My son wants to have a go at repainting the car.  I am going to let him pick the color (I think he likes the red).  Any advice out there on what type of paint to use (laquer/polyuerthane/enamel/other?)

Thanks  

Take a look at the Dupont Nason Fulthane line.  It's a single stage urethane paint, pretty easy to shoot and fairly forgiving.  It's easy to repair also.  Not too high buck either.  As paint goes, anyway.

Nason 2K pdf

They do sell a base/clear system but the single stage is better for a beginner IMHO.  Be sure to use a full suit and a full face mask.  

Thanks Falcon,  I think that we are going to need something that we can sand after the spraying is complete, no doubt we will have some issues.  Looking for a reasonable shine and a good experience.  We should just have to sand a bit, mask and spray.  Will start with just the trunk or something to get the spray technique down. I think that we have the elbow grease issue with the sanding pretty well in hand.

Regards

Mike  

That'll work.  Two winters ago, I decided to fix the Falcon's tail section where burnouts had chipped up the rear quarters.  I masked everything off, prepped the surface, etc.  We had a cold snap but I used a heater to warm things up and bought a gallon of fast reducer.  I shot a couple of layers on the back of the car, lookin' good, then went in the house for some coffee.  Came back out and noted that I had apparently misjudged the panel temp and the paint had run like tears.  Ah, well - so I slathered the rest of the paint in the gun  on good and just let it set up for a couple of days.  Greased up my elbow and started wet sanding with 220, then 400 - 600 - 800 - 1200 - 1500 - 2000 then polish.  Hey, looked pretty decent when I got done.  The quarters are still smoother than the rest of the car.  

sounds exactly like what I need.  We are not short of elbow grease.  Any temperature issues?  South Louisiana gets a bit hot in the summer.

Clear coat - worth the trouble?  

I wouldn't clear coat the single stage, it's got plenty of gloss and would just make a repair harder.  I haven't done any base/clear - we beat on our stuff like it was rental equipment so I like fast and easy fixes.      

Used to live in Houston, know about your summer.  There are three reducers - slow, medium and fast - each with a temperature band.  I used slow IIRC, when I painted the Falcon.  It was 95F that day, spent 4 hours in the garage in a full suit with a full face mask with two 20" box fans moving air.  There was about 2" of water in each leg of the suit when I hung up the gun.

Since you live in humid bug country, a bit of advice.  Try to set up your "booth", such as it may be, so that you can close it off when you are done.  Keep a pair of long skinny needle nose pliers handy.  Bugs just love fresh paint. I got the last coat on and washed the gun   and before I could shut the door I had about 7 knats stuck to the roof.  

Love bugs seem to love paint.  I'll use the shop instead of the barn at home.  Has roof exhaust fans.  May build one of those temp visqueen paint booths. All the work is in the prep.  Do not want to have to start over if we have a few issues with the topcoat.  I have seen a few pieces of oilfield equipment with a better paint job than this car has.  Started sanding to get a shine,  but ran out of paint on the car.  If this comes out Ok,  I have a ford 8n that is going to be shined up next.