earl scheib inside story from ex employee. I worked there in 80s 

love to hear your comments

I am so old, that when I first saw an Earl Scheib commercial on TV, the price was $19.95.

When I was in high school in the late 60’s a nearby Earl Schieb advertised their paint jobs for 39.95! “Any cay any color”. When you got there they had samples to look at and they had several levels of upgrades. We would pay 69.95 got the first upgrade level. They had two guys who did the actual paint jobs and others who did body work and prep. One of the painters was a Mexican guy named Javier. We would specify that we wanted Javier. Then, at home we would remove as many mouldings and nameplates etc as we could and we would spend a few hours sanding the paint. On the day they were painting the car we would find Javier and slip him a ten dollar bill. He would use extra paint and spend more time on prep. It was well worth spending the extra time and money!

Worked for Schieb...1 DAY! When they told me to fix a rust spot, i got torch and grinder...but before i started working the rust out, the manager came in STUFFED NEWSPAPER IN THE HOLE..."BONDO" over the mess, ....i packed my tools and walked off

Had two cars painted by Earl Scheib, one in 1964 and another one in 1973. Running joke at the time was that if you left a candy bar on the fender, Earl Scheib would paint over it.

In 1988, I saw an Earl Scheib "I'll paint any car for $99" ad and brought mine in. I still dream about that '77 Malibu Classic...

Back in 1970 my brother-in-law worked for Southern California Edison in the Redlands service center garage. There was an old body guy who would come in to do body repairs on the service trucks. He gave my brother-in-law an education on body and paint work on his 62 Ford Falcon. So after the minor body work was done and the car sanded and ready to paint. The old body man said take the car to Earl Scheib for paint. All the trim, door handles, emblems, bumper, etc were removed and everything was masked off before it arrived at Earl’s. The old body guy said talk to the painter before the car goes into the booth and slip him 20 bucks to sneak on some extra coats. The paint job looked really good and the painter even painted the door jams. I think over all it only cost my brother-in-law around a 100 bucks.

I worked as a glass guy for a body shop like earl sheib. There was a Malibu there. I took the back glass out. And there wasn’t anything there but rust. You could see the ground. I asked how are you going to fix that? Where would you start? They used chicken wire, newspaper and bondo to shape a new pinch weld and structure. I glued a new glass in, and had to glue the moldings on. I’m sure the glass was part of the structure when the glue sat up. At this shop… the painter, painted 20 cars in a day.

As a teenager in the early 60's I got an Earl Scheib paint job that came out beautiful. In 1963 I had a 58 VW Bug I got painted from beige to red. Earl Scheib paint job's were $29.95 and every once in a great while they would have a special for $19.95. My cousin and I prepped the car by taking off all the chrome, bumpers, mirrors and any hardware we could. We even taped off where need be to insure no sloppy lines. When we took it in the guy at the shop was so impressed with what we did he jokingly said we should get a discount but we were already getting the sale price so he couldn't do that. They painted it a deep deep red that came out beautiful. I got a lot of compliments on that paint job and had that car for a long time. I really never could understand how they made much money at those prices.

Back in the late '70's I fixed up a 1967 F 150 to tow my ski boat with. It had been a farm vehicle and was pretty rough. I did all the body work and primed it, then took it to Earl Scheib in Fresno for paint. It cost all of $100. I later sold the truck to a guy who blew the paint completely off one side with a pressure washer trying to clean the truck up after some duck hunting.

I got my car painted at an Earl Shieb in San Diego a few years ago. They had the color code and STILL painted it the wrong color.

I was in the auto business most of my working life 70’s 80’s 90’s and believe me the mechanical repair stories have the same outline - accept with wrenches instead of paint guns. Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed it.

"No runs, no drips, no errors" was a Krylon slogan.

I bought a '74 Super Beetle in 1991, and within a year or two the original paint job was fading and chipping, so I took it to Earl Scheib on Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica. I can't exactly remember the prices, but I believe it was $199 for the regular paint job and maybe $499 for the Premium. They encouraged me to get the Premium and promised me I would love it. They seemed like cool guys, and I loved my Bug, so I decided to go for it. And man, I'm glad I did. They did an amazing job! The paint job was stunning. And that car has been my daily driver, and still is, for 33 years now. And everywhere I go, I get compliments on how the car still looks brand new. I got the exact same cream color you have on your Bug. It never shows dirt and always looks like it was just washed. I absolutely love it! I definitely gotta tip my hat to the guys at Earl Scheib in Santa Monica in the early 90's they went way above & beyond for an insanely low price. I'm forever grateful! Love your stories. Keep 'em coming!

a friend of my dad had his car painted there and they painted his license plate!

