Lettering

[BDA]

It's been about twenty years since I had my car painted. I gave the paint shop a completely stripped (no paint at all) body. I covered the doors, boot, and bonnet with a single layer of veil (I wish I had done more and covered more of the body) and sanded it pretty flat down to 600 grit. I don't remember how long they kept it but it was at least six weeks (not at all bad considering Certified's experience). The shop used Glasurit polyurethane  and I think it cost about US$6000. I think 6000 pounds today would be a huge bargain! Maybe Alex is getting a quantity discount! 

[4129R]

My resprays are costing around £6300 + VAT.

They take them back to complete bare fibreglass, all paint off.

Ex Lotus employees in Norfolk.

They are currently on #6 for me.

They do everything, inside and out.

That is almost half the price of what it costs in the US.

Ouch !!!

So you are paying north of $12,000 for a decent paint job ?

[johnmi]

It cost me £4300 cash, but i removed all the old paint, to be fair he gave me a quote and he stuck to it. did a fantastic job very pleased. I am wondering if i have bought the correct letters. think i will take a photo and post it for comment.

john
 

[Certified Lotus]

Alex, I am north of $12K and the body is not yet finish coated. That being said, my body shop is one of the best available and the attention to detail is very high. Plus I had some custom fiberglass work done.

[dakazman]

Certified and Alex ,
      I just broke thru the 1000 hours of working on it and going for another 200
with this final coat of clear. My wife really wants a gold stripe on it followed by more clear. I want to pull my hair out now.
Dakazman

[4129R]

Thank you for cheering me up.

I thought £6,300 was a "full" price.

They charge themselves out at £40 an hour, so take £300 off for materials, and they are in a 150 hours for a total strip, repair, and spray.

I feel better now.

Their work is better than the factory original.

[Certified Lotus]

Might pay for me to ship fiberglass bodies overseas and have your shop do the work and ship back. Amazing as it seems it would actually be cheaper. Go figure.

[EuropaTC]

I'll cheer you up even more then Alex, I know folks who have paid north of £8k for a respray on an Elan and that's not the +2 version but the 2 seater.

That's a much smaller car in terms of panel work and I'd reckon it's at least a week quicker for me to prepare and spray the Elan than the Europa. There's a lot of area to prep on the Europa and it's all relatively thin fibreglass so you can't rush it. 

I'd expect to spend somewhere around £500 on materials/consumables, topcoat alone is probably £200-£300 depending on what you want. So £6k or thereabouts sounds a pretty good deal to me, especially as you have "the proper guys" doing the work.

Brian