Thanks, Dogdays, for the virtual slap in the face - I needed that, LOL! You're absolutely right; I'm being penny wise and pound foolish. It's pointless to drive 40 miles to buy a used piston, just to save a few bucks. I'll order one from Rockauto and be time and money ahead.
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You realized that missing portion melted/burned away. Had that happen to a 43 that massively overheated. That smeared metal on the rings is melted aluminum.
Odds are very good more than just that piston has issues. I would put a smogger 400 in place of that 383 before I tried to cheaply fix it and only if I absolutely had to have it running to get rid of it.
Supercuda, I'm guessing there may have been an intake manifold leak at the #7 cylinder, which caused that one to run way hot. After cleaning off the other pistons, they really don't look bad at all. And, as noted above, I have been unable to locate a suitable replacement motor, so I'm proceeding with my plan to keep this one. There's not a huge demand for '66 Coronets, and I can't count on selling this car in the next two months. Hence, I need to get it running in the meantime.
Oz, I hear ya! 
I know I've got my work cut out for me, but I really think I can pull it off. For one thing, I'm not restoring anything to the standards that I would if I were keeping the car. I'm just doing some basic cleanup of parts, and doing the repairs. I also decided today that I can skip doing the power steering pump, brackets, hoses, etc. Same goes for the electrics (except for the ignition circuit). This car doesn't need to be completely road-worthy; I just need to be able to start it, and move it around in my driveway.
