Paint and body jobs

I'm not looking to anything that extreme..., it isnt a total restoration of the car, just need something driver quality that doesn't look like the car was painted with a brush.

Yea, I had to replace both quarter panels, both outer rocker panels, both inner rocker panels, the entire floor pan, the pass front fender sill, and both front fenders.  At one point the car was only held together by the roof.  I figure I had to replace greater than 50% of the car.  Like I said, I should have bought a second car for the body.  I would have been a lot less expensive.

I do all my own paint and body work on my own cars and still dump more money in them than I could ever hope to recover, even with my free labor. In your case you will probably need to find a very small shop or a bacyard guy to hang your quarter panels. The biggest issue with swaping quarter panels is keeping everything alaigned. Even guys that have the full quarter replacement panels cut them up as patch panels. If you only need the lower portion repaired there is no reason to replace the whole panel. I would only hang a full quarter panel if the upper portion was wrecked so bad that it would be easier to replace it then reshape the existing. Rust damage usually only effects the bottom unless your back window leaked, causing more upper damage. I have used Hornet/Gremlin front fenders (they usually rust out the tops) as patch panels on the rear(which usually rust out around the wheel wells). Patch panels are a lot less work than full quarters and won't let the car change shape if only smaller parts are cut out. The secret is to cut the patch panel out a little larger than needed and slowly trim and test fit several times before welding. You can tack it in place and find a friendly welder buddy to finish weld it for you.

If you decide not to do your car, you could buy a decent car and keep yours for parts. I would not pay huge money to have it restored, but that is a personal decision.