Time for an update.
So the body has been in the paint shop since April now, and we are finally getting close to seeing some colour on it. Ran into a number unforeseen issues with the body and pan that either needed to be fixed or that I couldn't leave be.
First discovered some minor corrosion under the primer randomly around the body. Looked like after the PO stripped it down to bare metal, that it was not wiped down properly prior to priming. So off came all the old primer and back to bare metal she went.
Second issue came up by fluke really when one of the driver's door hinges was being replaced. I brought the pan into the shop so the body could get bolted down tight and help line up the door and new hinge. (Keep in mind I bought this car with the body just sitting on the pan and had never bolted it up myself) Upon trying to bolt the body down it became evident that the pan had a twist in it somewhere. So I get the phone call to come down to the shop to check out the twist. So off comes the body and there we are measuring the pan to find out why it's twisted. PO told me that he had replaced the pan halves, and that's where the problem turned up. Turns out a less than perfect weld holding the rear of the left pan had let go creating a twist. Soon as that section was clamped tight, bingo everything straightened out. But now that we started looking at the weld job we found a bunch more little things that "probably" should get fixed.
So with a now straight pan and the body bolted down, it's on again. Door hinge gets replaced. Now Kelly (the body guy) decides to bolt all the fenders and hood and lid to check for fitment. And another phone call to come down to the shop. Something was out of whack in the front apron area. shit!!! Here we go again. Back when the body was taken back down to bare metal, a number of small patches here and there were found, they looked fairly well done at the time, but with the body sitting square and flat on the pan nothing was lining up. It was all closed but not great. It seems that the PO didn't square anthing up before welding in any of his patches. Soooo, out come the patches and replaced once everything is squared up. This included the front apron, the hood, all four fenders and rear body mounts. Now with all the doors, fenders, hood and engine lid fitting just right, it's time to get back to why the car is there. PAINT. So although the car's been in the shop much longer than expected, I'm super happy with the job being done.