[DAVID GAGNARD]

[QUOTEI talked to one guy who said he would fill in all the seams, then DA sand the gel coat, fix pin holes.
I can't recall if he said put a primer on, I think he did.
][/quote]

After re-reading your post,filling the seams and "roughing" them in with a DA sander is fine,unless the body is in very bad shape,there is no need to go over the gel coat with a DA sander and I would advise not to do it, way to easy to screw it up.....
Once the seams have been filled/sanded/primed, all that would be needed is to sand the entire car,then prime it/block it and re-prime.....
On any paint job, the prep work is 95% of the labor and without proper prep work, the best painter in the world can not do a good paint job!!!!!
As Jeff said, painting a Cobra from start to finish in the paint booth should take one day,depending on the body and work needed to get it to that stage,it could weeks to months!!!!!!!!!!!

David