I’m a So Cal native from the 70-80’s and I love your stories. Who would think talking about car painting would be interesting but it is! God bless!

i had my '67 suicide door lincoln painted black at earl scheib in florida for about $40 back in 1977, i liked it a lot.

My dad had a '78 Nova he had bodywork and paint done by Scheib in '87. The bottoms of the doors were rusted on it. We got the car back and it looked great. After a month, he came and picked me up at work and I got in and slammed the passenger door and heard a thunk. I opened the door and a huge long chunk of bondo, wadded newspaper and plastic mesh onion bags fell out! We stood there in disbelief and my dad went nuts. He picked up this mess and drove back to the shop. Walked in with this mass of bondo, newspaper and onion mesh bags and hurled it at one of the workers. Lots of foul language and we were asked to leave and threatened to call the police. I went with and was embarassed but it was hilarious at the same time. Wished we had smart phones back then to record this Lol. I think the total bill back then for the paint and bodywork was $450 Lol.

"I'll paint any car, any color for $29.95, no ups, no extras"

In 1999, I bought a "barn found", 1959 Vespa 125cc scooter, at a swap meet. The body and frame are one and the same. It was pretty banged up, dented, rusting and partially crushed. My friend knew some recently arrived immigrants from Russia. In their own country they were probably highly paid engineers,....but not being fluent English speakers, they had to work anywhere they could. So two brothers from Russia, had a car painting business in a warehouse they rented. These guys did excellent work,...I had a custom paint I wanted, got it mixed up at PPG, matched it to a swatch, I found,...a mint-aqua blue. A very 1950s color. I wanted a two tone color,....central body area white, front fender, rear fender & front fork aqua, and a special (body detail), where I wanted a "boomerang" shape painted in aqua. I designed the stencil, & made colored drawings, as a study example. They repaired all the metal, even had to weld-in a small repair, used a soft medium instead of sand, in their sand blaster to remove the old paint and rust, primed and painted it to spec. It only cost me $1,500.00......which I thought was a great price, for all the "body work" and attention to detail.

The time is 1967, just graduated HS, & Dad bought me a 57' Chevy for $35.00, but needed a valve job. Dad was a motorhead, so he hooked me up with that. Time for paint, as it was a putrid faded pink. Good old Earl hooked me up for $29.99, and I'm tellin' ya, I was the cats meow. Clearly, I knew nothing, about nothing, other than the fact that it wasn't that frickin' pink...Great backstory Mike, really enjoyed bringing back some good memories. 🏍 🛻

Several decades ago, I bought a wrecked USAF surplus Ford Ranger from an auction that was a POS, so I spend a few weeks patching it together with pick-it-yourself body parts and panels. Man was it ugly and looked like the proverbial coat of many colors. So, in keeping with the spirit of things, it required an Earl Scheib Paint job to avoid invoking seizures going down the road. I remember pulling up to the paint shop and negotiating the absolutely lowest priced paint job possible; USAF blue (of course). Just before I pulled it into the shop for the job to start, the manager ran up to my pickup door and urged me to "be sure to pull it inside very quickly, as the guys hate it when all the fumes escape". Yep, it was dreadful; painted EVERYTHING, chrome, badges, etc. I spend 2 day scraping the windows with a razor so I could see while driving. Memories...

I got an Earl Scheib paint job on a Mustang once. I had to pay extra for them to actually sand the vehicle. They sanded the plastic tail light lenses.

