My oldest brother, who has been a certified welder since 1988, would say to closely inspect the entire frame and body with a fine tooth comb to determine whether it's worth continuing the project, or if it will be nothing but a money pit.
I just remembered that in 1985 my Dad's youngest brother bought a beat up old 1967 Chevy Nova SS, when they pulled the carpet in the trunk there was a massive diagonal weld line, when they did a title search with with some early Carfax type company that it was shown the back driver's side corner of the car was badly crushed by a dump truck in 1971, they most likely welded on a replacement. He was able to race it on the quarter mile once finished, but that weld line disqualified it from shows, even though it was covered up with carpeting, it still had a damage and repair history that made it ineligible.
