My "friend" has 284 hours of labor down, including all stripping, sanding and painting. There is actually 140 hours down for the body work and initial bondo layer and sanding alone. That's nice of you to tell us that you paid $2,000 for an "incredible" job, but we can get a "decent" job for $6,500!
My "friend" is also charging $25 per hour, even though his "going rate" is $30. Your friend practically worked for free.
A guy in my office is getting his Jaguar XK140 done for $5000. And, I know someone who recently had a little sports car painted for $2,500 and it looks great - don't know if it will fall off in a year - and I don't know if he really got the paint he was told he was getting - but, I will probably end up there if this all falls through.
Jay