Back in the late 70's /early 80's I worked for a place that had a few dozen delivery vans, I worked in the maintenance shop. We would to most of the mechanical repairs and any panel replacements but we didn't have a paint booth. Earl Sheib was $99.99 then. They had bought a used van that was factory orange, they wanted to paint it red with a white upper half. We were told to do any prep work urselves because they didn't do prep work or masking, it was like a drive through, they did the whole paint job in about 40 minutes while you waited. We sanded, primed a few bare spots, and masked off the windows with exception of two 12" squares in the windshield and one in the back window and didn't mask the drivers window. We cut a piece of paper and had the driver tape up the drivers door when he got there. We had painted the white upper ourselves figuring it would make it quicker and cheaper because for $99.99 was for only one color and they wanted another $100 for the second color. When it came back, we could see right away it wasn't going to cut it. The orange was still showing through all over it, and they didn't even mask off the line between the white and red, they just shot the thing right up the the edge of the white with overspray all over the place. then they painted the truck with the drivers window down and never masked off the remaining parts of the windshield and back window, so it came back with three 12" squares painted on the glass. We had removed all the trim, the lights and masked all the sockets and wires so that part was fine but they didn't even cover the tires, and all four tires were half red. The owner was livid but he was the one who swore by that place. After that he paid us to do the paint jobs, and I convinced him to switch to all white trucks rather than the red/white split. White was cheaper and easier to fix. The local Macco back then was worse, I saw cars with paint so bad you would swear they used a broom.

I started commission body work in 1979 at a shop in southern Indiana, 18 yrs old .The 4 bodymen that worked there ,all had worked at Earl Scheib at some point , so I learned from them, What NOT to do,lol. Just retired from the shop workforce this year. What a ride. Also teach at a small tech school as a sub. Have my shop at home of coarse.

WHEN I WAS IN EIGHT GRADE THERE WAS A KID IN MY CLASS THAT NOT ONLY PAINTED CARS, BUT HE ALSO COULD TAKE OUT THE DRIVE TRAIN DISASSEMBLE THE THING AND PUT THEM TOGETHER. EVEN DISASSEMBLE A CAR AND PUT IT BACK TOGETHER. KNEW HIS STUFF.

My 1967 VW has a Scheib Zenith blue paint job. 3 years old now. Putty is shrinking and looks good 10 feet away.

That is a nice video. Back in the early 80’s my brother bought his first car. It was a beater that he wanted to look good. This was when teen guys bought their own car, not the parents buying a new car for kid. Well we prepared the car for a new paint job. Ran it in to our local Earl Shibe painter. We helped tape it up as well. Got there when they opened and within a few hours we drove it home!😆 We were HAPPY of how it looked! Think it was $99.95 at that time. My brother was eighteen and I was fifteen. We that the job was super!😆

In 1970 I worked in a small body shop to pay my way through college. The owner was a terrific guy who taught me well. He gave me the older cars to learn my skills on. One day I was starting to grind a fender to start preparing it for straightening and a very thin coat of plastic filler. As soon as I discovered the part I was grinding was actually Bondo and not metal, I showed my boss who told me to keep grinding. I did so through FOUR INCHES of Bondo! I then used compressed air to blow off the dust and MUCH to my HORROR I watched all of the paint in that area blow off of the car. I stopped immediately and showed my boss. He wasn’t mad at me. He told me that was one of those $29.95 Earl Shieb paint jobs and repairs. Up until that point, I had never seen a car that was so poorly repaired and painted like that. My guess is that body shop just filled the large dent with Bondo and did NOT prepare the car by sanding or priming it. They just painted over the existing dirt and paint. Then I understood how they could paint a whole car for $29.95. WOW!!!!!

got a Scheib paint job in 1982 on vw beetle. i think it was $99 i had done all the bodywork. i picked the red color. the beetle came out pretty good but you could clearly see someone had leaned backed into the hood wearing levis, while it was wet. the jean pattern and levi imprint was on the front hood.

About a year ago I attended a Southern California for the purpose of finding a highly-skilled car painter for my '33 coupe. I wasn't looking for the painter to be there, I just wanted to talk with the handfull of owners who had the best paint jobs and get recommendations. One guy had a George Barris paint job (Barris has sinced passed on). Then, I came upon a 1960's Mercury that had a high-quality paint job. In talking with the owner, I found out the car had been painted nearly 30 years ago by....Earl Scheib! I thought the guy was pulling my leg but he gave me the story that their Glendale shop had a good painter and they would occasionally do special job. That guy has probably passed on, too. I ended up using another painter, of course.

