Next.

I have decided that the vehicle mesh is complete. I am going the leave the texture for now and concentrate on getting it rendered nicely and modelled as a burnt/damaged version.

The vehicle paint that i have worked so hard on to look shiny and new (so it would contrast dramatically with the damaged version) only shows up well if the vehicle is placed under harsh angled lighting. The parts of the car that are not lit in the same way, look totally different and spoil the illusion. The only way to get it all looking like real car paint is to light it in a realistic manner. This will include a more complicated lighting studio and a background image that i can use as reflections on the car.

For now though its important to get the damaged version done.
I used Call of Duty for some reference, I entered a private match and just spent some time shooting and blowing up cars. Although this would preferably be more for ideas than reference, reference for burnt cars is obviously quite hard to come across so it will probably end up surving both purposes equally. Here is a few of the pictures.

Some interenet research:

Ideas for the damaged vehicle.