what is normal for a paint job

I've never had a good paint job done on a car. I'm about to send my 67 cuda resto mod driver out. One painter said he uses up to 4 coats of epoxy primer, base and then 4 coats of clear then cut and buff. Another says 2 primer, base and 2 clear the cut and buff because 4 are too much and can cause the paint to crack under it. The first is higher price naturally for more material. I'm wondering who knows what they're doing. I've seen results for both and they do nice jobs. How many coats do you have on your A bodies? I'm mainly wondering about the clear.