It's been a long time...
I haven't used lacquer since sometime in the early 70's or so. Usually, lacquer "sealer" was the stuff you sprayed over an existing enamel. Usually, you could spray a sealer, spray your lacquer, sand out the imperfections, runs, etc., then spray another coat and repeat cycle...again and again and again. That's why guys used to say things like, "Yeah, I've 20 coats of lacquer on this baby". It's also why they looked so gorgeous and "deep" 'cuz you had practically hand blocked the whole car and smoothed out some of the dips you might not have got out completely if you were prepping for an enamel job.
The problem with lacquer? Lots more maintenance (remember, there's no clearcoat like today's 2 stage color + clear), plus it had a tendency to crack over time (have you seen some of the "barn finds" with lacquer jobs?). Also, lots of trouble if you didn't "seal off" the enamel well enough. It just cracks and wrinkles in those spots..don't ask me how I know this.
As far as the "bitchin'" factor goes, there's nothin' like a lacquer job... Trust me, once you do the elbow grease, you'll never be prouder of any paint job you'll ever do.