The issue here is making a blanket statement that HD uses the "best" paint/clearcoat, which is simply not true for all bikes and all year models. In addition, their quality control leaves something to be desired in many cases, the '06 SEUC being a glaring case, with thousands of bikes shipped to dealers with bad paint jobs. Owners of those bikes went through hell getting the paint issues resolved. There have also been cases where there were bubbles under the paint, fingerprints under clearcoat, etc. Plus, the hardness of the clearcoat seems to vary some, with some being more likely to get small scratches/swirl marks, etc very easily.
That your '96 model has excellent paint is great, but making a general statement about ALL paint jobs on HD bikes, based on one example, is a stretch...thus some of the responses to your OP.