During my last restoration job I done, the owner of the cat said to me, you just keep finding things to repair, this car wasn't that bad when it came to you. Most people seem to think that their car is in pretty good shape, when in most cases a car that is 30 years, or older usually has quite a bit of problem areas, and things that needs to be fixed.
Usually these cars have had a lot of miles put on them, and been driven in bad weather, snow with salted roads, rock chips that turn to rust, bad repair work that has compromised the integrity of the car's body and frame, a collision that has been repaired with short cuts to save money, and number of things can contribute to the demise of a 30+ year old car, just think of the things that you went through during the first 30 years of your life, you car has had at least the same if not more.
A restoration is all about locating all the problem areas of a car and fixing them, to bring the car back to factory, if not better specs, most people restore a car for nostalgia, for a memory of the past, and just want their car to be like they remember it as it was when they first got it, they want it restored to it's original glory, of course some people want to take it a step farther and do some custom work to their prize possession.
Before the customizing can begin, the restoration needs to be finished, there are a lot of things to consider when restoring your car, and all of them should be looked at, I'm going to provide you with a short list of the top things that need to be looked at when you decide to restore your car, rather you have a shop do the work, or you do it yourself doesn't matter.
1.First look at the overall condition of the car, or just a good eyeball scan, get some paper and a pen and write down the things that stand out, the things that are highly noticeable right from the start.
2.After you do your eyeball scan, it's time to go a bit deeper, if you noticed any rust spots, or dents of the car take note of the locations of these areas with pictures, if your ready to start the restoration of the car, you can circle the problem areas with a sharpie before you take the pictures.
3.Now that you have completed a basic inspection of the body of the car, it's time to look at the engine compartment, and your going to be looking for the same things here, of course with a few additions, look first at the overall condition of the engine compartment, look for rust, dents, and all the same things that you looked for during the inspection of the body on the car, also you'll need to look at the engine, do a basic inspection for leaks, fire up the car if possible, and listen for knocks, rattles, clanks, clicks, and any sound other then the sound of a smooth running engine, be sure to note these noises on your note pad, or make a recording of the sounds that you hear, now we'll talk about the wiring in the engine compartment, here you want to look for wires that are just hanging, and not hooked to anything, you want to look for added wires, and redneck wiring jobs, look for things that don't belong, missing insulation, wires pulled for the harness, or just general wear on the harness, document this with pictures, and take notes on the problems.
4.More on the engine compartment, you'll need to look at the engine mounts to see if their broken, or damaged in any way, also look for redneck work here to, like mounts that have been welded to repair them, instead of replacing them, look for quick and dirty work, look for things that just don't belong, inspect the rubber in the engine mounts to make sure that it's not rotted out.
5.Look at the carburetor, check it for leaks and proper operation, if it's a four barrel make sure that when the throttle is all the way opened that the two back barrels are opening, make sure that the butterfly doesn't stick, check the carburetor for general cleanliness, and take a picture of it to document the problems with it, so you know what needs to be done.
6. Look at the radiator support, check it for rust, dents, and holes that don't belong, document what you find.
This is just a short list a a few things that you need to look at, I could not in an entire day write the whole list of things that you need to inspect, but you get the idea here, the job is not a small one, and if your planning to restore a car, make sure that you learn all you can about that particular car, it'll make that work a lot more enjoyable and fun.
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