If you live in IL and get depressed over seeing one pos, used up, over priced, Mopar its going to be pretty tough for you to help this family. There are a boat load of these kinds of cars out there, every make and model with prices all over the board. Its the times we live in.

If you really want to seriously help them, you need to sit down and they need to come up with a plan on what they are after as a finished project, what their skill set really is, what their budget is, and what the time frame they have for the project. The reason you need to be there is for an honest appraisal of their skills, and to guide them to be sure the project they are looking at fits their plans. Their plans and expectations may not match yours. Its important you help them find what they want, and to guide them so they don't get ripped off.

if they are looking at a long term project with which they want to learn build skills and experience, that project they seek may be pretty rough. Rough projects should reflect their condition with a price in the same range.

If the son wants to build a vintage stock car, the Charger you looked at could probably be a great starting point, if what is there could be bought for its parts value. There is a current trend to take old racing chassis and convert them to street use with old car bodies on them. Not everything should be restored.

Just because you can't picture it doesn't mean someone else can't create it. If you are helping them, you help them find what they are looking for, then give them a fair value range of the pile of stuff they are looking at, and then the final decision is theirs. You have done your part, now help them get their project home. If you are unable to do that, maybe you are not the right guy to help them.