I agree with you, but, I don't see anyone stepping up to buy this car to restore it. I own a restoration shop here in Madison, WI and restore prewar cars everyday.
We all know that the cost to bring this car back to it's glory would be over $100K; and when you're all done 3 years from now, it would be worth $30K. I went to see this car yesterday. Trust me, the only thing worth saving is the engine and drive train. Interior is a disaster, gauges are missing and the radiator core is completely shot.
I have a speedster I'm building with this same Lycoming 8. True it has different components and distributor and head, etc. but maybe the internal block would be the same?