when i do step one, with everything selected, i get;

"error: nothing was selected to build. you must select nurbs curves or curve on surfaces"

when i do step two, i get the second pic (ive seen...

after trying one or two other techniques, ive started to model a car in 3d by extruding each of the outlines of the 3 axis, then union-ing the resulting extrusions.

the result is what i wanted...