What a gem you have found! Being almost a 50 year fan of drag racing, I have found these to be extremely rare! I can see it is very heavily rusted, but looks like it may still be solid.

I normally would sand blast, using a local blaster who is very experienced so they don't ruin the sheetmetal by warping it. I don't think other media are abrasive enough to clean this completely....

...but on yours, it is so heavily rusted, I would onlu consider dipping it, because of all of the hidden areas that are rusting. What concerns me is that if you do not stop the rusting, it will continue, even if the outside is nice and shiny. A couple years down the road, I would expect to see rust bubbling from those folded body areas, like door edges, and closed in areas that cannot be stopped any other way. At that point you will be losing the paint job, too.

If you aren't willing to do it the best way, due to cost, I would sell it to someone who will, and go buy a 'glass body with the money. I use this guideline in my own work: "Do it right and you'll only have to do it once."

Fabulous little car! Please post pictures of the project. :-)