Corey,
It's good to see you have a plan and vision for your Packard. On the mechanical side, as you disassemble parts/components, make sure you comprehensively photo document everything, or make drawings of how things came apart(with dimensions if needed) then clean/bag/tag so that when you come back later you'll know whats what. I have an excuse for not remembering(getting old) but it doesn't matter how old you are, 'cause over time the plethora of nuts & bolts and parts is considerable. Some things will be apparent but others will be much easier when you have help at hand.
Concerning rust, from what I understand, in your part of the US cars can rust quite badly. Depending on what, where and how rusty something is will determine how to approach it. Surface and "mild" rust can be cleaned up and then preventative rust treatments/coatings applied. More serious rust damage will require replacement of the rusted areas using patch panels or new sections of metal, not a job for the faint hearted or inexperienced. If your school, or a local community organisation, offers classes in welding or body work sign up now so when the time comes you're ready!
Here are a couple of links to Blogs where body rust repairs were tackled.
1940 120 Convertible Coupe Restoration 1949 Packard 8 Club Sedan PS - Pic's of your rust areas would help others more experienced than I to offer advice.
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