You seems to have alot of energy, how about this...?  Shoot the entire car satin black over whatever is on it now.  Scrub it with some COMET first.  Then, as time and money allows, take one panel at a time to metal and fix it right, shooting it with satin black until you get the whole car done, one panel at a time.  You will learn as you go and might want to redo the first one you did by the time you get to the last one.  Once the primer is good all over, then shoot paint on it.

You need to swap notes with Ramses.  He did almost the same thing you did.  Now he is putting the basecoat/clearcoat paint on his coupe and it looks great.

Another way to go about it...  If you are not going totake it all to metal, take it to MAACO when they have their $300 sale paint jobs and let them get after it.

Why do you need to take it to metal?  Mainly because you have no idea what is under there.  Secondly, because primer holds moisture and it is probably all surface rusted below the primer.

You will never get any better satisfaction than having "done it all yourself".  Take your time and get it laser straight.  I would much rather see cheap paint on top of laser straight body work than $9,000 worth of paint over crappy body work, like they did to my car.  And that satin black thing is pretty cool looking...even if you just left it like that.

Check out the picture.  Of course, your car has better looking wheels and much better stance, so you could pull this off really well.

An addition to MS's MAACO suggestion ... take all the trim, bumpers, mirrors, etc off and even tape up the car yourself before bringing for painting.  Put it all back together yourself and I think you'll be satisfied.  I had several friends do this years ago and they were pleased with the results.

Thank you all so much for the advice.

Steve, that is EXACTLY the look minus the 4x4 stance that I wanted for my 66.

I'm confident enough on the sides of the car that as is,...with a little additional primer and ding repair that it can be painted as is...

I'll have to put some work into the tops of the fenders and the cowl then send it off to paint.

I may just skip the satin black altogether and have maaco spray the entire car whatever color I decide to go with...I'll just drive it in with no bumpers and no trim pieces, and make sure the body is ready to spray when I take it to them.  I don't think I have too much work ahead of me.

My last buildup I receieved a 66 coupe on a labor trade then built it all up mechanically (not as built as this one)....it was blue with a vinyl top.  LOL, I'll never ever buy a vinyl top car again in my life.  Under that top,and under the paint was endless amounts of hidden rust, and bondo with rust under it and so on...man I had to take that car apart, ditch it, then search for months for this car.

THe result was $1800 for this car as a roller, but it's 90% rust free..a small hole in the pan, and a little under a windshield lip...then it took me two years to get this built back up...

start with the right car, thats what I learned.

Whichever route you take paint it red. Just sayin

yea my 66 is several times removed from ever having to be a DD...I have all the time in the world, and on a I have 4 kids budget, it's DYI time.   Fortunately for me, I've never found anything car wise I haven't been able to do.  Unfortunately for me that means I'm the neighborhood freebee mechanic too.

Your car is absolutely stunning man, that's some great work.   I finally have my dream of the past 25 years of having an amazing classic mustang that is fast and can handle too, but have all but given up on it looking good..

I'll do it, and not just for satin black,...I'm going to take this as far as I can.  My car was originally candyapple red...I'm not opposed to that color, just never pictured it in my head...guess I have some time to decide

I agree with the rest of the guys and gals here. I would suggest using a orbital sander with some 80 or 120 grit sand paper. This is a good way to get to the bare metal with out paying a ton. Or call around to your local trailer shops most have sand blasters and powder coaters that's another idea. You're car does look good but who knows if it was ever hit before and since its primerd good in someways bad also. The previous owner could've had a few two big dents and just filled them. Another good thing for when you buy a classic take a fair magnet and place it on it won't stick on filler unless its real light. If you do strip it which I'd suggest panel by panel make sure you have a good primer some obsorb more water then others. Also when you prime use a epoxy primer any good body shop will tell you that. And the primer must be sprayed no more than 30 days after striping. And I'd say give them a coat of wax greese remover spray them 3 coats of epoxy. You'll be good.