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paint jail or machine shop jail?

My limited experience: my ‘62 Imperial was down for a month in machine shop jail. GTX number four was in paint shop jail when I bought it, and was still there three years later when I sold it.
 
I hear that paint jail is a lifetime sentence with no chance of parole.

Maybe it should be called paint prison instead?
 
Been living the machine shop jail since 2018!

I’ve had positive experiences with both over the last few years. The last time I had machine work done a couple years ago, it took less than a month. The bodywork and paint on “The Roach” took just shy of a year, which wasn’t bad considering all the work that was needed.
 
My local machine shop is really good. Both 440's they did for me were back in a month.
 
Around here all the decent machine shops are busy with all the dirt track guys during this time of year.
Building 2 or 3 for the upcoming season.
It is tuff to find a decent body shop to take on a classic car restoration. Their bread and butter is insurance work.
The guys that can and will do metal work are aging out.
Lots of guys can paint , it's what's underneath that counts.
All things considered I would rather be in machine shop jail if I could not preform ethier task.
You can allways buy a built engine used or fresh to get you by for a time.
 
7 month wait for my 440 at the machine shop…dropped it off in Jan, picked it up in July. No complaints, having it done right was worth the wait. All things considered far better than the eternal wait of paint jail.

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I do all my own body and paint so for me it`s machine shop jail. The good thing is the engine is a separate part so you can plan ahead and send it out early. The 383 for my runner has been done and sitting in the corner shrink wrapped for 6+ years, but does that mean I am the one holding my own car in paint jail? :p
 
Paint Jail IMHFO Slow Paint & Body guys, is the worse, of the 2
they have your whole car, for a year or a lot more in many cases
(Usually, for non-wrenchers sometimes, maybe not the Interior or Drivetrain etc.)

Machine shop jail is a close 2nd, especially if you need a race-motor done, NOW
but they only have the engine
many have a spare engine or parts they can use in the mean time

Fabricators Jail is another, almost as bad a Machine Shop Jail
when I built my 1st F/C I had to go over & motivate the guy to work
I bought bandsaw blades & hole saws even for the guy so he'd get back to work
I started building my own or buying a chassis already done after that
 
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