You said in your first post that you didn't know anything about "car painting", but yet you've gone on and contradicted people who do it professionally. You seem to have it all figured out and know exactly what you're getting... If you knew this much about what you wanted, why did you bother to create the thread in the first place?

Body work and prep are what make a high quality lasting paint job. The majority of what happens after prep can be fixed with some 1000 grit and a wheel. That being said, Maaco quoted you $50 for the prep - I use more than $50 worth of sand paper when prepping a car...