Turned out beautifully. I think this car must be much newer than your????

By exactly 7 years, so at this distance it's not that much of a difference. However, mine doesn't have the ugly-ass 5 mph battering-ram bumpers imposed by the feds. Pre-restoration, mine's nicer than his. Post restoration, well, hopefully they'll both be like new.

You can do most of what he did. At least, if you do some of the work, it'll end up making it less expensive at the shop. By that I mean, do all of the sanding and removal of body rot (assuming it has some - I don't remember seeing any...) and any of the easier mechanicals prior to sending it in.

Depending on the space you have, you can also do a large part of the disassembly yourself.

BTW - what are you going to have done?

I could, the problem is space. If I were to knock out a wall and convert the downstairs room into a pure shop, then yeah, that'd be an option. Of course, I'd be divorced within a few minutes, so there is a definite downside.

It does have some rot. The visible stuff is just enough to worry me (visible rust tends to most definitely be "the tip of the iceberg" sort of stuff). However, I know a lot about restoration now, and mine is still a very good candidate.

I'm contemplating a ground-up. The whole 9 yards. The goal will be at least as good as when it rolled complete out of the factory in Milan in 1970 (71 model year, but manu'd 10-70). I'm figuring a substantial investment, but certainly no more than anyone spends on even a new pedestrian sedan nowadays (let alone an SUV or full-up sports car).

The difference is, of course, that 5 years after it's done, I won't be seeing myself driving down the road every five minutes, and the depreciation curve will be much less brutal.

The trick at that point will be keeping (by then) certain soon-to-be-teenage girls from manipulating me into giving it to them. Considering the powers she'll be inheriting from her mother, I quake at this challenge. :)

resist the power of the dark side, my son. or, alternatively, put the keys in a safe-deposit box and require at least two separate approvals to get them out...

btw - frame up would be lots of fun. expensive, lots of time involved, et at., however, lots of fun...