I worked inside the Scheib s home in Beverly Hills Ca it had deep shag carpet orange and white and they were the best people I ever worked for in that town and payed their bills on time. Mr. Scheib died at the race track as he loved the ponies.

In 1971 I had my 1967 El Camino painted by Earl Sheib in Long Beach, CA. I paid the $10 extra for metallic ($39.95) and had it sprayed shy blue metallic which was almost exactly like the original color so the door jambs matched pretty good. I removed the bumpers and emblems, and sanded the car down. Even went over it with a tack cloth. I also got the the shop early enough that I could personally tape the car off before it went in for paint. The painter must have appreciated my effort because the car came out beautiful. Years later I talked a boss into sending our parts truck to Earl Sheib based on my great experience. When it came back the loose nuts and bolts and leaves and grit and everything else was painted over inside the bed. Thankfully it was still so cheap he didn't get angry but he did give me a look.

I worked at good ol' Earl learned some good things and plenty of bad things, but this guy has a pretty good description of what it was like.

I was laughing all through this video. My first car in high school was a 51 Chevy, 6 cylinder with 3 on the tree. Piece of junk. 1965. $29.95 Earl Schieb in San Diego. I picked "Poppy Red" for the color. I was SHOCKED when I saw the car with the new paint. It was the ugliest color I ever saw on a car. The manager said " Hey... This is what you get for $29.95. " I was so embarrassed to drive that car all through high school and into college. I finally got a Volkswagen like yours and was so relieved to get rid of that Chevy. Thanks for the great laugh!

Hey Mike, glad to see another guy posting vintage vdub videos. Keep it up. Thanks.

My Dad had a couple cars painted there. Hey, both were POSs. While picking one up, there was a young girl crying. They painted her Karman Ghia yellow but didn’t tape off the tires. 😂 It looked like Heck! Thanks for the memories.

I'm diggin' the VeeDubs. My first car was a 1967 Beetle. Since then, I've had a bunch of cars, including several Beetles, but that '67 is one of the cars I wish I still have.

I got an earl scheib paint job and found a hand print in the paint. I was told I could pay $450 more or take it. took it. that's why I watched this, what a good laugh. thanks.

I love your stories ! I remember those El-cheap-o, Earl Scheib paint jobs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I was a teenager back then. They did a better job than anyone could do, in their own backyard, with a "rattle can", spray paint. But everything you said was,...exactly how bad the jobs were. Lots of BOND-O,....hole filler,....lots of over-spray on the chrome,....bad layers of paint, and old paint color showing through the new paint. We were teens with our used beater cars,....anything to improve them, helped. If we sold them, they were to other teens, who didn't care. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio,........where our cars rusted out before our eyes, because of all the road salt used on our snowy streets, every Winter. Bad weather in Cleveland lasted longer than in other cities, as you go more south. Because of all the steel mills,....& the smelting iron ore,....our air was heavily polluted with airborne particulates,...a fine dust of metals, acids, and sulphur, was always in the air. That particulate dust would eat through a car's finish, in a matter of weeks, after your car left the showroom. Now a days those glossy finishes, are more protective. ( I love your vintage VWs, by the way). Cool.

I got an Earl Schieb paint job and I remember it peeling off in the hot NM sun driving down the road.

My dad brought his 74 corolla to earl's on Jerome ave in the Bronx around '82 for a paint job, they painted the door jams, sides of the seats, carpet, painted the rims and tires red, then painted the tires and seats black with a brush. i laughed my ass off all the way home.

In the 70s early advertised for workers in Bakersfield, Ca. They would take a paper app from then have you sand a car to prep for paint. When finished they said they would call you if they decided to hire you. They basically were getting the cars prep sanded for free. 😂😂😂

When I was back in High School, I sanded and masked of my 1982 Camaro Z28 for an Earl Scheib in Apopka Florida. I gave the painter a six pack, bag a weed I stole from my brother and $20. My paint job was the best one I have EVER had in the history of car repairs. I love Earl Scheib! The Mobster bosses were a REALITY. I remember the boss asking if my dad could get him any construction contracts. LOL!

I seen a Earl Scheib job and the bumpers were all painted and there was a magnetic mount CB antenna on the roof. They masked around the magnetic mount base.

Very cool story! Thanks a ton!

