[olut]

all you need is a plan. Once you know, what the final product has to look like, you should know what to expect.
When I bought the top open pickup 1929, I was a greenhorn, did not understand much about "A"s and had to learn a lot during the technical restoration, the body was pretty ok, the gas tank was a mass.
Knowing all that and also knowing the necessary budget, the second purchase, a 1929 Phaeton was already a better calculated deal. Still, the extend of necessary restoration is known, as soon as you remove body from frame.
Another recommendation for those of you, how start in this: there are two options: Either you buy a perfectly restored vehicle (make sure, it is perfectly restored also in technical matters with original fitting parts) and pay more, a lot more, in average US$ 30.000,- and up...
...OR, you are either skilled yourself or know a perfectly skilled mechanic doing the restoration job, paying far less for the vehicle but pumping in at least 10.000,-- without engine or 15.000,-- with engine.

However you do restoration, I highly recommend to use original replacement parts, not just some screws, use the original type of screws, just follow the judgment guidelines.

My recent baby, the 1929 Phaeton from Florida was purchased for US$ 14.800,-- shipping to Austria was another 6.000,-- and now we are investing about 10.000,-- into body, the mechanic condition is very good and has already been properly restored... So at the end, it will be a 30.000,-- investment and that is pretty good in range, resale value in Europe is about 40.000,--

Cheers
Happy A-cruisin...