Kevin
Depending on what your expectations are for the final product you can make a decision on what level of clear finishing you want. For example in a standard production shop two coats of medium solids clear will layout with similar appearance of a factory clear, IE similar levels of orange peal. In most production shops full body wet sanding is avoided due to the increase in labor and time. Now assuming the paint booth and painter runs into no dirt, dust type issues, runs etc they can deliver a car without wet sanding and you will have a clean finish.
In comparison most custom shops will approach clear layout in a different manor, one being the application of two coats of clear, wet sanding the car and then an application of one final coat followed by wet sanding and buffing. This provides a flatter clear finish. This step can also be repeated several times to produce even better results, again depending on what we are working with and what the budget is. In our case we always wet sand every project so the game plan begins with enough clear to wet sand and leave behind enough material.
If your sons goal is to have a clean factory appearing finish I would recommend that you have at least three coats of a high solids clear applied with one final wet sanding phase at the end. This will be the most cost effective approach with above average results. If there are rust repairs and other minor imperfections I would also review how they are going to be repaired with whomever you choose. Not knowing exactly what your project looks like now I can not comment on the price you have been quoted, however keep in mind that your final choices with regards to product type are an important one and in most cases increasing a budget by only a few hundred dollars can greatly increase the quality and longevity of the finish.
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