In the 1970s or early 80s I had a VW Type 3 and got an Earl Shieb paint job. It actually came out decent, but I removed all the chrome and bumpers and sanded and spot primed it myself first. I can attest that the paint they put on was thin though.

I had my Chevette painted by Earl ,West side Cleveland in the 1980s Matador red. Fine job.

1st Time Viewer... Bug Owner's are #1... I owned a '74 Wolfsburg Super Beetle black w/ red vinyl interior AM/FM and ran it until 1985... Good show... I never had a Sheib paint job, but knew a few people who had like the $29 Special...

They used a specially formulated silicone paint, Schieb says that in a commercial from about 1970, the commercial is here at RU-vid.

Awesome story Mike, I used to work at a body shop that did UPS trucks in my early 20's. The brown sprayed like mud lol, prolly had primer mixed in. Wow that is trippy about the mafia connections.

When i worked at Scheibs back in the 70s 80s as a painter i could make that paint shine . Worked as body man had to do the work good not half ass but it was Phoenix.

You tell great stories. I remember seeing these Earl Scheib shops as a kid and even I kind of knew it seemed unbelievably cheap. I'm just amazed that people kept coming in. I would have thought that the word would have gotten out to the public. I'll bet used car dealers used them all the time.

My Dad took his Caddy to Scheib. We had pulled all the big trim, but belt moldings, etc were still on it. Car was white, black top. Got it back, body was orange peel very bad, top was beautiful. We had bumpers off for re-chrome, they had hit something with back corner of the car. About a 2" dent, they refused to do anything to fix it. This was early 60s, in Chicago.

I watched a friend painting a classic Ford model A with black lacquer. I marveled how I could read the street signs down the block in the finish. I asked him where he learned to paint like that. He said he painted it Earl Scheib, he said he had to paint a whole car with one cup of paint and he learned to be very efficient. Also his muscle memory with the paint gun became incredibly precise with all the practice.

When I was a teen, my father painted my car with a paint brush using Rustoleum paint! It looked awful, but it stopped the rust. My sister ended up totaling it not long after.

Oh man I wish I could have got the body shop owner to remember my repaint and re-decal back in 1986. I was hoping the guy would be able to remember my car because it was not very common Factory red 1978 Monza Spyder with the factory decals. I got the car in the 90s and found the receipt and track down the body shop and owner who was just retired and said he didn't remember one paint job from the next because he was just putting shoes on his kids feet.

I painted this guys once in my brother’s carport. Spent a couple of days sanding, masking and prepping. Turned out good and he was happy and changed him 300 bucks but it was a hell of a lot dirty work. Other people at work wanted their cars painted. Then on the way home from work, I passed an Earl Schreib and had an idea. So, for a few years, I would run cars down to Earl Scheib for the $99.00 special. Prior to taking them there I would lightly wet sand the car and take it to the local spray and wash before they wouldn’t remove any dirt before painting.

Your story was interesting! And I liked listening to you. Also, nice cars!

My dad and I were restoring Model A Fords back in the 60s and 70s and I had a spray gun in hand at 14 for sure. Starting with my bikes, and then moving up. I still dabble with it.

I had a couple of dodge vans painted at the earl schieb one in 1982 the other in 89 . The first truck got the premium midnight blue the second one got the premium bright white. I had them do nothing except mask things off told them to just paint it for the price on both trucks I was very happy and it was a great job. And they gave me a small bottle of the diamond gloss touch up from DuPont.

Just subscribe ! Great job 👍You had me laughing listening to your stories! I had mostly small body shops in 80’s 90’s did a lot of work for Used Car lots and Taxis and restorations ….. lots of funny stories too . Just priced a quart of single stage white $115. Yikes !

Nice VWs, and cool to hear about Earls. I had a '70 Pontiac LeMans painted at one in NJ in 1981. $69.95. I wetsanded and primed the car myself, and removed all the chrome and put on old rims. I think the color I chose was Mint Julep Green - do you remember that one? I gotta say, the paint job came out great, lasted at least 5 years until I changed the color. My Dad was a teacher n that town and one of his students worked there so maybe I received special treatment !

Thanks for the entertaining stories!

Remember when the Shieb commercials were all over TV day and night. Hello, "my name is Earl Shieb and i'll paint any car any color for 99.95, no ups no down no extras."

