Thanks everyone for the replies, this should help convince me it would be a long, frustrating, possibly too expensive a road to take.

I should probably just savor the memories, thank the car for setting me on the mopar path, and devote my time + energy + money to stuff i already have.

Based on what you all have said for potential costs involved on bodywork + what i figured for mechanicals, i could easily be into the rig double and probably triple $$ -- for what in the end would be car with a probable worth of $15K, maybe less. [gold 318 slapstick]

edit - as i just relooked over this thread my young daughter saw Challenger 1's cars in his signature and said "Look at that cool gold car we should get that one !" Haha, the irony...