I think it is a great rig to buy and simply add the axles and stuff back to it and quickly have a hardcore rig. ..lol...there is way more than $1500 in fab work in that chassis ...some big axles some 42+ tires and it would be a monster today just like 2005 .
Had a set of Balsa wood sliders for sale that would have spruced it up nice ...they were extra beefy .125 wall which normally is thin for direct contact stuff but being cryo treated Balsa it should be beef.