Repainting a Classic: Maaco Versus a Real Body Shop

The "paint and body" line in a restoration budget is where hope dies. If you've never been through it, you expect the price to match the promise. Instead, you get quotes that vary by a factor of three for the same car. Here's the real difference, and whether the cheap number is ever the smart one.

What the Cheaper Job Actually Is

Maaco and its cousins will shoot your car in a weekend for $2-4k. That price assumes runs on top of rust, tape lines, and a paint job that treats the car like a rental — because your $2k is paying for a production process, not a craftsman.

The result can look great from twenty feet in bad light. From three feet, the orange peel, the overspray in the door jambs, and the tape line on the B-pillar tell the story of exactly what you paid.

What the Expensive Job Actually Buys

$8-15k for a mainstream classic rebuild at a real shop buys time and process: the car is stripped, metal is straightened (not filled), primers are blocked, sealer applied, basecoat/clearcoat laid down properly, and wet sanded. That's the difference between "painted" and "painted well." It's also the difference between a car you'll be proud of in ten years and a car you'll be repainting in five.

Where the Compromise Actually Works

• **Solid car, so-so paint goals**: pay for a proper mechanical restoration, have the shop do the rust work, and let a decent production painter shoot it single-stage. Fine at cruise nights.
• **Rocker panels, fenders, trunk** — parts you'll touch eventually: production shop is fine.
• **A full visible car, a concours car, or a car you'll photograph from three feet**: find the real body shop and transfer the funds like it's a small gift.

The Detail That Wins

Ask any shop, cheap or expensive, what they do to the door jambs, the underside of the hood, and the space behind the bumpers. The shop that answers in sentences is the shop doing the real job. The shop that answers "we mask it off" is telling you how much of your money is evaporating into overspray.

Buy the paint you can afford after the bodywork — because the paint is only as good as the panel under it.