Originally I removed the body from the frame and set it on the garage floor. That didn't work well because I could not get to the whole body and I couldn't drag it around very easily. So I bought some steel and had some of it cut to 4 and 6 inch pieces. Then I welded them together with the longer pieces to create a stand that can be sized to fit what I want to put on it. Also I can break it down for easy storage.
Now the body could sit on the stand and be moved anyway I needed it to be. This worked out well and it cost about $50.00 to make. I may make some shorter legs so I have the option on the height I need to get work done.
I welded some wheels from Harbor Freight to give me the mobility I needed.
The frame was full of rust but that was easy to see and repair. The body was full of rust and much of it was covered up by paint and body putty. There were a lot of older repairs made to the body and in many cases the the new metal was just braised over the rusted spot. I cut most of the braised metal out but in some places it did not make sense so I just left it in place.
All of the body paint was removed and the bad sections repaired. I did all of this by hand but if I do another one I'll find a bead blaster and get things like fenders and doors done commercially. It just takes too much time to do it manually. Also I would put the body on a trailer and have that done but I would not do everything at once because it would be hard to keep ahead of the rust with bare metal.
The rear end needed lots of work. I tried to work the metal to get the dents out but there were so many rust pinholes I finally had to cut most of it away and replace the metal.
The grill area looked OK at first but when I tried to fit the grill I found that nothing fit and it was pretty rusted out anyway so I cut out the braised sections and added the steel that I needed to make it work.