When I bought the 66 back in 98 or so it was for my 16 year old son as a project for his first vehicle. The 283 was toast. 2nd Owner was jumping a tractor and had mistakenly left the tractor in gear. When it started, it T-boned the ol 66 and pushed it into a irrigation ditch. The little 283 ingested water, hydro-locked and the moron just pulled it out of the ditch , towed it to the barn and it sat for a number of years.
Son and I put a mild 350 and TH350 trans,, started finding parts and fixing lots of body abuse, rust and mangled pieces. Then sons school grades went down the crapper. Told him he had to sell the truck. (no grades no truck!!)
Didn't take long for me to realize, the $350 he paid for the truck was a drop in the bucket compared to my motor and trans and pieces I had 'donated' to the effort. Gave him his $350 back and .....
Well it's morphed into something the ol farm truck never saw coming....