[cobrajeff]

I would go with the powder coating. My ERA was built before ERA offered the powder coated frame option. So, it's painted, and has held up pretty well, but I think it would be even better if it had been powder-coated. I had a number of other parts for my car powder-coated during the build, and I do believe it holds up better than paint. It's not completely impervious to scratching and damage, but holds up better than paint.

Face it - whether the frame is painted or powder-coated, you're not likely going to ever strip the car down and have the frame re-done to fix a chip or scrape - you're going to use some black paint out of a can or bottle, and brush-in any touch-up - it'll look the same whether the base is paint or powder-coat.

Jeff