Thanks for the update. Keep working them. Hope you have a good outcome.
Actually, from a body-guy's perspective...and a guy who's fixed a bunch of cars and trucks that looked just like that, It doesn't look that bad. Yeah, sure, the frame is shot, we know that. However the Pass door looks pretty much unharmed, not even scratched at the front end ..from what I can see. That's encouraging. That tells me the cab probably didn't get damaged. Of course you'll have to put your eyes on the mount area.
Once you get all the twisted & damaged front sheet metal & parts off, things don't look nearly as bad and then a guy can can better assess what you have and the engine, etc. I mean yeah, If the engine is fine...cab good, then you have something to work with. Even if a few accessory brackets were bent, or the AC compressor was busted (probably needs a new one anyway after all these yrs!). Those parts are easy to swap out. Could be fixed. Depends on how bad you want it. You just fix one area at a time and keep going.
It sounds daunting ...and it IS some work ....but really all you'd need to do is
1) Frame. Find a used frame (check the Marketplace ads and salvage yards). Used frames are generally pretty cheap. You'd need at least the steering/suspension and steering box.
2) Front parts. Get all new front parts & bits (a lot of that could come from a salvage tk/yard). Down in Tx you should be able to find good rust-free parts. Fenders, front header, bumper, inner fender liner, etc
3) Replace wear parts with new. Buy new critical parts like new radiator/condenser, new suspension bushings, etc. New/used airbag. New grille/lights/bumper. Those aren't that expensive. Course it all ads up.
4) Boxside: Unbolt and slide the box to the side, partly off the truck (don't need to even remove it from the truck), cut the damaged side off the box with a spot-weld cutters and weld a new ($500 for an aftermarket box side) ...or used, box side on. That's a day to do that job, taking it slow.
5) Get it front-end aligned, new tires.
6) Paint. Figure out what you want to do with the paint. At the least paint the one side all the way over and blend into the driver's door. But at that point you might as well paint the whole truck. Check with Maaco. If the sheet metal you put on is straight, and you sprayed the jambs and inner fenders before installing them, then it's a matter of sanding the new body parts down and re-spraying them.
Then yeah ...if you put on new suspension bushings and other new parts, new paint, she'd look even better than before! 'Ole Red' will be show-ready!!
