I'm currently working on my kids '78 El Camino now and we are repainting with House of Kolor Passion Pearl (PBC65). For the whole car - primer, sealer, color coat, and clear coat, we're looking at $2200 just in materials! So we're taking our time and getting the surface as good as we can get it. We started with the hood to see if the whole car was do-able... turns out its a much bigger project than X-times the hood. Anyway, like others have said, surface prep is key. You may be able to find a local powdercoater that will give you a really nice gloss black, but will charge you an arm and a leg for sanding. If you have more time than money, you can do it yourself. For surface prep, look at
color sanding with 320-500 grit wet/dry paper and a
backup pad with some dish soap in the water. This keeps the paper from loading up with sand dust. The foam sanding pad will knock down the existing orange peel bumps to flat. Go to an auto paint supply store and get the good stuff. You can buy wet/dry paper by the sheet and for that rack, I'd get 6-8 half sheets and a pad - $10-12 tops.
I'm in Gulf Shores, AL on the beach now... well not really ON the beach, but in a cool beach house nonetheless... I'll post pics when I get home.
