1961 Chevy with all the pain and glory

[metalprelude]

First Post-I've purchased my first truck and it needs a lot of work. It has rust in all the normal places and bondo in some other places. This is my first foray into a classic car and I'm sure that I made mistake by choosing this specific truck but, currently, I think it's awesome. I worked in a mechanic shop to pay for college so I have a good basic understanding of repairs and maintenance. But, restoring a classic truck is a big departure from changing the brakes on a Civic. I'm taking stock of what I like and what I don't to make a list (and budget) of what items need to be addressed first. I want to dump the straight-six and three speed in favor of a small block 350. I'm considering donor trucks/cars as I'd want an updated rear-end to handle the new engine and it looks like an automatic transmission will be easier but, I still love the manual. (Both my daily-driver and my wife's are manual transmissions.) I'm also looking at repairing the rusty panels or just replacing them. Not sure what would be better over the long term. Additionally, I need to replace the floor pans as the driver's side has some serious bondo issues and the passenger side has some spots where you can see daylight. I'm not expecting a show-truck but, I want to be proud of the final product.

I'll take any advice or opinions from those who've gone through these same issues.

Here's a picture of my son hanging-out of my new toy.