OK here's the deal, if your on budget, use a one step cleaner wax combo such as Black Magic Wet Shine Liquid Wax. It came out number one in the last Consumer Reports wax tests. It wouldn't be all that great for a purist but at 16 years old and on a budget it might be the greatest thing since snot. It out shined and outlasted the other products that they tested. The only criticism that they had was that it was slightly harder to remove than the others they tested. I have used it on my silver Outlook and my pewter Sierra and it looks pretty good for a one step. I wouldn't use it on my black Crossfire though. Follow the directions closely. Stay away from the drill polisher.

Maybe Mike from Orange could recommend a one step wax from Meguier's.

Good Luck, let us know how it turned out. I had an almost new Corvette when I was about 18 years old and boy did I think I was hot S***. The only problem was that if anything went wrong with the Corvette that I couldn't fix myself I couldn't afford it, so I know where your coming from. I couldn't even afford to replace the tires. Fortunately I was working at a gas station at the time.