Thanks to everyone for the feedback and positive comments! Hope it helps motivate someone else to try and put something together.
David - Since I'm basically starting from scratch regarding supplies and techniques, I played around with a bunch of different paints on this one. The main body color was from a rattle can. The brand is Liquitex (never heard of it before), the color is Burnt Sienna 5. It was on the clearance shelf at Michael's, and the color just looked cool to me. It's got a crappy nozzle and worked great once, not so great after that (maybe that's why it was on clearance?). May try to decant some and try it through the airbrush. I also tried some rattle can Rustoleum Metallic Primer & Paint (Home Depot) and had a good result with that. Tried the Flat Soft Iron on the headers, then hit them with mist of Tamiya X-10 Gun Metal through the airbrush (first time using one, been practicing a bit over the summer). Used some other Tamiya metals for the engine and running gear. Also shot some Vallejo Model Air, which I'm really liking. Great coverage and lays down real nice.
So now my challenge is to figure out what to build next. I feel like I've developed A.D.D., since looking at all of the builds on this site has my mind running in about six different directions! Your Kneisel modified and Bob P.'s Kreitz sprint car have really got me thinking that I'll have to go that way initially. They are both awesome and are exactly what I was envisioning as builds of the cars I worked on many moons ago. I ran to my local hobby shop tonight and bought a boatload of Evergreen.....just need to map out a plan and get started. I know I'm going to have questions, so hope you all are up for me being a PITA for awhile