Good body shops between San Jose and San Francisco, CA?

[robroy]

Hi!

Since my hood, fenders, and the piece of metal that goes behind the bumper are off of my truck, I'd like to take them in to a body shop to have them cleaned up (made straight and rust-free) and painted, including some custom graphics.

My entire truck's currently white (original 1972 white), and believe it or not the paint is still sound enough to have a shine when it's clean. But there's some mild rust on the hood and fenders and a few minor dents, and the paint is faded and funky along the front of the hood.

I'm interested in having the hood and fenders painted bright yellow in the front, then having a checkered black and white stripe about ten inches wide that goes across the hood and down the fenders to separate the yellow from the rest of the truck (white). I'm sure a drawing of what I have in mind would make a lot more sense than my paragraph, and I'm working on that (the drawing)!

Does anybody know of a good body shop anywhere between San Jose and South San Francisco in California that would be good at the body work, paint, and graphics?

The Santa Cruz and Watsonville areas would also be fine since my truck's currently located in that area (while I'm on the peninsula in Palo Alto).

Also, what's a fair price ballpark for this job, assuming that I bring the body parts to them and take them away (that I'd do all the assembly myself)?

Thanks very much!
-Robroy

[1971ford]

price depends greatly. do you want a show quality job or a daily driver job. what paint method will they use (single stage, BC-CC etc.). lots of labor goes into sanding if you want a nice finish. plus alot of time will be needed for taping off and coating over and all that stuff for your design

[robroy]

Hi 1971ford, thanks for your reply!

I'm looking for a driver quality finish; the truck is definitely not a show truck, other than showing it to my buddies in the parking lot. And I'm sure whatever is done to it will stand out in stark contrast to the original 1972 paint on the cab and bed!

I know what you mean about the graphics potentially adding a lot to the cost, so I don't have my heart 100% set on that idea. But I think graphics add a huge amount of character to a vehicle!

-Robroy

[1971ford]

for a driver finish you should check out Maaco. they have a bunch of places. they make good looking driver quality finishes.

Maaco paint job. Fomocoguy's truck. looks good for the price.
http://www.fordification.com/forum/down ... p?id=10110

wow! the beauty a paint job, grill stripping, and new wheels can do (well theres body work and all that too)

so you just did all the body work yourself and took it to a painter to paint? where did you get it painted?

I took it down to the local Maaco. They had thier $500 paint job on sale for $250, so I upgraded and got the $700 paint job for $450, paid $100 for clear coat and another $100 to fix a couple spots that I had a hard time with, so the paint was $650 total. They get a bad rap, but if you spend a little extra $$$ and upgrade to a better package you can come out with a really slick paint job. The expensive part is the prep, which is why I did it myself. Wet sanding the entire truck by hand with 320 grit turned out perfect.

[robroy]

Hi Ryan! Thanks for the suggestion, and I'll definitely talk to these folks to see how I like them.

What if I wanted to take a step or two up from there?

Also, I have a preference for hiring non-chain shops, since I like to get to know a place and the folks that work there so I can go back again and again.

Thanks again Ryan,
-Robroy

[robroy]

Hello again Ryan,

I'm curious to see a photo of the guy's truck that was painted by Maaco, but the link included in your post doesn't work for me--it tells me that I don't have sufficient permissions to view it.

Do you know of any other links to photos of that truck?

Thanks very much Ryan!
-Robroy

[1971ford]

here it is


you can PM fomocoguy and ask him how he likes it

[robroy]

Hey that looks pretty good. Thank you Ryan! -Robroy

[rjewkes]

if you just wantit to shine for about 2-3 years their's Scheibs(earl Schiebs).

if you want it to need repainted in a month go to maaco.

if you want it touched up and graphiced perhaps finding an old timey shop.

[robroy]

Hey Rjewkes, thanks for the suggestions! It sounds like what I'm looking for is an old fashioned place.

-Robroy