Fortunately, I'm a weirdo and my tastes often run to the unloved and unusual, so the big high dollar cars are almost never on my radar. My first rule, however, is to never tear a running car to bits. Make a running car run, steer, and stop better, then enjoy driving it (even if its ugly) for a while. If you're still in love with it after a year or two try to do a rolling restoration. If you find out you hate it, it's far easier to sell a running, inspected, and licensed car than a project in baskets. I'll even go so far as, if the car needs an engine rebuild, to find a replacement motor, swap it in so I can still drive it, and work on the original engine on the stand. Again if you run out of time or money you are still selling a running car with a numbers matching motor thrown in.
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