[Licensed to kill]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

I finally got tired of paying BIG bucks for lousy paint jobs on my Corvettes and Model A's, so in the early 1980's I bought the necessary equipment (compressor, good spray gun, hose, filters, etc.) for FAR less than one paint job had been costing me. After a learning curve and upon finally settling on PPG products, I was doing my own paint jobs and saving thousands of dollars per car. I still color sand and buff out the final paint because of the almost inevitable orange peel left in modern paints, even after thinning and increasing the air pressure.
Before going to my own equipment, however, I learned that I could save a BUNCH of money if I did as much prep work as possible before turning the car over to the "professionals" for the spray job. 90% of a car's paint job is body work and preparation for color. That is by far the most time-consuming element in a paint job and the thing that will cost you the most. If at all possible, get the car into primer. Not rattle can primer, but a good surfacer-sealer, preferably catalyzed. By getting the car into primer after body work, you will save thousands of dollars. It doesn't take long for the shop to spray the actual paint. It's almost free money for them because of the low time element involved. If they color sand and buff the car afterwards, that'll be an additional large chunk of time that will cost you. You could color sand the car yourself with 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit paper and save a ton of money in labor charges. Then have the shop buff out the paint if they are willing to let you do the prep color sanding. Assuming the paint was applied thick enough (i.e., the painters know you will be color sanding and then buffing), color sanding is almost bullet-proof, as long as you pay attention to sharp edges and corners. The grit of paper you'll be using isn't coarse enough to go through the paint, unless it was applied too thin. Anyone with even marginal physical dexterity can color sand a Model A and its parts, especially if those parts have been removed prior to painting. You will get a MUCH better spray job if you remove all fenders and splash aprons prior to color being sprayed.
There are many options for saving money when going to a professional, but they all involve commitment on your part. As Terry in NJ states, once you have done your own prep work on a Model A, you'll understand why paint shops charge so much. Time, time and more time. Yes, paint and supplies are expensive, but it's the labor they charge for prep that drives the price sky high.
In a nutshell, the more you do, the more you'll save. If you can do little or none of it, a paint job will be a very expensive proposition, whether you are painting a Tudor Sedan or a Roadster, especially if going two colors (or even three tone in 1928!).
Marshall

IMO, everything you have posted is true IF you enjoy doing that sort of thing. In my lifes experience, when taking on these sorts of things simply to save money, it's almost always false economy. Money is the most renewable resource there is but your TIME is precious and once a minute of your life is spent, you never get it back. When you consider the cost of tooling, the time and materials to LEARN to do a good job, then the time to DO that good job assuming you can do as good a job as the GOOD professionals do (not always the case), often it is better to do something you are already good at (your regular job perhaps) and earn the money to pay the professional to do what THEY know how to do. If you ENJOY learning to paint your own cars, that's completely different. The pleasure you get has value as you are enjoying each precious minute of your limited life you are spending. If you are doing it ONLY to save money it can be very expensive as far as "cost" in life's big picture. The other thing to consider, and this applies to restoring a car as opposed to buying one already restored, is that the time you spend working on your car in your spare time is time you COULD be spending driving your car and enjoying it. Just a few things to consider when deciding on how much work you want to do and how much you should pay others to do. It's different for everyone.