Cheap Thrills: Jeep in a Box

At first glance, this 1948 Willys Jeep in Annapolis looks like a great candidate for best cheap thrill ever. It's a solid and classic prime beater at an asking price of $1,800. Sure it has issues, you'd think, but for that kind of cash what do you expect? Maybe he'll take less anyway.
Of course that dream would be too good to be true. For the owner of this Willys has gone down the well worn path of destruction. Instead of letting the Willys smoke like pipe, he decided to go for a rebuild, but didn't get much beyond teardown.
So instead of foul-running cheap Willy's, you get a Jeep in a box, which is far less of a good deal. It's not quite clear how far the engine teardown went. Though with the engine out, we say screw it for a rebuild (parts can't be cheap). What would you put in it instead?