Body and paint recommendations?

In the Los Angeles area

Apologies for posting in General, I'd like to think that the A and E guys check this forum more frequently than the G forums.

So yeah, it's time to get the damn thing bodied and painted... It's getting too much negative attention at this point of time because of her looks, and I'd rather not have her towed off.


Needs heavy body work (welding in metal, pulling out minor bumps), and of course a full paint job.


Looking at function over form, I plan on taking her on dirt roads and such eventually, so it doesn't make sense to make her Pebble beach quality. Otherwise I'd be afraid to take her off-road...

Are you looking for DIY ideas, or looking for a shop to do all the work, or a combination?

Good point.

Sadly/thankfully this would be all shop. I do not have any spot for long term storage for prep and such.

In this regard, you should visit YouTube to watch DIY videos. However, full body paint would be quite expensive.

Holy thread-necromancy!

To be quite honest, nothing came of it (yet) due to the amount of body work that has to be done on the van. I actually had it scanned recently, so I should be able to make panels/parts based off of that.

You can sure spend alot of money on a fancy paint job. But the real cost and labor is in the body work, rust repair, and prep. Take it one panel at a time, and work little by little, until its all straight and ready. Unless you can just fork over the credit card!