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I'm sure many of you have already seen this, but I came across this ad on Ebay for a '32 Light Eight in less than desirable shape: Ebay: Light Eight

I have little to no experience in restoring cars, so I value everything I can learn from you guys. I'm not interested in buying it, but seeing it brought to mind a question: can a car in this condition be brought back to it's former glory? If so, what would it take? Could you sandblast every metal surface to get down to virgin metal? How would you go about getting the dimensions to replace the rotted wood? Where do you start when the interior is non-existant?

Again, I'm not looking to buy this car, but someday in the future I'd love to bring a Packard back from the dead. Any comments are greatly appreciated.

Boy, that's pretty rough, and I think you would invenst a fortune in the car to get it up to snuff. If it were an open car it would be a question of will and interest, as a closed car I would pass. Too many parts are off the car, buying those alone would be an expensive propisition. I would look for a better car, not so far gone. You don't seem fixated on the light eight (some are) and I think there will be a better candidate, not so far gone or incomplete out there for you.

To me that one looks pretty far gone. Yes you can sand blast the rust from the car but with a car like the one on ebay you will be left with a lot of body work. The wood can be remanufactured. Patterns for the wood parts are probably nonexistent. You would have to create it as you went. Things like the header over the windshield are the hardest to make. It's best to start with one that at least has all it's wood in place. The old rotted wood can be used as patterns for the new.
It goes on and on from here. The more complete the car is the better. All in all it would be fun to start with a car like that one and see what you can do with it but it would not be a cheep proposition. You would have more money in it than it would be worth when you were done.
Perhaps that would be a good candide for a retro rod.

I agree with Bob1951. Since it is already a parts car, most of the expensive stuff is gone. The only use would be to make it into a hot rod or use the remaining sheet metal on a different project. I suppose you could make one decent car out of two parts cars, if you bought them right and checked carefully for what was missing on each car.

My feeling is that it is easier/cheaper to find as complete a car as possible with little body damage. Mechanicals would generally be the easiest to get fixed. The interior will be what you want to make it. A complete interior in good condition will save a lot of money. If you buy a car missing the interior or it is very damaged and you want to keep it original, it gets expensive. If you are willing to sacrifice originality, there are cheaper alternative fabrics/materials available.

Good comments. I agree that this particular car seems a little too far gone. So in that case, what good would this car be? There can't be many high demand parts on it still, or is there?
At what point would you consider a restoration project not worth taking on? No interior? Rusted out body? Missing wood?

Sorry, I know this is a ton of questions but I'm starting from ground zero here, and trying to learn whatever I can about the restoration process.

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Probably any one of the three. A lot depends on how complete the car is and how much of the work you can do yourself. When you farm out a job the majority of the cost is in the labor. The cost to replace the missing parts will have a lot to do with wether a car is restorable as well. How much money do you have? I agree with the other people here when they say you should look for as complete a car as you can afford to buy. Of corse if money is not an issue buy one already done or buy the one you want and have a restoration shop do the whole car.

Another thought goes along the lines of the body style. If it's rear like say a caribian (not sure of the spelling) or a daren bodied car then by all means buy it. The value of the finished car will probably far exceed the cost to restore. The average 4 door closed car better be in pretty good shape to begin with.