Yeah, tough decision. Two years ago I decided to buy a barely running, CA rust free 1600 and do a resto on it myself to help keep costs down. I will tell you, it is unbelievable how fast the costs add up when you are making it brand new again. Unbe-freakin-lievable... If you do a rolling resto, you can spread the costs out over years, but still won't have a real restored car...but it could be really nice. If you take one down and rebuild, be prepared for well over $10k in PARTS alone. Yes. If you have to pay someone to do anything, costs increase exponentially.
I'm glad I did a ground up on mine, but it was very taxing on me. I don't mean physically, of course it was tough that way, too, I mean finding time, late nights, early mornings, not working on it because you want to spend time with your family, the amount of mental time it took up was unexpected...
I've only put 400 miles on my car since finishing it, too...(and no, it'll never be 'finished') and I have a hard time enjoying it because I'm constantly thinking about every little piece of the car and remembering all the pain along the way! Ha! I've even thought about just selling it to get it out of my head!! Maybe I need to take a step back and give it some time...
Sorry to unload all that, I think I had to at some point and hoped it might help another...;-)
Feel free to contact off the board if you want more details about my journey
-Stephen