The car im bringing home tonight has been sitting at least 10 years. I popped the cover off the master and the rear resevoir was empty but the front was still at a decent level.

The brake pedal is totally stiff. The last car I had with a similar condition,I blew the master cylinder up when I pushed the pedal to the floor,with a good deal of force needing to do so. By "blowing up",I mean I pushed and pushed and suddenly there was a loud pop and then the pedal went to the floor and wouldnt pump back up.

Is there any hope in saving this master cylinder? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new one?

power or manual?

Manual drum brakes

Sounds like the rubber is stuck to the sides.
If they tear, its done.
You could try soaking it in something like marvel mystery oil or diesel if you have some on hand.
Otherwise you are wasting money and just need to get another one.

Of course this would mean taking the master off the car...Correct?

I simply do not understand the question.

The brakes are shot, they need to be replaced before it hits the pavement under it's own power. You are all jazzed about getting the car but don't want to pony up for the $40.00 (or whatever) for a new master cylinder? You do know that if the MC is shot (and empty) the rest of the system is junk too, right? Almost sounds like a MoparJamie post!

since the rest of the system is probably shot, then I would just leave it in place.

In the op's defense, if it isn't going to run for a while, why spend money on a part that may go bad or die while you are working on the car.
If it only has to stop when being loaded on a trailer or dropped off the trailer, why not get it to just work good enough and then rip it all out when it is ready to be rebuilt.

I wasnt implying that I would like to take shortcuts,I simply wanted to know if the master cylinder could be revived. I know its not wise or adviseable,but I just wanted to know if it was possible. Master Cylinders are cheap enough,as I have already priced them,and I will certainly replace the one on the car,prior to making it road worthy.

If you were going to change it then why ask?

Maybe you want to keep it all original? I don't think I'm understanding the question either.

If you want to keep it original, the obvious choice would be re-building it if it is possible at all.

If you don't know whether or not it is a good candidate to "rebuild", then when you are ready to get to it you should have someone that would know for certain take a look at it.

The only way to know would be to take it off and inspect it. At that point, if it is usable or not you can either re-build it, have someone rebuild it for you or simply toss it and get another... it'll have to be removed in any case.

Maybe a little more explanation would help us answer better??

~Angel