It would be a lot easier to do it in aluminum, which in comparison with stainless, is far softer and easier to work, plus any scratches or tool marks can be polished out. The aluminum would have to be coated with something though, or you would have to keep after it with the metal polish.

For a good example of work of this kind, try to find pictures of the buses used on the island of Malta in the 60s and 70s. They took ordinary boxy buses (think school bus) all of which were the same ugly shade of green, and added many of the styling gimmicks and details of 50s-60s Detroit Iron, all of which was hand formed metal and plastic (for things like 59 Chevy teardrop taillights) There was an article about these buses in Road and Track magazine, some time in the late 70s, and I have seen other references to them.