New guy looking for tips...

[tdjb]

Hey everyone, just signed up and have been going through the site for a few hours now. This might be kind of long but I figured I'd get it all out there from the start haha.

I've always been a gear head but recently have reached a point where I can look at maybe starting a project car. Problem is I know very little about domestics, and even less about hot/street rods in general. I do know that I like loud, fast good looking cars though
Anyways, I consider myself pretty good with the wrenching side of cars, just not the fabrication. Back in high school (10 years ago) I was building a lot of import motors and have been playing around with motorcycles for the last couple of years but I can't weld and wouldn't trust myself to build anything "important" (frame, mounts, etc).
With that being said I've decided to move on from motorcycles and build something me and the soon to be wife can cruise around in. I seem to be drawn to the body styles from the 30's-40's. I started looking at the "kit" type cars and I came across the total performance t bucket kit. Later I found the "$3k build" post on here as well. This information really sparked my interest at possibly starting up one of these projects over the winter.
Ideally I'd like to use this first build as a stepping stone so the more work the better, but at the same time I'd like to leave the welding and fabrication to the pro's.
Does the total performance kit offer a good starting point?
What if I purchased something like the long t bucket body from d.k. rods and have a local builder build the chassis?
What about the powerplant/driveline? Again, I'm pretty new to the domestic world so I'm not even sure where to start.

I know the bodystyle isn't the same, but I've attached a picture of something close to my ideal car.
If you've made it this far, thank you haha. Any tips you guys can offer (or any Boise locals who can suggest good shops) I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.