Complete bare metal restoration. Or not?, Opinions? Pitfalls? Options

[stevegm]

We are getting ready to have the little bit of rust in my '71 914-4 fixed. There isn't much rust. The car is in pretty good shape, and was complete when we bought it. Here is the build thread - http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=242895

Just curious on your opinions/experiences:

Should we do a complete, bare metal restoration. (i.e., remove every nut, bolt, wiring, etc.). We would do a complete media blast of the entire chassis, which is attractive.

or

Not remove the suspension, dash, wiring, and work around it. In other words, leave the hard to remove stuff in. With the latter, we would leave a lot of the original paint in the nooks, crannies, etc. But, it would be a lot easier.

I know that many say that you should not do a complete tear down restoration, because most people don't finish them. But, I have the time, and want to do it right. The car isn't one I am planning to sell. It is a keeper.

Opinions?
What are the biggest reasons you see people not finish their complete tear down restorations?
How long did you restoration take? What were the biggest slow downs?

[Gudhjem]

I'll add my 2 coppers, since I have some experience now with this undertaking.

I started my resto planning on fixing the floor pans and the crack in the drivers side long on what I thought was a fairly rust-free car. That was 4 years ago. I'm now in the middle of a complete tear down, handling all of the metal work myself. I'm about to update my thread (http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=115210&pid=1428359&mode=threaded&show=&st=&), but my point is this:

If working on the car is your hobby and not a full-time job, it will probably take you a very, very long time to drive it again. If the objective is just to drive it, maybe you should repair only what's needed. But if the objective is also to enjoy the journey, if, like me, you really like working on this stuff and take pride in finishing it with everything dene just right, go the full resto route.

It's pretty clear mine will take way longer than my most pesimistic estimates, but I don't regret it, since I love working on it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

--Steve