Welcome from Chicago! I am in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, not far from Elgin. I agree 100% with you on getting satisfaction from restoring it yourself. I have built all of my toys myself, I always tear down to empty shells strip them to bare metal and then epoxy primer, body work and paint. That way I know exactly what's under that paint. I place a sticker in my car's window at car shows that says "built not bought"
As far as color choice, I paint my cars the color I like and don't worry myself about the original color. My 69 RS/SS 396 Camaro happened to be Lemans blue originally, but that is my favorite color for that car so I would have painted it Lemans blue either way. The 71 Mach that I am restoring now was Grabber blue when I bought it, but it was originally dark green metallic. I had a white 73 Mach in high school so I am painting it Wimbledon white because that is my favorite color for our cars. If I were you I would get a Marti report, that will tell you how it was originally built as far as options and what color it was originally. Maybe the original color is one that you will love and then you get the best of both worlds, original color and a color you love. Just make it yours and enjoy the journey.