Club126UK
Fiat 126 Chat => Fiat 126 Chat => Topic started by: Michal on July 26, 2017, 11:39:40 AM
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Hi does anyone now How much it cost to do a comlete rostoration of the Body Work in a Fiat 126 bis
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Hi does anyone now How much it cost to do a comlete rostoration of the Body Work in a Fiat 126 bis
If you strip the car yourself and present to the body shop the bare shell - no engine, no wheels, no lights, seats etc etc, but with opening panels still attached (ie doors, bonnet, sunroof etc) and they need to weld in new panels such as floorpan, wings, doorskins etc then you should budget around £3000-5000. Painting will be extra.
A quality car respray will typically cost around £3-5000 - this would include all the prepping, panel and glass removal etc, and reassembly.
You may well get away with less than this, but it is unlikely as every job like this reveals previously unexpected problems, and corrosion in panels that at first seemed sound.
Furthermore you will need to pay extra for buying the new panels - this itself can be a nightmare as Fiat produced so many variations of each model, in different markets etc, that what is advertised as a front nearside wing, for example, in Germany may well not be the same as what you have on your car that originated in (say) Poland. Each time you order the wrong part, there will be shipping and disposal costs that cannot be recovered.
So do NOT go into this exercise thinking you will get a fixed job for a fixed price. Restoring old cars (especially rusty old cars) doesn't work like that. Instead plan to at least TREBLE your initial estimates, be prepared for a 6 months job to take at least two years and be prepared for the body shop to go out of business during this time, leaving you stranded.
Sorry to be pessimistic, but I can tell you I personally lost about £7500 on a car resto that in the end was sold off for only £300 (that wasn't a 126) and I am by no means the only person to have found out the hard way - I know of others who have paid out even more than me and still not ended up with their car finished.
As a rough guide, I know from other marques where specialist dealers have the production rights, that to build a car to new specification, using all new parts, will cost in the region of £20,000-£30,000. To restore an old car to this same degree will not be much cheaper. It doesn't matter if the panel being welded is for a 126 or a Rolls Royce, the cost is the same. Ditto dismantling, painting, prepping and so on.
At the end of the day, the car is only worth what the market will bear. Take a look at Car and Classic and you will see plenty of restored Fiat 500s, the going rate is around £10,000 - but look at the quality of the work. The owner will have spent probably £15-20,000 to get that work done, in a good quality reliable body shop.
The more you can do yourself the better, and if you have a trailer/van/mate in the trade to move the shell around this helps too. Budget £200 every time you want to move the car from one place to another if you use commercial shippers.
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My repaint cost me £1250, but I supplied my paint, stripped the car, did all my own welding and panel repairs and lead loaded all my own joints so the painter had to fill prime and paint and polish the car ready for re-assembly. It took over a year to get it done and if I had it all done by the Paintshop including reassembly it would have likely cost 3 times the price I paid but I'm please with the result -
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y271/cheekos10/fiat%20126/A2D1D7A2-EB72-4142-8C47-35A1485AAA72.jpg) (http://s7.photobucket.com/user/cheekos10/media/fiat%20126/A2D1D7A2-EB72-4142-8C47-35A1485AAA72.jpg.html)
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Definitely worth doing more yourself. Just like stu I did all the stripping, welding and prepping myself with only the bobyshop doing minimal work to ready it for paint. I paid £1750 for mine but I didn't supply the paint but the bodyshop did pick it up from my house and deliver it back for me. I was very pleased too :)
(http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o272/gadge1/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/48AD37C6-1734-43BF-A417-B94839802416_zpsnvxokvdf.jpg) (http://s122.photobucket.com/user/gadge1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2016-10/48AD37C6-1734-43BF-A417-B94839802416_zpsnvxokvdf.jpg.html)