[Jtrux]

I would definitely drive it for awhile and the reason I say that is because once you start to tear into it, it could be a very long time before you ever drive it again. You might decide once you drive it that you'll want to do a "rolling restoration", where you fix thing as you go but not so much that it stays undriveable for a long period of time. For instance; get the brakes situated, give her a thorough tune up replacing all fluids, belts, hoses and maybe a carb rebuild and just drive it. Start replacing the other things as you go but try and keep it up and running if you can.

Just my two cents.