Bought a 63 club wagon....it begins!

Well, done a lot of reading here but finally found a van of my own, not as nice as I wanted but pickins seem slim here in Florida. Its a 63 Falcon Club Wagon, don't think its been registered in the last 20 years. It has a 260/289 in it and some sort of automatic trans, probably a C4. As I cleaned it out and removed all the crap inside I found a lot more rust and hacked metal than I had seen previously, paid $650 for it so I'm not out too much, the seller started at $3500!

My plan is to turn it into something I can drive distances as well as haul some stuff occasionally. My current idea is pull the motor and trans and replace it with a 2.3 duratec and 5 speed manual as well as lower it a bit and put it on airbags so I can maintain a good ride height even if I have it loaded. still doing plenty of research so any tips are greatly appreciated. Looking forward to it and plan to share pics along the way.

Pictures below if they worked.

Congrats on the Van! Pretty cool, I like the side trim on those. Looking forward to seeing your project.

Congrats VanMan on your new purchase. Keep those pics coming as you move along. And remember...it's only metal. Cut some out, weld some in. Your van looks nice from where i'm sitting.

Thanks! Uante, I've been following your build thread, nice job!

I plan to do some cutting and welding but no plan right away to repair all the rust spots. If I tried that it would turn into a several year project and never get done I plan to get it reliable a and driveable while still wearing its 50 year old paint/charm for a while at least. I will however try to weld in patch panels for the awful camper roof vents someone hacked into the front and rear roof. Also I need to fix the floor where the previous owner utilized a bat rather than a shoehorn to fit the 289 v8 into the dog box.

-Rob