I guess it depends on what is meant by: "quality restoration project".
If you are spending good money for a high-quality (high cost) final/color coat, you might not want to take a chance on primer/sealer/surfacer coats failing due to poor quality, poor adhesion, and/or incompatibility with the final coat.
I have see good appearance paint jobs that used spray-can paints (low cost and fast results) and better appearance paint jobs done by hand with paint brushes (in Great Britain - 30 years ago). To each his/her own.
