I really admire your wanting to keep it original. I must advise you though to get a title for it prior to doing ANY work on it. That way nobody can come up to you later and say "Thanks for restoring MY car" and walk away with it all because there was no title with your name on it. We have witnessed this time and time again.
I was wondering when someone would put up some sort of comparison.To me, none of those look butchered. The rat rod looks thrown together and the other two are very tastefully done. It does not look like any of the three were cut up and abandoned.
Susan, if you are making a list of who will be there in spirit, put my name at the top of that list. I have only been there, twice for the swap meet, but enjoyed it immensely each time...mud or no mud.
He is in the Horseless Carriage Club of America (can I say that here?). He is great friends with all of the old car guys in the area. He is also a genius body man, not that your car needs anything like that. I don't think that he is in the Buick Club, but he will probably know of a few guys in the area who are.
You can call a good friend of mine. He is in LaMesa/San Diego. His name is Gene (Eugene) Mayfield. He restores cars and is excellent with them. He can direct you to someone or he can help you himself, probably. I do not have his number, but he should be listed in the phone book. He lives on Waite Drive near 69th Street just up from College Avenue and highway 94. Oh....that car is a beauty. I would leave it as is and enjoy driving it as much as possible. John
Photos of the Monkey Mobile that I took when I was a kid. The dealership was Ace Wilson's Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, Michigan. I was about 15 at the time.