Hi All - I am toying around with finally getting my 81 300sd repainted as the clear coat and paint job in general is fading from the sun in a number of areas. The current paint job is original and I am still toying with changing it to another color from that year or repainting it the same anthracite Grey...

Anyway I am trying to locate a decent paint shop in the Los Angeles area or just outside of the Los Angeles area that would do a quality job without killing by bankroll lol. I want the best quality work I can get for my buck - I guess like everyone else haha.

I tried searching but could not find a thread specific to this so here we go. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Try Montebello Auto Center on Whittier Blvd in Montebello. Very high quality body and paint work.

Thanks! Are they pretty competitive in pricing?

They are not cheap (Earl Scheib or Macco type) but they do very high quality work (body & paint). The owner is Joe Ortega. They have painted probably 15 cars for me over the years. I think most body shops in the LA area charge $75+ per hour plus materials. Paint has become very expensive. Depending on the color some paints are $500+ per gallon. You can probably save some money by dis-assembling of the car yourself. If you are pretty good mechanically, re-assembly is another option (just be very careful and take your time).

I know I posted this two years ago, but it's taken this long to get going on the car again. Alot of really positive life changes etc. But all in all just life in general

Anyway - I have included a photo of the current paint situation on my 300sd. To me it looks like all the clear coat is peeling / flaking off. I had one paint shop look at it and they said its fairly well oxidized and would require quite a bit of sanding?

Here are my questions:

1. I agree on the sanding - is that something I should/could consider doing myself to help save on cost?

2. I don't see any rust - so I am trying to understand if they are seeing other types of oxidation? Any thoughts?

3. Any other suggestions on paint shops - Not against going to Montebello but I am on the other side of Los Angeles

Thank you all in advance!



(apologies in advance for the sideways pic - that was courtesy of tinypic hosting service )

If it were me I would strip it down, sand prime and two stage it. Hoods are easy if you can hand them up in a garage and create a mini paint booth.

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Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have the space to do that work where I am at. Also unfortunately its not just the hood Probably should have mentioned that in the original post.

I've never had a car painted, but heard good things about the Maaco in Glendale on San Fernando RD, if you're on a budget.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Many years ago I was running a sugar mill in Los Angeles and had a Chief Chemist than drove a really ugly 70's Pontiac. Well he went back to Corporate for something and left his car at the plant. I had the guys in the Machine shop freshen the motor, then let the girls in the lab have at the interior and they did a fantastic job and it looked like new. Then I told two guys to take it over to Earl Scheibs. At the time ole Earl was endlessly running the ad "I'll paint any car, any color for $39.95, no ups, no extras" Well later in the afternoon I spotted the two guy and ask them why they didn't take the car like I asked. They said "we did, and we're back. They didn't even make us get out of the car"

Well, fast forward 35 plus years, and I bought a really nice 240D but the paint was a little rough. I go down to the same Earl Shiebs and negotiate a deal with a few extras for $700 out the door. Five years later it still looks pretty good. Could have spent a lot more but quite frankly on a 38 year old car it would pretty much have been polishing a horse turd.

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Curious - can you post a photo of the car? Did you notice any specific issues with the paint job? I am looking for it to last 5 or so years before possibly repainting it correctly once I have the space to do it proper.

It's a daily driver, you can come see it in Commerce or see both, a white one with a $9000 paint job or the black one with a $700 paint job in Whittier. I have a guy that works for me now whose Uncle has an auto body shop in TJ (they still use VOC's I think). He picks up cars in LA, paints them, then brings them back for $1000.


Both 240D's


roll call on 123 five speeds

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Nice! The black one looks pretty good from the photos and probably right for my needs.

Did you go to the Glendale Earl Scheib? Also did you remove the body parts and take them in or just drop the car off and they masked it and painted it?

Thanks!!

No, the one in Santa Fe Springs/Whittier. No, they just taped but did a pretty good job. Found one bad run spot, took it back and they fixed. It goes without saying you will only be happy if you aren't trying a color change.

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Got it - good to know. We were considering changing to a super deep dark navy blue. The concern has been the change in color on the parts that aren't sprayed. May keep it the grey then for the time being.