I have a 1967 chevelle that has three coats of paint on it now. Original paint was Granada Gold, then before it was driven off the showroom floor (new car), it was painted white. It was repainted white in 1986. Nearly all panels have problems, doors have the usual rust at the bottom, fenders have rust at the lower part of the fenders. Wheel wells are good however, there is not rust thru on those. Back quarters have bondo, 12x12 or so. My body man tells me he will pull the panels very straight (and he is good) and use a very minimal amount of filler. Cut out the rust and patch where needed. He suggested using a primer that is $180 gal. Says it does not shrink and has other qualities I need. He made this suggestion before he saw the car. What are the qualities of this primer that would make him suggest this?

I'm guessing that is the price with hardener,which is about right.
Sounds like car should be stripped and you will need a good high build primer to straighten it back out.
You can usually get away with different brand paints over each other, but I don't recommend doing this unless you have done it before with good results.I would stick with the same brand primer as the paint you are using.
I am currently spraying Standox and it is great. The nice thing about it besides color match is that you use the same hardeners in the primer,sealer and clear. My .02 :rolleyes: