I was just now looking at ebay motors at a descending list of most expensive cars to least expensive on ebay, and WOW, I had no idea the exotic/luxury car market was so bad. I know the economy affects the prices of cars for everyday people like me and you (how you think I could afford a GXP?), but it really isn't as massive as how it is affecting the more expensive cars. Used Lamborghinis are in the LOWER $100,000s. Heck, you can get a used Aston Martin for not much more than the price of a fully loaded Challenger SRT8. Makes you wish you had an extra 100 grand lying around doesn't it?

I'm getting off subject...

Has the price of paint work gone down considerably? It used to be about 6 to 8k (just know that through rumors) to get a really good paint job done which would include the engine bay, underside of the hood, door jams, and all the other stuff painted pro. What does it cost now?

I'm getting ridiculous ideas in my head that in such a bad economy, if I can get some additional work... it would be the perfect time to buy a Z28 for making into my dream car. Silly idea really considering my current employment status, but if I really kicked some butt, I could pick up a Z28 for about $9k in the next year or so and the paint color wouldn't matter if I could get it painted for about $3 to 4k. Right? It's getting harder and harder to find low mileage Z28s here in Texas, and there's a polo green '95 Z28 with perfect black leather a few miles from me for $9k and it has only 35k miles... O_O

Maybe this is just a crazy 3 AM idea... I don't like polo green enough that I'd want to keep it that way long. Never been a green person too much. Teal, yes, green, no.

 

The low miles are great if you're planning on keeping it stock, but if you're going to modify it quite a bit I'd look for something a little cheaper. $9,000 is a bit pricey for an LT1, at least I think so.

And I don't think the market is bad enough that paint would plummet to half the price, but again I could be wrong.

 

Believe it or not the paint prices around here have gone up!More people fixing and redoing thier older cars and not buying new ones.

 

The cost of paint and supplies went up earlier this year... I doubt its getting cheaper... A desent job will cost around $1500 and up..... The prep is were most of the cost is...

 

Like this guy said, the body work and prep work is where most of your paintjob costs are. I paid 2,000 to get my Z repainted last year. I'm not sure what the same job might run if I were to get it done now.

 

Well, it sounds like it'd be a dumb idea for me to do this or hope for this then. I'd be better off just waiting for a perfect low mileage one to show up for sale, and spend $1500 shipping it from Pennsylvania (or somewhere) to Texas. We simply DO NOT have low mileage LT1 Camaros in Texas, and they are becoming increasingly rare. I just saw a polo green one and cayenne red one today while doing errands and you'd have thought it was a Ferrari. I was like.

I got to thinking about it, and for what little money I would save by buying one "somewhat similar" to what I want, I'd spend a whole lot more getting it completely painted. I even had a dumb idea of getting a V6 one for even cheaper, and putting an LS2 or LS3 in it. That was til I realized it wouldn't only be a drivetrain change; it'd be a speedometer one as well, and who wants to do that? The price of getting work done will ALWAYS be higher than buying a car that already has 90% of what you want.

I'll just keep my fingers crossed that someone in the US has a '97 BPM Z28 with black leather, automatic, and little to no mods they've been saving for years...