Should I let college students paint your coach?

[EvilManor]

TYPO I meant my coach.

I was approached this morning by the auto body instructor at the community college where I work about my '69 M&M. He wanted to know if I would be interested in letting them sand and paint it for the cost of materials. He said probably about $200.

Here's my concerns.

This will probably be there first car to paint, but the instructor has his own body shop and will be overseeing their work.

They're not really going to do any body work and I have some rust issues that need fixed that will have to be addressed later.

I didn't ask, but they probably won't be painting the door jams either.

I plan on getting the car painted over the next year but should probably go ahead and do something about the surface rust to ensure it doesn't get worse, but I'd rather my car look mistreated than like I tried to get a professional paint job for $200.

[60Crown]

Had a vocational school rebuild/paint a late model wreck in the '90s. They did a top notch job. Wouldn't hesitate if the opportunity arose again.

Only negative is the duration of time it took - almost 12 months!

[EvilManor]

Had a vocational school rebuild/paint a late model wreck in the '90s. They did a top notch job. Wouldn't hesitate if the opportunity arose again.

Only negative is the duration of time it took - almost 12 months!

I just spoke with the auto body instructor again and he said all they were really interested in was shooting paint. If they get to bare metal they'll hit it with some primer, but he wants to just turn them loose on an old car and if any damage is done (i.e. messed up chrome, glass, weather seals, etc...) they'll talk about why it happened but won't be out any time/money to fix it.

Looks like he has no appreciation for my car and just wants someone to spend the money for the materials needed for them to shoot some paint on something. I thanked him for the offer and told that I wouldn't be interested.

[BIGEVIL]

Will the instructor offer any good references of cars he has overseen in the past?

[hotroddwayne]

Hmmmm... the vocational schools around here teach auto body & that includes prep of the car. It's nearly impossible to get a car in there for them to work on unlss you're a friend of the instructor. I tried to get the last pro-street I built in there for them to prep & paint, the waiting list was endless. Use your best judgement in this case... if they want to paint over imperfections the only thing that will benefit from that is if the coach sits outside it'll help preserve the steel... for a while. Might do more harm than good if you get a coach back with poor prep including DA sander swirl marks IN the chrome/glass & partially painted trim, chrome, & glass! (kinda like Maaco... don't ask about that experience LOL)

[EvilManor]

Will the instructor offer any good references of cars he has overseen in the past?

That's just it. Doesn't sound like he wants to over see it all. After talking with him again it sounds like he just wants to turn the students loose with a car and then come back and talk about their work.

Several students will have their own project, but he has some students that just need something to paint.

Basically he said whatever the students end up doing would need to be redone for it to be done right. Guess he thought I had an extra $200 to burn before getting it painted by a professional.