Quote too much for welding & respray?

[Lowrider Dave]

I've just got a quote for £6,000 for work to my Cav V6. Replacement bonnet, front wings, full length. Rear arches cut out and replaced with new metal, rear spring cups replacement, odd ding dealt with and a respray.
All done by a restorer who cannot take on the job until Feb 2012.

So, is this too expensive for spend on a cavalier, or an worthy investment?

[Nemesis]

That's absurd.

Get some rot free new panels for a few quid and then a decent bodyshop should do you a bare shell respray for £2k tops. Maybe less if you do the dog work and strip it down / rebuild it yourself.

If it were me though I'd be doing the above with a shell that doesn't need massive welding, especially spring cups. Could you not buy a clean base model Cav, get it bare shell resprayed and then add some bits off your car?

[Jack]

If he's that busy, he's probably quoted you high because he doesn't want the work. He can't lose, really. If you go somewhere else, then that's fine with him. If you say yes, then he's got some strong long term money coming in.

[MSG]

he seems to base his prices on restoring older cars worthy of keeping on roads, these are cars that would fetch tens of thousands of pounds and so for him your cav is no different as far as his labour charges are concerned, 6 grand it is take it or leave it, but no cav is worth spending that so0rt of money on because you won't get that back i9f you were to sell it in future unless you yourself intend to keep for good few long years, then of course the love of your cav is what matters and the 6 grand is spread over all those years.

I would personally seek someone else who could equally good job for around 2 grand or under.

[Greydj]

Sounds like you should be on the lookout for a replacement V6 Cavalier in much better condition than yours.

[Lowrider Dave]

I'm glad my initial horror at the cost is generally agreed! The Cav is sound in MOT terms, I just want to catch the rot before it starts to eat entire arches and sills. I'm a bit of a perfectionist but am logically unlikely to keep it for years. I learnt my lesson about spending £££££ on a car that at the end of the day doesn't earn it's keep or recoops the cost upon sale.

I also want to do another rally next year so perhaps I just hold off any idea of repair work and keep it for that? I could always just buy a welder and have a go myself I suppose

[MSG]

I know it sounds a little harsh, but just remove the engine and send the rest of the car to the crushers and get a nice Beemer!lmao

(Pardon my pun!)
(I was trying to restore my Manta, looked at it, and it needs both front wings and the bonnet, roof area around the hatch has rusted, with hundreds of tiny holes broken through, (perforated) and rear lower panel is dented when a car hit it from behind, and rear bumper has since been hit again and is cracked, and I had it welded last year as the floors and chassis runners were quite bad, almost a death trap, needs both new headlights, which you cannot get anywhere easily unless you use the modified round ones, which make it non-standard, rear side panels are slightly buckled due to the rear impact, spar wheel well has rusted away, so it still require a lot more welding to be able to restore, along with complete re-spray, so you can only do so much for such like cars even though i know there are people who would spend quite a bit on Manta, but I can't see my one being restored fully by anyone without spendinga huge amount of money, it would probably cost in excess of 3 to 4 grand to fully restore it, end of the day I don't think it is worth spending that as you can get fairly good ones for around 3 grand kind of in good restored order.)


Yours seem to be in a lot better condition than mine and may be worth doing it up yourself and so get a welder and have a go!

[Paul]

6k? Total joke.