Classic Car Blog

Short Answer: A full respray at Auto Art runs 80 to 200 hours of labor, billed at a flat $100 an hour. That puts most full resprays in the $8,000 to $20,000 range before parts. A smaller panel or spot repair runs 40 to 150 hours, or roughly $4,000 to $15,000. The exact number depends […]

Short Answer: A vintage BMW E30 restoration succeeds or fails on rust. Check the floor pans, subframe mounts, rocker panels, and sunroof tray before any paint work starts. Fabricate parts that are no longer produced instead of substituting incorrect pieces. Match your chassis code and engine variant to your goals for the car, then bring […]

Short Answer: Aging fiberglass car bodies most often develop six problems. These are gelcoat crazing, stress cracks at mounting points, and moisture blistering. Add UV fading, print-through of the weave, and hidden damage from old filler repairs. None of these mean the car is unsavable. Fiberglass doesn’t rust, but it does age. Most of these […]

Short Answer: Louisville-area BMW owners have four real paths for paint work. Auto Art specializes in ground-up vintage BMW restoration, about three hours from Louisville. A factory-certified collision center handles insurance repairs. A BMW/German specialist shop handles custom paint and cosmetic work. A classic-car custom paint shop handles older or non-BMW builds. Which one fits […]

Short Answer Overspray happens when paint drifts beyond its intended surface, landing on trim, glass, or nearby panels. Auto Art Restoration prevents this through proper masking, controlled spray environments, and correct gun distance and pressure. Once overspray cures on a surface, removing it safely takes real skill, not just solvent and elbow grease. What Causes […]

Short Answer: If you’re trying to find someone to repair a fiberglass car body, you’re probably already learning that most shops don’t want the job. Fiberglass behaves differently than steel, and it takes specific reinforcement and prep to hold up long-term. At Auto Art, we handle fiberglass repair out of our shop in Marion, Kentucky, […]

Short Answer: The most common BMW restoration mistakes almost all trace back to rushing past the metalwork stage. Patching rust with filler instead of cutting it out. Painting before panel alignment is corrected. Reusing old rubber and wiring to save time. Each of these buys a good-looking car in the short term and a redo […]

Short Answer: A full, professional-quality repaint on a classic car typically runs anywhere from a few thousand dollars for a basic job to $20,000 or more for show-quality work at a big-city specialty shop. What you pay for is prep time, paint quality, and labor hours — not the paint itself. The fastest way to […]

Short Answer Bondo and fiberglass filler work well when used correctly, in thin layers over sound, rust-free metal. They fail when shops use them to mask corrosion instead of repairing it. Auto Art Restoration uses filler for final surface refinement only, never as a substitute for proper metal or fiberglass repair. What Bondo and Fiberglass […]

Short Answer: A restoration that lasts starts with rust removal down to clean metal, not just cosmetic patching. It also needs a proper paint system, mechanical systems rebuilt (not just cleaned), and correct storage afterward. Skip any one of these, and the car looks finished for a year or two before problems resurface. Done right, […]