect unrestored OE Survivor up against a OE style resto
paintjob I gaurentee I can tell you which is which

Did you paint the fire on your Myspace background? That's something we haven't done yet and I love it. It's really Kewl!

Thinking about the next streetrod to give the burning look.

This must be another MC Revolution with the same message

http://forums.customrodder.com/70/7704523/whats-the-latest/restorations-frame-off/index.html

http://www.impalaforums.com/restoration-...-years-exp.html

Thanks to all that offered advice. I have already spoken to a number of people that have given me some good info when searching for a shop. I am going to be getting in touch with some places and I will let you know how I make out. Matt

Hey Matt!

I've been following your post and think it is great that you have owned your car for so long. I believe you are going about it the right way by doing your homework, asking questions and talking to some of the qualified shops mentioned above. I'm pretty sure you are on your way to getting the car restored in a manner that will be pleasing to you. Best of luck with it and please keep posting progress in the restoration section of the board. It would be great to see how it all turns out for ya!

Best of luck, Joe

I am looking to find a high quality detail oriented shop to undertake resto on my 71 Cuda. I am the original owner and I would like the car restored to look like the day I picked it up at the dealer.

Thanks in advance, Matt

---

Welcome Matt,.......is your car a Red/black vinyl top 340 Shaker car by any chance?

Mike

Matt,

In looking at these shops you also need to take in account the attitude of the shop owners and
also talk with the employees to get a some what idea of the charecters your dealing with. The shops mentioned all have talent and come highly reccomended by many here on moparts.
I personally know Ken Mosier of Finer Details,Troy Angelly and Paul Jacobs of Jacobs and Angelly Restorations. I think both would do a great job with your pride and joy ride. First impressions go along way. Both above have a straight forward no nonsense, no bs approach to handling all issues that come up during the restoration which means they discuss with you the owner of the vehicle any issues that involve work outside the norm. That way there are no surprizes with charges etc. I'm sure many shops have that same approach but some don't.

logan426

hi

there is alot of great advice here

there are a couple of things that should be taken into consideration, and i have had personal dealings with just about all of the shops listed here and feel they are good shops.

1- i know our cars are all labor of love and usually have some degree of sentimental value (especially yours being that your the original owner), but there has to be some kind of $$ ceiling that your willing to invest in your resto work.
the problem that i have found is that most shops wont give you a ceiling price, in their own defense they say "we dont know what were getting into" that only holds water if the car has areas of unknowns such as rust, prior work covering mistakes, etc. so if nothing else try to get a worst case scenario price quote. they must have some kind of idea as this isnt their first go around + its hard to turn back once your 1/2 way thru the resto + out of funds.

another aspect in ref to pricing, there should be a cap on payments per aspect ie:
when the car is stripped $$ not to exceed,
when the car is in prime $$ not to exceed,
when the car is painted $$ not to exceed,
etc etc,

that way even if you do have a ceiling it wont be reached when the car is only 1/2 done (that happened to me once)

-- i also think its a great idea to be able to visit the shop at least once a month, or get very well detailed pictures, but being there in person is the way to go

--also, you mention you want it to be like when you picked the car up,
thats going to require alot of parts hunting and chasing, because repro parts werent on your car when it was made,
so either your car has to be a great survivior, which takes care of the parts chasing but then you probably wouldnt need to restore it, or hopefully its very original and you have the orginal parts for reference.
or you can go the year one route + make life easy.

another issue to address is that most resto shops can do beautiful work, but how many of them really know about the correctness of every nut, bolt, clip, widget, etc as far as whats correct or not. because if they dont know, then your resto wont be correct. you have to know what you want and so does your resto shop, so spend alot of time in the survivior tent with a digital camera for reference points

but, you should start gathering for whatever original parts you need now, because parts come and go, but youll always be able to get the labor done.

ive been parts gathering for 4+ years for my next resto + still have a few to get.

also ask for a time frame, not to rush the shop, but so you know what to expect.

good luck + keep us posted

tony

ps
also ask which aspects of the resto will be subletted out at an addtional fee

Hello:
WOW WOW you asked and you certainly got answers...first congrats. on owing your car since new. Not many of us around..I have had my GTS since new as I ordered the car.
As I have always said "it's your car do what makes you happy. "Over restored or "OE"? First question how much money you got? No matter which way you go the truth is you will never recoup even close to what you will spend..I belive the choice is yours weigh what you have read here carefully...Most of it is good advice, some of it self serving. After you have your car completed you will find if you intend to keep it show worthy
you will spend lots of time on it..little things like a oil seep can ruin the paint on the block, and its not an easy fix, if its done right. Brake lines discolor and fittings corode even in the best of conditions..a small scratch can destroy your 25k paint job..a blown fuse can ruin your day,keeping these cars up is a lot of work, don't let any one kid you.
I'm not going to give you a buch of names of where to go you have that already. I just want to wish you the best in your decision, and hope to see you in a show sometime.

Thank You
Maynard

Here is a car I recently saw and Monster Mopar. I believe Ken Mosier at Finer Details did. I am not expert, but some cars just draw you in and you know it was a high quality job. The photo does not do it justice as I thought it was one of the nicer cars I saw that weekend.

I may not know who to call for the job your wanting. But I do know that the money spent makes no difference compared to what you are going to do with it; either sell or keep.

If your going to keep it, spend a little more, wait a little longer. Let it be perfect.

If your going for the green choose whichever one offers you the most money in your pocket.

Easy choice to me. (I'm a perfectionist so of course, I'd do it myself, HA).