XB Falcon 500 GS Hardtop Resto

[XBGS500]

Hi All,
Well this has been a (very) long time in the making. My XB that I bought as a 2nd year apprentice mechanic, drove as a daily driver for 2 years and then put in dry storage for the last 15 years has finally made it's way back into my garage and it's now time to embark on a restoration to get it back on the road.
image.jpg
For those that are interested I got a little excited a week ago and contacted Ford to find out about the car:
SIDO 359983
Model Code 18313 - Falcon 500 2 door hardtop
Engine Code Y - 302 CID V8 2V
Transmission Code B - Auto Cruisomatic T-bar floor
Paint H - Tropic Gold
Trim B2 - Black cloth trim
Options 03 - Seat belts, mandatory
06 - Power steering
16 - Black vinyl roof
32 - Sports console
39 - Carpets
48 - Rallye Pack
56 - Driving lights
71 - 11 Transistor pb radio
Date of Manufacture April 1975
Selling Dealer: Cooper Ford

I started collecting parts for this thing back in the late 90's early 00's and managed to hang on to it all that time including during a 12 month stint overseas where it and all the parts almost went to the tip.

Work is pretty full on these days and severely limits my time to work on the car, so I have pretty much all but decided to outsource the body and paint. However reading through a few project threads off and on here for a while and seeing many people having dramas and spending vast amounts of money only to have to get it redone, doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.

If any of you who have been down the panel and paint road are able to give me some advice on a good panel beater / painter and any pitfalls in getting this type of work done I would greatly appreciate it. Im in Melbourne but will trailer the car anywhere to get it done right.

I'll post some more pics of it shortly.
Cheers,
Mark
P.s how do I resize images?