Well, there was a member here from New Braunfels, TX that had a rust-free SC body shell available last year. It was pre-stripped of parts, and available for $50. Nobody wanted it for that give-away price, so it went to the crusher.
For a little gasoline and a 3-day weekend it could be trailered a long way. Probably even have it shipped for less than $500, maybe way less. $550 won't go very far towards proper rust repair when you're looking at replacing the bottom half of a car. Swapping bodies is a winter job, and the opportunity to find/fix/detail a lot of stuff along the way.
Or, just chuck the whole thing, buy a southern car, and start over. Airfare is relatively cheap, and the cost to drive it back is also cheap stacked against rust repair.
Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather do anything than dig into a rusty body, knowing the amount of work, money, and time it requires. And, at the end of the day, it's still just a patchwork.