Number of Hours for Paint
Hello again everyone. Been a while since I posted. Health issues have done a number on me and my family but I'm getting back on track with the finish line in sight which is exciting.
I have a gen 3 which I am getting ready to send it off for paint and I was trying to get an idea of the hours I should expect. I was lucky enough to have Brendan from Battalion Motorports and Mark the Traveling builder, who are both fantastic and were a huge help to me, help me get the body on with rear glass and doors. We also trimmed the nose and got it mounted, however, I did not hold my side just right and I think it needs a bit of an adjustment. I also wanted to add the gurney wing flush into the body.
I was hoping you all could give me a general range to expect. The painter I'm thinking of does pretty high-level work including a couple original Cobras and I'm a little worried the number of hours could push it out of my budget. I remember the Gen 3 had a lot better body to cut down on the hours of body work, but I no longer remember how many it took.
Thanks for the help everyone and I hope you are all having a happy holiday.
Painting and adjusting body
We started our gen2 kit in July 2020. It was a complete kit minus engine and transmission and the owner had passed away before starting the build. By the summer of 2021 we had the body mounted and were able to take it to a couple of events in its red primer. It had been inspected by our local DOT (a bunch of hot ridding Delaware state police) without event.This past summer we took it to Modern Street Custom in Newark Delaware for paint and a few other finishing touches. As we’ve all found out, the body fits like a cheap suit. A lot of work was done on the front clip in order to get the fit right. Everyone has their own way of dealing with correcting the fit issue. About every 2-3 weeks I’d get a call for “another check” and we’d drive over for a look/see. As with most shops, there are always multiple jobs going on at the same time and the boys at Modern Street we’re doing at least 6 different cars including ours. I wasn’t going to bring up cost until I read the other posts but I think ours is pushing 30.
Jamie Bartlebaugh, the owner, and his staff of 6 craftsmen had already built a FF5 cobra roadster that was beautifully done and his crew’s work on other jobs was above reproach. Jim did much of the fiberglass work and body adjustment, finished the windshields wiper installation, cleaned up some of the wiring clutter, did all of the hvac ducting, cut and replaced/repositioned the rear frame mounting plates to better mount the body, etc. They’ve gone above and beyond what I thought was needed.
On our visit yesterday Kevin, their master welder,fabricator was working on the FF5 window frames. They’ve been set up to be easily removed as driving the car in the summer is enough to give one heat stroke. Even though we were originally going to leave the interior somewhat basic with much of the aluminum panels exposed, Jamie’s upholsterer came in and covered everything with black vinyl and bound all the FF5 carpet.
As for color, we did a lot of research. We finally chose white with blue stripes.
Jamie felt the car would be done in a week… with a final check due.
