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...I don't know where you live, but here in NorCal the trick is to wait for the really swell ones to come up on CL in reasonably complete condition in your size. Almost without fail, every time I've bought something that was gonna need a lot of work, either on the paint or in finding appropriate components because the originals have gone south, something nicer and relatively pristine comes up within another month.


I stopped buying the tougher projects a few years ago. The rusty ones and the stripped frames were fun at the time, but that time is past for me. And I'm only now getting the last of them finished up. it's very easy to end up with a long line of projects in the garage that will take several years to finish, because they always take longer than you thought they would.