The real costs of a slick ride

So I've got this car that I'm digging myself into pretty deep these days. I really see it as something that is going to be with me for the rest of my life as it was a gift from my uncle, but I've been trying to get a scope on what it is going to cost me to get this thing to be a real work of art. I love to wrench and am fairly competent, but you know I'm not really in a serious car culture around here, and I'm really just wondering what sort of time and money other people have put into their gems. Here's a breakdown of how far I'm into it now.

$1400 for the car
$2000 to ground up rebuild the motor

I didn't pay that, but just including it for ref.

$800 for exhaust
$250 for custom metal tranny lines
$850 for a 550 Carter carb, headers, and an offy intake
$300 to replace the gears in the diff after they exploded
$300 misc parts

So, I'm $5800 into the thing now. I love it do death and hopefully I'll get the new motor cranked this weekend. I'm just wondering about my approach. I mean, when all this is done, I have to think about interior, bodywork, pulling it all apart, having it soda blasted and repainted, chroming it out, performance (turbo the size of my head?????).

What sort of approach should I take to paint, body, and interior after it's running again with a fresh powerplant?

What would y'all say you've spent on your babies? Time, money, blood sweat tears? How much does planning effect the final cost? How do you really KNOW what it should be when it's done?

Gimmy some wisdom!

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