How much clear will I need?
 

This is something I should know since I worked as painter in a repair shop back in the day, But my brother and I are going to be painting a 1961 Chrysler, Big car. I am not trying to be cheap about it but want to try to buy close to just what we need in material. I am wondering if anyone here has enough daily experience with repaints to tell me if a gallon of clear, 5 quarts sprayable with activator will be in the park of what I need or should I buy some extra. We are using an HVLP system from TP that puts most of the material on the car. want a good three coats to be able to wet sand and polish. As for color,,,My brother wants to get a gallon of base color,, I think that will be way too much, ( PPG base coat ) Its a copper color that covers very well. I know there are variables to each paint job but maybe some painters could put me in the right ball park.
When I worked in a shop it was mostly repair and never repaints. Thanks for any input.

We painted this car with 2 gallons of PPG Deltron base (4 coats to cover) and 1 1/2 gallons unreduced 2002 clear gave us 3 coats.
You will not have enough paint or clear for a car that size.
If you are trying to get by with the least amount of materials, paint the car during your paint store's business hours. You might find yourself calling for more in the middle of the job.

Thanks ,, Thats very useful. I will make sure to have at least 2 gallons of clear on hand just to be covered, I can always sell whats left over to my buddy at a discount.
That sounds like a lot of base you needed, Maybe because I remember silver had a lot of clear binders in it? Well thanks for posting. It puts things into perspective a bit for me. The car will be painted after hours, so wish me luck, no access to supplies.

Ended up painting the car in sections, Took about 1-1/2 gallons of clear and just around a gallon of base color. Never keen on painting a metallic in sections but the color matches really well and was a really big job. So we did the roof, then the hood and deck with some small parts, then the sides. So I didn't have to worry about running out of paint in the middle.

Pics? sounds like a good plan the way you staged it.

you asked for it, Its not a pontiac,:D
The color is Cinnamon, Only a few hundred 61 G cars came in this color.