I can't recommend any books as a reference but you can get just about any info you might need right here, there are many guys here that have "been there, done that"

first you would need to figure out what you would like to build, such as I won't settle for anything but a 33-34 coupe, that will bring your search very tight and pricey, but if you want anything mopar then that will open the door pretty good. trucks are pretty easy to find for a reasonable price, earlier cars and trucks are usually higher priced to start with. you really need to look at pictures of Rods you might like and then figure out if it would fit in to your budget Ron...