Evaluating the shell with Barry. 

I've been holding off posting pics and my ignorant opinion about the state of the metalwork. 
But now the shell has been seen by a few folk who know what they are talking about, here goes. 

Mustn't speak too soon, because it's not yet been blasted. But I think there's a fair amount of good news. 
Based on research so far, it looks like my car left the UK for Australia quite early in its life. No salt on the roads there, I'm told. It seems a lot less rusty than some UK shells I've looked at - see what you think of it from the pics.

Barry is optimistic we can keep the front inner wings (with localised repairs).
Bulkhead is good, no accident damage kinks, and we can see some original Signal Orange paint there. 

Moving inside the rear seat area is original and seems good. 
Surprisingly (to me) the floors are also original - new edge repair sections have been used to blend them into a sill repair, but the main section (and the floor boxes, central tunnel etc) is all factory metal.

Round the back, and completing the good news section, we have nice straight rails and the original rear slam panel.
No sign of previous accidents here and all nice and sound.