craftgrrl | valentine at 55 (art car?) (Reply)

for the third time in my life i find myself with an old buick. a white 88 buick park avenue to be specific. and shes...well shes dull, shes boring, and shes absolutely nothing like me. (im not a little old lady. honest!) so ive decided to paint her. of course not just any paint would do and i most certainly cant afford a professional paint job - so i started thinking more along the lines of art cars and...well spray paint.

ive decided id like to stripe her in pink and white. and of course add little pink hearts. a 55mph valentine. here for your pleasure is a really crummy photoshop sketch of my idea:

(the grey is this weird metal trim that all old buicks seem cursed with. i plan to add lots of little pink heart magnents.)

(violet is her name. in case one wondered)

however - before i start this rather uber-crafty project i had some questions. has anyone used spray paint on a car before? any prep work? how well does it hold up to weather conditions and general car abuse. also worth noting is that i live in an apartment and my poor car has no garage. how well does spray paint hold up to sunlight? ideally id have maaco add a professional clearcoat after my painting but i may not be able to afford it. any sealants that anyone has used that would work?

and most importantly: is this do-able at all?