I've been shopping for a muscle car project for the last few months and i found two local el caminos. One's a 66 and the other is a 65. The 65 looks relatively straight w/o any visible rust from the pics. The 66 says its been stripped/primered and looks like it had some sort of minor fender bender(front bumper is bent it)

I'm in Ca so generally rust is not a huge issue, but i know some older cars have areas that just rust easily.

I think it come down to how much work your willing to do and what condition your going for. Are you going for a mint show car or just a vary nice cruiser. If so you have to look at how much work you will need to achive your total goal and go from therer.

From what I have heard. Some of the body part for the 66 are hard to find. I would look around for part before you make a decision.

I think it come down to how much work your willing to do and what condition your going for. Are you going for a mint show car or just a vary nice cruiser. If so you have to look at how much work you will need to achive your total goal and go from therer.

I'm actually going with a more weekend-racer theme. i just want it to be a clean body/frame and a driver. I'm not looking to win awards or big races, just a car thats fun to race

Rust could be an issue unless you plan on going all out and repainting it. A good body shop would check for and get rid of rust for you while they had it in, so... Yeah. Apart from that if you're going to build it as a racer I'd just go with the one that had the best body and frame. Might replace the engine on down the line anyway. Just my opinion though.