Just a quick question for you: what's the overall condition of the paint right now? Original paint on this would be lacquer. Any crows' footing? Any areas where crows footed lacquer would be letting moisture through to lead or bare underneath? I've taken a lot of GMs down to bare and have little crows' feet rust spots all over the metal. Just something to look for. Because of this I've also had every GM convertible we've done also wind up with rust under the lead seams at the filler panel behind the top.
Yes, taking it to bare is a pain in the a**, and I know you're trying to get by cheap. You're trying to get it out the door in a hurry to get the money for the Mopar build, but you're also building your reputation on this. Any more deals come along like this which you decide to put out there on the block and any shortcuts on this one might wind up hurting you in the long run on the next one by word of mouth.
Not trying to advocate either way, just giving more food for thought, and problems to focus on is all.
By the way, I know red is expensive, as everyone's pointed out to you, but this car will hold it's value more if the paint code on the car actually matches the color when you're done.
