I think the first step is removing the word "perfect" from your vocabulary.
Perfect = $$$$, which doubly sucks in regards to cars that rarely, if ever, left the production line perfect.
As Richard Rawlings famously said... "
you make your money on a car when you buy it, not when you sell it." Truer words were never spoken, and they apply to parts as well. Ebay, Craigslist, junkyards, and forums like this are your friends. Use them wisely. But keep in mind they can royally screw you if you're foolish. If there's someone selling a part for $300, there's someone else selling it for $200, and probably someone else trying to get rid of one for $29. Use your resources, take your time, and wait for the best deal. I've known way too many fools who've paid top dollar for everything on their car and realize too late they've dropped $75k into a car worth $25k, and they only realize this when they decide they've had enough and try to sell their car to get their money back.
Lastly, I think anyone who restores a car these days needs their grey matter checked anyway.
It was one thing when the only way to get into the hobby was to buy a POS parts car and restore it because even drivers were priced ridiculously high, but these days the owners of all those ridiculously high cars are selling them off in droves and it's much cheaper to buy a good driver than to try to restore a POS. If I were you, I would find a sucker to buy whatever you have, save up some extra money, and buy that nice $25k car that some fool dropped the $75k into. You'll save a lot of time, money, and effort.
