Thank you all for the input!
Now about the car itself. It's a 1978 Malibu wagon that I recently picked up. Story says it was predominantly a California car, but moved through Arizona, Missouri, and finally Illinois where I picked it up. It has 95k on the odometer. with the stock 305, TH350, and rear end in it still.
Since it was a (mostly) southern car, it is entirely free of rust, which is rare up here in the northern states. I plan to keep it this way, my rule being it never see snow and/or salt. Right now, the plan is to get everything in working order.
The car is extremely sound mechanically speaking. The 305 has a bit of lifter tick, but that's not too concerning as it's getting swapped out soon enough. The trans shifts quickly and firmly, the plan being to rebuild it to handle a little more power later on.
The gauge cluster has seen better days; the fuel gauge constantly reads full, the charging and temperature gauges don't work, but at least the oil pressure gauge does.
The plan is to get it running soundly and slowly start 'rodding it out. All is up in the air for now, but what sounds good is a mild street build 454, rebuilt TH350, and possibly a 9 inch conversion for the rear.
Here's the best picture I have of it so far, right after some carb cleaner and a new air filter getting some fresh gas. Seems as though it has a rather cheaply done paint job, but a little buffing is proving to turn that around quite nicely.
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