I've a '64 Chev swb stepside and a '66 parts truck. I took my truck down to the frame. If it wasn't riveted or welded, it came off the frame.
I like the idea of doing something everyday, but that's not too easy in my case. I took the truck apart about 2 years ago, bc that was cheap; no money involved in tearing them down. I stowed the small stuff in my 12 x 12 shop that doubles as a model aircraft shop, wood shop, lawn equipment shop, and dog pen (I guess that should be 'quadruples'), and the larger body parts I put in the bed which is on blocks and covered it all with a tarp. I don't have a shop (yet) that I can put the two trucks in. I barely have a compressor - not big enough to do anything but blow the dust off - and I don't have a lot of tools. I am to the point now where I have to start spending $$$ to get the tools and new parts, and that's where I am now. I plan on doing it ONCE. If it takes me years, so be it. I don't want to have to fix something on the truck 2 years from now because I didn't take my time in the first place to do it right; right may mean taking something else off that I didn't plan on in the first place. So, I opted to take it all off.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is, how much money do you want to spend versus what kind of time frame you have? How maintenance free do you want it (I know, nothing's ever maint free, but you can get pretty darn close)? I know I'm going to spend major money, and it's going to take me major time, but the truck will be exactly the way I want it when I'm done - as 'oh I have to fix that bc I didn't do it when I spent all that time restoring my old truck' free as possible. Forgive me, but when I'm done restoring it, I want to enjoy it, not cuss it bc I didn't do it the way it was supposed to be done in the first place.
Besides, it's not like you're taking on a vehicle that's got a ton of chrome-plated-no-use-whatsoever-look-good-snake-nest-of-wire-and-sensless-sensors-crap. It's a straightforward-gas-pedal-brake-clutch-lights kinda vehicle.
