It's not too hard to pay $10K for a paint job. We put that out for our '64 Porsche when we restored her, but that was from bare metal up, and did include some metal work. Slick job, too.

I don't think MINI would want to send cars out with custom paint. You're not going to go from Pepto pink to Chili red without a serious cleanup. There's nothing preventing the customer from doing the job, though.

I didn't notice DragonWagon's early comment about orange cars. Actually, I had one, and it looked great. Back in the early 70's I bought a '69 SAAB Sonnet II. It came from the factory in white, but the first owner wanted a gold car. Sales were slow (let's face it, they were ugly as sin!), so the dealer painted it Ford Fairlane gold.

I bought it from the same dealer when it was about 3 years old, but people pulled out in front of me all the time, especially on the road from Valley Park (MO). Then came the day with I was in a 3 car wreck, and both ends were butchered. The sum total of the broken parts was a tail light, but the car was fiberglass, so there was lots of hand labor. I decided to go all the way and pick a different color. Orange WAS a popular color back then, but I wanted something unique. I took my time, and finally came up with a burnt orange that was stunning. Alas, the guys from Valley Park still pulled out in front of me, but it was definitely easier to see for everyone else.

Wish I had the car now--it was a blast to drive!

 

I expected you to say "Hawaiians have a special paint option in the MINI Configurator."

 

You'll have to get custom paint, but a stick on the window Teddy is the finishing touch. Without Teddy it just won't work!

 

My Dad's 74 VW Beetle is Orange and its starting to pop more and more on older Beetles.

 

Yeah, also in the same era, we bought a '69 BMW 2002. I called it "The Great Pumpkin," after the Peanuts episodes each Halloween.

 

"Yes I'll paint your car for $29.95 complete"....

My goodness does this company still exist?!! I thought they went out of business back in the 70's!

 

Yeah, they're still around. Look at the consumer complaint websites! I found this interesting plug:

http://webhubcentral.com/packard/scheibpaint.htm

Can you imagine painting a classic Packard this way? Click on the enlarged photos--if you dare.

 

Aaaaahhh! My eyes! Oh the pain... the pain...

 

A pal has his Astro van done by MAACO and I was amazed at what a $900 paint job could bring. Solid color, though- no metallic or clear coat, IIRC.

I think it's a good adage to do your own prep and tape, though.

 

Be careful before you go this route! Go on the internet and you'll find horror stories like these:

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/maaco.aspx

Masking is only part of the job, and anyone can use a rattlecan and call it a "paint job!"

Personally, I'd be very careful before I went with a cheap job. Back in the 60's my husband had his Porsche painted. It was a terrible job! Yes, it had been masked correctly, and no, there weren't any dents to repair. They had a bad booth, though--or more likely, no booth at all--and there were specks of dust that never polished away. They're gone now, thanks to a bare-metal restoration.

This past week I saw an antique truck in a car museum. The name of the paintshop was on one of the windows. I'll spare the owner/shop/museum embarrassment by not mentioning where it was, but I think I could have done better myself. And I am so NOT a painter!

 

Hey isn't there a custom paint shop thing on the MINI website? What's that for if not custom paint? Is it just for playing with?

 

http://www.miniusa.com/#/build/paintShop-m

 

But note the language that says it probably won't be available at the dealer.