I just don't want the body too beat up or rusted. Is that too much to ask?
Probably.
Like Jessie said, you need to figure out what is important to you. Everybody has different priories.
There is no right or wrong.
If you want a nice truck that works good right off the bat, then you need to save your money and go to a used car lot and buy a 2005 or newer vehicle.
If you want something that you can eventually build into exactly what you want and are willing to spend time and money a little at a time, then most of what you saw will work.
Just don't expect to drive it much soon.
The looking you are doing now, is trying to get your money's worth, and minimizing your expenses and time.
Personally, I have never been too worried about looks.
Good thing, since I am no raving beauty.
Well, maybe the raving part........
I own a nice looking car, and try to keep it fairly nice looking. My offroad stuff,
performs.
I don't care what it looks like as long as it keeps the rain off.
As for a nice body, one of the most fun things I ever drove had no body at all. We were never even sure what it was.
It had Ford running gear, so it must have been one. It had a front bumper, no lights, no body of any kind otherwise.
My cousin had it given to him. The PO had stripped the body off and left it sitting in a field for a couple of years.
My cousin figured we might be able to make something of it, and got the guy to give it to him.
We towed it home, and while looking at it I decided to see if it would crank.
I got it to run, ran pretty good in fact.
Of course, no body meant no seats. I don't remember if we used a couple of 2X4s or a sheet of plywood in the frame, but we stuck a milk crate on top.
My cousin lived on the edge of a 40 acre pasture, and it was a blast driving that thing across there.
The tires were all slick, and to get good acceleration I had to put it in 4wd.
No brakes, and the steering had about 3/4 turn of play.
We took turns getting thrown off of it on hard turns. The rear wheels ran over my leg a couple of times, but there was not enough weight to do more than bruise.
Of course, that was 40 years ago, today, it might hurt a little more.
We had great plans for it, but my cousin sold it to a neighbor down the road, who promptly took it out and darn near killed himself by running off the road and into a tree.
Bent the frame, so we didn't want it back.
Probably kill myself with one today, but I would love to have one.
We didn't care what it looked like, or what happened to it. That can be a lot of fun.
and he might have something for you if you ask him.
