Bart, the more you can do for the shop, the better. If you are capable of stripping it down at home and flatbedding it in, it would save you a bit of time and money. I always hated the strip down and rebuild process, that's why we had a few shop helpers/apprentices to do it all. I liked just walking into a spray booth and having a car ready to zap. Lot's a people tend to do this anyways if that have they ability. Just start taking crap off and even feel free to scuff down the paint and fix dents and stuff on your own before you take it in. It's actually pretty fun work and makes for a great project. It will keep cost down, no doubt.

Hard to say what shops to look form. Never dealers and never chains. Go online and check forums for local, recommended shops. I painted before the real "internet" age so we were only ever truly found by word of mouth or the Yellow Pages, heh.