To paint or not to paint

["Imperial 59" <imperial59@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That is the question.

So tell me what you would do....

Eileen the '59 Imperial has paint that has seen many a better day along with
a dent in the driver door and a scrape on the passenger side.  There is a
little rust on the bottom of the fenders in front of the doors but that is
about all.

I have had a couple of estimates from the high quality body shops in the
area in the 6k range to do everything.  Unfortunatley after being out of
work for a few months and working as temp for a few more money is tight and
I honestly can't see myself being able to spend this kind of money on the
car for several years (probably five).

I am now considering pulling all the chrome myself and having a "low cost"
shop fix some of the body stuff and spray the car. Would I be worse off in
five years for having done this?  I really want to be able to drive the car
more and mechanically it is in pretty good shape.  I just don't drive it due
to the needed bodywork and bad chrome.  Fortunatley I got lots of decent
chrome off of the parts car before it moved on to parts car heaven.

So tell me what you would do!  Positives and negatives would be appreciated.

                               Steve B.