Hi there, I am new to this forum, but old to the painting profession. I started painting signs 20 years ago, and today, still do much of my work the old fasioned way, ( with paint, not vinyl). Altho I dont paint whole cars, I do a quite a bit of flames, striping and other special effects.
One of the best paints that you can use for small areas of special effects, is an enamel called One Shot. Its good for stripes or flames or viola', (!) almost anything. It is extremely tough yet easy to use. It comes in a LOT of stock colors, including pearls and metallics and is relativly cheap. You can buy it at most good art stores. You can also buy bronzing, flipflop, or pearl powders at the artstore that will enhance any paint. They come in tubes and you mix em up yourself. A word of caution tho, they are microfine metal powders, ( copper, bronze, aluminum) and if inhaled, well, not good, so wear a mask when handling them. and practice practice practice....every day.