How much to spend?

[vtech010]

I have a 1972 datsun 510. 4 door. I am debating weather to have the interior done and paint and body? How much have you all spent know your cars ? I was quoted 25000 to do it all and there is virtually no rust in my car.

[cartel]

without seeing pics hard to say-- but 25k seems high- if thats a repaint with removing all the items and reinstalling-- redoing stock interior--
also where are you located as that makes a huge difference

interior can range from 500 to 5k depends on what you choose - stock seats and steering wheel etc , chrome and trim is 1k easy with door handles- rubber weatherstripping alone is 1k too- im assuming they havent even said they are replacing all those items.

a repaint on a car that small with re/re bumpers and handles shouldnt be over 8k plus new parts IF no rust- now add all the parts and if they strip it AND find suprises it goes up

[vtech010]

They shop said the car has 75 small dent and dings which will take one hour a dent to bang out. And set it straight without using too much. Bondo. Interior is getting all new head liner from seat bottom an are getting re done full Dynamat new sunvisors new door cards. New carpet all new rubber seals whihc I am providing

[iceman510]

I would want to see an itemized detailed list of what for how much. I think you could get a great paint job for less than $10k if not rusty, and I can't imagine any 510 interior costing more than $5k at an extreme. So to me even $15k would be a huge amount. Have to see the labor breakdown too.

I bought a stalled project car about 1.5 years ago, with a horde or parts (unfortunately missing much interior) for about $7k freshly painted. I think I will barely even spend $1k on the interior and that is getting new carpet , headliner and door panels. Seats I bought from a junkyard (BMW) for less than $200.

[vtech010]

They are not just using filler to fix the dents. They are going hammer and dollie them. I am located in Toronto Canada. This was the cheapest quote I got.

[cartel]

EVERY car has filler-- there is NO f-ing way they are going to hammer and dolly a dent to perfection so its ready for paint-

besides if you want to "over restore"it so it has perfect gaps THATS where the time comes in-- and sorry but no way i would spend 25k on a 4dr--
i have a car here and its paint bill will be 25k a 2dr dime- that needed a TON of rust work and we are doing a ton of fabrication for duck spoiler- gaps- custom front BRE airdam- metal fenders bonded to FG flares etc.. and it was a x-racecar that had a ton of holes and dents from racing-half the bill is metal work - also base clear and the paint WILL be amazing.. this includes stripping the car and welding all the holes in engine bay and that just got painted yesterday.

you can see some pics of it in my build thread

and need to ask around some shops who THEY use-- i had a client bring a 65 mustang to me last month that he paid 18k on metal work and it was not very good- he got scared pulled it and took it elsewhere for paint at 12k and that was horrible finish- i could have done as well in my barn- literally.
none of his windows work properly and they didnt even remove the windshield.. WTF.. and the gaps-- theyre terrible just like original.. his car needs 10k now to fix it -- IF they dont warranty it-- but good luck with that--

ive seen plenty of nightmares-- local place 360fab who claims to be up there did a r33 skyline color change - charged client 32k for repaint to black- NO bodywork really- they charged 20 hours to repaint engine bay and the paint was already peeling when it came back to have engine installed- you could see the white wasnt sanded well -- i showed my bodyshop and they quoted 22k to fix it.. there must have been 50fish eyes in the hood and 360 said that was good enough.. none of the FG parts were "duratek" primed so my guy told me only way to guarantee it was to strip the whole car and start over-- they charged 4 hours per side to re/re marker lights and the car didnt even have any!

[bertvorgon]

Just a quick comment....When I took my existing 510 to Andy's in 1978...as he looked at ALL the door dings etc, he said it would be cheaper to put new quarters on, then do all the body work required to make it smooth..lots of bondo..plus TIME.

I elected to put new quarters on at half the cost of the body work.

As Mike says, you really want to do some homework as to body shops.