which paint holds its appearance longest,acrylic lacquer,acrylic enamel,synthetic enamel or basecoat/clearcoat system?thanks.

I'm going base coat clear coat on this one. It can be wet sanded and rebuffed if it starts to look hazy after a few years.

No question, base/clear

Most people refer to BC CC systems thinking they are only available in urethane but in fact you could do BC CC in Laquer and also enamel. Just make sure the clearcoat used is premium quality urethane with alot of poly resin and you will have a finish that is really hard and durable.

In My Experience after having 3 expensive paint jobs done in the last 10 years,the clear coat jobs dont hold up any better than single stage. That is what I am going with on my 67 wagon this time. The problem seems to be with the aplication of the clear. If you put on 3 coats of clear quite a bit gets rubbed of during the wet sand and buff, then what are you left with?? I know it costs $$ for a good job,but at 4K a pop it should last at least 5 yrs.I just squrited the filler below the bumper with single stage Nason and it looks great. I will try to do the whole deal myself this time. Wish Me Luck !!!!!

I'll tell you this, a good way to find out is look at the paint manufactures warrantees.

In the fleet paint market (COKE, UPS, you know, "Fleets") urethane basecoat/clearcoat will get you the longest warrantee.

Wagondad, if you have a bc/cc and it fails, it is most likely it will be the clear. This is not because the clear is the "cause", it is because the clear is laying on top and it simply has more exposure is the way I see it.

BC/CC failures are usually, by a HUGE margin related to the flash time allowed between base and clear. This is without a doubt the most common cause for failure. The painter doesn't wait long enough and the base is full of solvent when he applies the clear. The solvent "trys" to get out, getting between the clear and the base and causes "delamination" of the clear.

I have tested and a good sanding and buffing the clear only takes about a half of a mil. That is much less than one coat.