Ok, I am hoping someone has a little experience with this.

I have a spare vehicle, a 1987 Toyota Truck. It holds a lot of sentimental value since it was the first vehicle I ever owned and I inherited it from my grandfather. If I wax it one more time, I won't have any paint left so I have decided to get it repainted the same color red. I am not doing this to improve the value, just trying to protect it. Has anyone ever had a similar sized vehicle repainted? What kind of cost do you think I am looking at? It is in excellent shape, just faded.

For a paint job you can spend as little or as much as you want to. It depends on if you want to do the prep work yourself, if not then do you want it sanded down to metal before primer, any body work, the list goes on. I think Maaco does like a $399 job where all they do is scuff the surface, shoot a coat of color and a coat of clear and that is it. Remember that like anything else, you get what you pay for.

If you want to keep it, pay for a nice job. It should be between $1500 and $2500. The TRuck is not worth that expense to anyone but you so you have to decide. You will NOT be happy with maaco,Trust me.

Thanks for the info. Taking care of it is the key here. It holds quite a bit of sentimental value and I want to make sure it does not end up a pile of rust. Other than the paint, the truck looks brand new. It only has 56000 miles on it and is a 1987 model. I have started to drive it again to work and back since it gets much better fuel economy than my Hemi 2500 Ram.

Maaco bites even if you do the prep yourself, doing the latter you will save money so if time is not a factor I would go that route. If the price and time is a factor look for a college with auto-body course that needs cars to work on. I've sent cars to a community college with better then average results!!!!

The $1,500 to $2,500 for a nice job is correct ball park from Kennyo. No offense because I like the 87' Toyota 4X4, my older Brothers first vehicle was the same! So I can understand your attachement, have fond memories of cruising around in a Toyota 4X4; a shop on the other will gladly do a nice job, but, to them its just a Toyota! You will spend $1,500 and over for a nice job, will you get your monies worth? Preparation is the key to success. Shortcuts will inevitably lead to poor results or worse, a beautiful paint job which starts to fall off the car three years later! Shops most likely are going to shortcut on prep, I would seriously consider doing the prep your self.