Hey there. Welcome to classicbroncos from here too!
Tending to lean towards the new tub usually too. But at your shop's relatively low hourly rate, it might balance out. But the new body usually has the bang-for-the-buck advantage when most of the body is rusty.
As others have said though, yours doesn't look as bad as most. But we need more detailed shots to be sure.
For actual resale value you're already at a disadvantage because you're paying someone to do the work. This is standard procedure for many of course, but has never been the best way to get your money back. History is full of hot-rods and customs built for many thousands of dollars, only to be sold for less than a third of what they paid.
So I would not worry overmuch about that aspect at this point. It's going to cost you more to do than you can sell it for at the current market values if you do it right. If you cut corners and cover stuff up to flip it, you can still turn a buck but won't have any fun driving it while you own it.
Sorry, but those are the generally accepted cold hard facts.
The good news is that it sounds like you want to keep it for awhile and have the nice Bronco you wanted. And are just thinking ahead with regard to value. For that you can have a lot of fun for your money still.
And with luck the values will keep rising for a few more years and you may in fact get most of your money back.
Or not...
It's way too early to tell if the new body vs original body is a hit or miss with values. Not many are out there (that are known of anyway) to compare to. And at the current market rates, unless you have some strange and rare Bronco, a re-painted fully custom one with lots of new sheet metal generally gets more money than a standard restoration. That seems to be changing a bit though, as more and more get into the Bronco fever and start looking for originality and low miles and "rust free" examples.
Some bone stock EB's have gotten some pretty stellar prices.
Of course, you can put a new body on it and literally less than 1% of buyers would likely ever know. How would you tell the difference? Some very minor hole changes in the firewall is the most obvious between a '69 and later models that the bodies are patterned after. But I believe even there some of the bodies are coming with the old and new holes already punched? Can't remember but someone will know.
All variations are very minor and most buyers wont' know or care as long as they get a nice Bronco.
With the B-pillar decals readily available from Marti Auto, making it appear to look original gets much easier still.
Not sure if they have the early decal style that the '69 would have, but they have at least some of the styles Ford went through during those years.
The $75 an hour rate is fantastic actually! Around here it's $200 and many of the resident classicbroncos.com members that are professional restorers can expect their builds to start at $80k and normally hit $100k and higher marks.
So yeah, you're at an advantage right off the bat.
But still not going to get your money back by having a pro do the work. It should be good work though, and won't tie up your garage for three years while you putter about in the time available. But it costs so much more (unless you bill for your own time too of course;D) that return-on-investment goes right out the window in most cases.
There are exceptions of course, but they're pretty rare with any vehicle.
Good luck.
Paul
