Terry, yes, many of the big dogs cars were very nice. But its hard to know if they were gloss coated. I think I might be safe if I keep gloss coating the funny's of the early 70's during the era of the custom paint shop. Even if they were not gloss coated, it would be hard to tell the texture difference of custom enamel paint graphics on a scaled down 1/24 model. On the other hand, Super Stocks and Pro Stocks of the era seemed to have a lot of hand painted graphics done with a brush like the sign painters of the era, ie the "Sox & Martin" on the sides of their cars, so I might leave this one without gloss coat.
I do know that the gloss coat of this era was not very good, heavy and took a long time to dry. I remember the 71 Plum Crazy Duster my Mom had that was peeling like an old house by 74. Also, after reading the article in "Elapsed Times" about Circus Custom Paint on the east coast its hard for me to imagine even the big guns taking the time or spending the money to have that done. But having said that it probably looks better on a 1/24 scale car that was originally a custom done with airbrush.
Thanks,
Steve B