I have a 68 vinyl top camaro. It is stripped down to bar metal, the front end is off, which is all brand new. We had to weld some patch panels in on the both sides of the rear quarters in front and behind the wheel well. I am looking to get the panels and car finished in with primer ready for paint. I was curious on what type of cost to expect from a body shop for smoothing in the patch panels and getting the car in primer the way it sits ready for paint.

The cost is entirely dependent on what you are trying to achieve from an appearance standpoint. For example, I wanted basically a show quality driver (typically the two are mutually exclusive). For me then, there were approximately 150 hours spent on blocking, metal working and priming. At $40.00/hour, that was $6,000.00 just to get the car in primer ready for paint. Another 4,500 for the paint and the color sanding process and you can see how you can eat up alot of money in a hurry.

A typical block and prime process for a car that you don't expect to be show quality probably takes in the vacinity of 50-60 hours of labor.

RAGTOPMAN on this board does this type of thing for a living along with a few others here. Maybe they will throw their two cents in here.

I had my 76 LE T/A just done(Show quality complete color change back to original)..I did all the Paint stripping,welding and took everything apart(hood doors,trunk fenders)...They did the body work,poly putty(the entire car) primed, and Blocked(800 grit) the entire car..The car was then painted with 1 coat base and 2 coats clear(to fine any problems..car was straight and perfect)..The car was then blocked(800 grit) down again and painted 2 coats base and 3 coats clear...The car is waiting to be wet sanded and buffed...all for the reasonable fee of alittle under 10K(but..That includes 1200 for NOS fenders, $500 for front bumper and Speis&Heckler paint)..So it depends what you are looking for...I could have gotten a decent in and out for about $3K-4K...

Also always expect the worst..The car might look straight now..But when you strip it,...You might find some unexpected problems...Good luck

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76 LE Trans Am 455 4 speed.. # Matching..

68 Camaro R/S 327 4 speed

Like they said above, its all up to what you are after. For a very nice driver our shop would typically be about 6k, a all out show job would be quite a bit more depending on how far you wanted to go with it.
Austin