I loved these stories. Glad this video randomly appeared in my feed. Back in the early '90s, if a car was repainted and it looked like shit I would always hear someone say "Who painted this car? Earl Sheib?" Now I know why

Dad had a 1955 Plymouth wagon had Scheib paint the car in 1959, sprayed over the dirt & rust for $29.95 three weeks later paint peeled off parts of the car. As a bonus the inside received a good dose of over spray.😱

I had a 79 Fairmount in high school with a 302. When I had it mechanically driving great I did the bodywork and masking myself and took it to one of their shops. For $120 I got a great paint job.

Hi Mike, Growing up in Portland Oregon I remember Earl on TV saying: I'll paint any car for $99,99. Your story was awesome. I respect your ability to paint like a master and those are beautiful VWs in the video, like off the showroom floor, new, beautiful. I commend you for your attention to detail, and am Proud to have found your channel. I'll watch more as your content is fresh and good, kind Sir,

I’m 16. 1974. 62 Chev Bel Air. $39.95, in by 8, out by noon. Color Indian Turquoise. Paint on the chrome badging, trim, 1/5 the glass, 1/4 of the tires. A warning not to wash it for a month. I was delighted!

My family had a bug like yours back in the 60's. My mom got it painted at Earl Schieb. Later the paint just came off in sheets. There's this exotic technique called "sanding". Only the highest end shops do that.

up here in canada late 70s macco would paint any car for 99.00 I was 18 had no experience whatsoever but the manager handed my the daily newspaper roll of tape and sheet of 180 .He said son you are hired I want you to scratch up the paint and cover the windows with the newspaper.I think I was lucky if half the paint got scratched.You sure do learn what works

My friend had his '74 Lincoln Mark IV painted at Earl Schieb in 1989 in Glen Burnie MD. It was silver and he wanted it black. They painted it and moved it outside before it dried, then it rained on the car. When my friend showed me his new paint job, there were splotches all over the roof and hood. Then I walked around to the front and noticed the headlight covers were still silver. The car had a vacuum leak so the headlight covers would open up after it sat for a while, so my friend never noticed his silver covers until after he started the car and I saw them close. I think it cost him $199.99. I told my friend it was worth every penny!

In the ghetto in the 1980s in New York City - 6th Street and Ave C - there was a Puerto Rican guy who'd paint cars on the street. Compressor vibrating on the sidewalk. Paint cans spilling on the building steps. No mask. No gloves. Kids playing nearby. When the spray gun clogged he'd jam his palm up against the nozzle to get it running again.

No idea why I paused to watch ur vid...but it was pretty entertaining and brought back some memories of my own...Like the Mafia strong arming me to use their dumpsters on my large construction project...Love ur VW's some real nice attention to detail like the rubber weather stripping and the paint looks very original...but better...

Grandma got her station wagon painted at Earl Sheib's back in the early 80's. The easiest color - white. They did it in polyurethane and did a good job. But you could SMELL it from 100 feet away! I don't know what they used to paint that car, but it reeked for nearly a year.

I grew up in Southern Calif. ; In the 60's , 70's , I remember the Earl Scheib commercials . It started as " Right , I'm Earl Scheib , I'll paint any car , any color , for $ 19.95 , No ups and No extra's ." Then through the years the cost would gradually increase .

Anaheim is a town in Orange County, Calif. Anaheim Street is a boulevard in Long Beach. They are TWO separate places.

Our family took a mid-60's Chevy Bel-Aire to Scheib in 70-71. We had done all the prep work, sanding, taped off or removed chrome. We had it painted a tan, just a little darker than your VW. My dad said that it would be most likely to not show mistakes, problems in the painting. It didn't turn out too bad.

Every now and then I come back to watch this. It never gets old!

I can still hear the commercials. "Riiight. I'll paint any car for $99.95!" Or whatever the exact amount was. The guy looked like a crook.

My first car was a 1958 Mercury,I did all the body work on it and then had a $29.95 Earl Schieb paint job.It wasn't too bad,came out pretty good.My second car,a 1962 Buick,did the same thing but got the delux $39.95 paint job.They came out pretty good as long as I did all the body work.

