Many of us buy cars that need new interiors, paint etc and pay MUCH more. If the car runs ok and has few electrical gremlins it isnt so bad. He should be able to get it into running condition for under 2K total and a couple months of intense weekend work. Then he'll be at the point where many of us have started for a heap less money. The difference is he's taking the time to clean everything up along the way as he goes, so it'll take him a bit more time, but he'll have a nice finished product. Kudos.