Hey T.P.-
Unless you can get a paint job significantly cheaper (and by the way $1800 is siginficantly cheaper) than either one of ERA's painter's can do it for, or unless you have a painter you really like, you might want to have one of ERA's painters paint the car for you. I have been to ERA a few times and have seen numerous cars painted by each of ERA's painters and they look great. I decided to use one of ERA's painters (Walt at Conn. Custom Car) to paint mine. Hopefully, car should be finished in a week and a half and back to ERA soon.
The way I look at it is that these guys have probably painted several dozen ERAs and likely know all the tricks to making them come out looking great. Plus, if you use one of ERA's painters, once you get the car from ERA, you will be that much closer to getting it on the road- you won't have to dissable everything, send it to the painter and then wait 2 more months before you can start putting it all back together.
Mike