Excellent idea!
Currently, 3 vehicles are in my possesion with only one driveable!
The go-to is a 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. Will share story on how it stomped a BMW later.
Other one is a 2000 Ford Contour. It has 193,000 miles with clutch NEVER replaced. Buffalo winters, or salt on the roads more specifically, has caused significant damage. We picked up a hood, over a year ago, in a yard and had it painted. Looks great. I replaced the headlamps and grille panel myself. Two years before, we did rocker panels and front doors. The latter were shipped from Portland, OR. Apparently, they have mild winters, as these were good as new. After last winter, the shop found that the inner rockers (part of unibody) and floor boards were rotted.
A gift came my way. One of the mechanics, at the service department at the Ford dealership, was working on his nephew's '98 Contour SVT. He was replacing the alternator, but couldn't get it off. So, he had to torch it. That and the wire harness caught fire! So, he told his nephew that it would've required dropping the engine and transmission to repair. They sold me the car to salvage parts for 5 bills. That meant that the plan was to swap out the engine, transmission, clutch and a few other parts (coil springs and right rear brake caliper). The interior on the SVT was not well-maintained but the exterior is is decent shape. We're going for the inner rockers, floor boards, quarter panels, fenders and front doors.
This project is pretty massive in scale but will be immensely satisfying when completed. Originally, I was going to use kids at trade high school to perform most of the work. Unfortunately, time ran out at end of semester last year and they changed rules this school year. Non starter which could've saved several hundred dollars in labor costs.
I am getting too old to try street race anyone now.
