I totally hear what you say. Let me clear up a possible misunderstanding. I am NOT saying that a project car has to be running and driving. What I AM saying is that if you cannot hear the engine run, you must assume it needs to be rebuilt. And if it does not run, that means you can't see if it will move under its own power. So you don't know if the transmission and/or clutch are any good. Again, I would assume the tranny needs to be rebuilt. It is up to the seller to adequately prove/convince the buyer that the engine, tranny, etc are in operating order. If the seller cannot do that you really have to assume it all needs to be rebuilt. If one pays too much for a project car hoping that the drivetrain will be OK and not cost you a lot of money, they will likely wind up spending a LOT more than planned on it. That is all I was saying. One has to consider things like that when buying a project car. And about the rust; once the paint is stripped, there is usually at least twice as much rust under the paint than what you can see before.
