#1 Regarding your initial inquiry - Having spent 25 years regularly working on and showing my Darts, NOTHING creates more interest at a show than a car with a story! Figure out how to condense your car's story to a couple of large print (easy to read) pages and get ready for the questions, comments and stories to roll in. Be sure to scan your photos and put them out there for all to appreciate with labels. There will always be some jerks in any crowd, but let them be as water off a duck's back!.
#2 There is little that you can do to improve (read - make safer) your car's handling than hunting up a pair of factory LCAs with sway bar tabs and install the factory set up.
#3 there is a special socket for those ball joints and it is worth the cost to buy one since you intend to have the car for a looong time.