I'd gone back to work about the same time that oil last was a hundred bucks a barrel and our BJ7's paint job from the 1980s was bubbling. Upshot: a lot, lot, more than a paint job.
Fenders had a swack of fill that we didn't know about, and the question was: steel replacement fenders, or clean up the originals? Made a guess and bought replacements, and they took a lot of 'fettling' - might have been a better idea to rework the originals, but you never know. It all took man-hours and skill.
The car turned our really well (body and various mechanical upgrades etc. etc.). I can't justify the money that the project absorbed, but it sure made sense for me (since I was able to 'unretire' for this second time) to turn my personal man-hours into getting paid, and ship the money to the shop. I can justify my man-hours in the office, as the end result was vastly superior to me spending the same hours, sitting in the garage, overwhelmed.
The car is sure amazingly done!
PS: 'rally pods'? On our Sprite, we call them 'bugeyes'......