8:13 "IT LOOKED LIKE SHIT" LAUGHED MY ASS OFF

My father had his 58 Chevy wagon about 1960 they painted all the chrome part of the glass nice shine

Great Stories Sir! You Had Me Cracking Up, I Remember Earl's $29.95 Paint Jobs, And For This Week Only, $10.00 Free Metal Work! Lol.

Back in the mid '70s I was my father's body, paint prep, and detail guy (kid, as I was still in grade school!) when he had a small used car dealership in Shafter, CA. He'd buy the cars at the LA CO Auto Auction, take them home to fix up then sell commission my cousins to sell them in Shafter. He first took his cars to Earl Scheib and was not impressed, they painted over the emblems. So he learned to paint himself then later hired someone to do it for him in our back yard in Hawthorne. So this video brings back memories of working with bondo, body tools, sanding, and masking. So glad when they came out with light bondo in the late '70s, because before then it was like trying to sand off tree bark! Before then I learned to use the bondo sparingly as possible and cussed up a storm when I put it on too thick.

No offense, but there is a place for cheapo-jobs. Whoever expects a $4000 paint job for $400 is stupid. Your Earl Sheib stories are amusing, but if you only have $120 and you need someone to paint your car, it is an EXCELLENT value. If you can't afford a $100 steak at Delmonicos, maybe a visit to Ryan's Steakhouse is appropriate. They have lots of crowds there, so a purpose is being served.

Dude you are too cool. Would love to share a six pack of High Life with you swapping stories of "back in the day,lol." Nice bugs! 👍

His Grandson, is Ed Schieb, and I grew up with him, and he painted my Harley with three stage candy House of Color, I heard all the stories! The old Man would sneak into locations, when he was a kid, and catch the Managers in their asses, and feet up on the desks, and see how many Managers he could fire in a day..! lol.. Ed was a fantastic painter.. lol Great Memories…

Great history lesson Mike... as a kid in high school with no cash n the 80's Earl Scheib was the gold standard for a paint job lol...

More stories from the 1980s ! I listened to this a few times, love it !

"I can paint any car for $99.95!"

Great Stores. I was laughing. Glad I Clicked on!

I lived in Santa Barbara in the sixties until about '72. We got the TV signal from LA. One of the major late night TV commercials was Earl Scheib. It ran several times a night. "Hello! My name is Earl Scheib. I'll paint any car, any color for only 29.95, no ups, no extras !!" I still remember that. (Yes, 29.95 ....)

Wow, in the '60s when I was a kid in Cleveland, OH., and Earl would paint any car for $19.95, I wonder what kinds of tricks they were using then? Great insight into the business.

I managed an Earl Scheib from 1993-97. This little walk down memory lane was quite entertaining. While things had changed a bit by the time I worked there, these stories ring so true. I had a great crew, and we would paint a lot of vehicles. Ron, Jimmy, and One-eyed Johnnie were the best. Yes, one of my guys could only see out of one eye. He had a genetic facial deformation, walked with a limp from a mc accident, and only weighed about 75lbs soaking wet. But man could he lay down a paint job, and pinstripe a car. No lie about one coat either. Half gallon per car. No reducer. Newspaper. (We did get 2 rolls of tape.) Good times.

I lived in New Orleans in the 80's. I had a white Chevy Nova hatchback 350 with an eagle on the hood and I didn't like that. I knew this guy at the Forest Isle appartment complex. I forgot his name but he reminded me of Baretta (Robert Blake) and he was a manager at the local Earl Scheib and he painted the Nova blue for $69,95 and told me he would make sure they put some more effort in my car. It looked good. Sold it a few years later.

I remember the commercials "We will paint any car for $99.95!? " :-) L8R G8R

Man that sure brought back memories. I don't remember if it was Scheib or Maaco that advertised "We will spray it roll it or brush it your choice,19.95" (not sure of price) Had a 260z rusted rear quarters body fair otherwise. Dropped it off before work but forgot to take the drivers mirror. Took the mirror after work so they could paint it with the rest of the car. But the car was ready to go. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Love your story.

Earl Scheib painted over mud near my '66 VW Van wheel well back in 1977, otherwise a pretty good paint job for 99 bucks. Saw close encounters of the third kind while it was being painted in San Bernardino, so all in all a pretty good day I have to say. I guess I should've washed that mud off.