It’s a 50 . the 49′s had pull door handles and the 51 had a one piece rear window. It was the first American car to top one hundred miles an hour since after WWII. Ferrari and some Alphas I know had to be faster. I still think BMW stole the rear lights and used them in the neu class 1600 etc.

Wait – what is being built in photo #2?

The rust you see is surface rust, and it’s easy to repair. It’s the rust you can’t see on the frame you’d have to worry about.

The biggest challenge with a car like this is finding a balance between restoration and actual worth. I don’t have the values book in front of me, but I think these cars typically don’t fetch more than $50K for one at the very high end. This car is pretty low-spec, so a restored model’s probably only worth about $20K. As is, I’d guess this one is maybe $10K.