That’s a heat shield on the overflow, not duct tape (check the lower picture). The radiator looks like a 22”, and it has the right outlet for a V8 radiator. It’s not a 19” /6 rad. It’s not a 26” like you’d find on the later AC cars but plenty of the V8 cars did fine with 22”. Lack of a battery hold down is an issue, but it may have just been an oversight. Maybe the battery needed a charge or was recently replaced, hard to say it’s always been like that from a couple pictures.
The car isn’t perfect by any means, I think those giant MSD boxes are completely unnecessary nowadays, way better and cleaner options available. But I don’t think “cobbled together” is a fair statement either based on the pictures.