It is the perennial question that anyone will ask themselves when beginning a new venture. do I go with what I have here or wait till I find something better?

I suppose it all comes down to the willingness to work on something that, quite frankly, may have had it's day.

I picked up this 1200 over a year ago, very cheap($150), it is worth more in trim bits than what I paid for it. Trouble is that it only has one straight panel on it and that's the boot. I have done my sums on the regular panels on ebay bonnet, guards, front doors, Valance then carpet, door seals, door cards there's $1000 to start with.

But to be straight - I don't mind that, and i will do a Sedan at some stage, but is this the car to start with? If it is i am leaning towards an 'old school' restore rather than creating a lethal weapon....... thoughts?

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Actually think I have wrecked better ones than this.

After you take off all those dented panels it may not be too bad underneath.

Most of mine that I stripped had rust in firewall, floor and boot.

I think that will be the next step ... invest some time in finding the rust.

By the way there's one on ebay in Beechworth at the moment - Are you watching it or interested ... i am thinking but probably only for the rear doors as these ones are not good

You might be better off buying my rolling shell and making it the way you want it. That looks pretty past it. The beachworth one also looks pretty haggard. It's been sitting for so long grass through the gearstick hole and engine bay. The underside wouldn't be too nice

if the chassis, firewall and footwells are good then yes it's a lot of work but probably worth it

if not i think it's past it

If it has minmal rust Structurally then go with it as you said. All the bolt on panels that are to beaten up or rusty can go to scrap once stripped. If roof rear quarters are all good or fixable and rear beaver panel. Now personally i would strip all the bolt on panels, bumpers, lights grille off. Take whats good off and out of them store em and see whats left. For example under the guards may expose some nastys and right up under dash may to.

I am going to strip it and clean it up and then make a decision.

as for the beechworth one it's worth $100 in bits but It's a long way away - still deciding

bin job

Part of me likes the idea of preserving the diminishing fleet of classic cars but ultimately it comes down the condition of the base shell/ chassis and how much time and money you can justify spending.

Lamb
I'm in a similar situation too. Was tough
My decision was to finish my current sunny truck project and do the sedan down the track at a tight budget buying or doing jobs only when parts came avail cheap or easily.

I totally get you feeling of wanting to preserve the fleet, I feel the same way