Long time listener, first time caller.

I've been reading this thread with great interest and would love to start rollering one of my vehicles ('95 Caprice, ex-cop car). The problem is I know that I won't have the dedicated stretch of time the project requires. Yeah, I know I can do it panel by panel -- but doing it right will mean things like removing the windshield and rear side-quarter glass which will make the car un-driveable for a while.

So, I've been wondering about a Modified-Maaco approach. That is, would it be possible to get the cheap, single stage spray at Maaco (assuming that I identify a shop which does decent prep) AND THEN follow up with a fine grit color sand and polish?

Questions which arise are:
1. Is the Maaco prep work still going to suck?
2. Would the color sand have to be really aggressive to get rid of their orangepeel and imperfections?
3. If going this route, what type of paint would be suggested from Maaco (or any other body shop)? Part of this question is that I don't understand how the final sand/polish on a BC/CC finish really works. (I mean, if the problem is in the color coat, how can smoothing out the clear coat help?).

Worst case, if I have to get real aggressive with the Maaco paint, I might end up still rollering 1 or 2 coats of Brightside to achieve the end results -- as opposed to many. I could see doing this panel by panel, but not doing the complete ground up work panel by panel. (I'm starting a new job and I can't be driving a half painted car...)

I guess the other reason I'm thinking along these lines is that the car is Black -- and I'm doubtful on my time, skill, patience to get the prep right. Figure a body shop will have better results than I will first time.

If choosing to do a color change to avoid the perfect prep which Black requires, them I'm looking at even more coats to cover the Black decently.

I supposed the other choice would be to pay a body shop for initial prep and primer -- and then go about rollering and finishing from there. Not sure about this approach. Willing to hear opinions on this, as well.

I guess the one thing to add is: Yep, I'm sure that it might be easier given the params I've outlined to get a good shop to do it all. Problem is I really, really want to do this to achieve a better than normal result at a less than expected amount of $$. Looking for a reasonable way to compress the project time so that I still can have a hand in the result -- and not end up with a stalled project!

This was a long post, but hope to hear what you guys think.