Emphasis on Hot Rod

[serocontra]

Summary: red metals normal and did a knock back ruin my engine?

First time attempting to drive my car.
I’m guessing it’s not supposed to look like this?
There’s water/ coolant in the tank. I’ll probably be getting a thermometer in the distant future as funds are tapped between housing issues and life.

A worrying note: I turned it off in a panic when I saw how hot it was and don’t think I did the right thing. Instead of shutting off the gas tank and letting engine die, I turned it off by key.
Now it won’t start again. There was a knock back. Did I ruin the engine?
It sounded fine while it ran, ran well too. I turned it off because I was worried about the cherry red muffler.