Formal? But of course. Nobody has beat the system yet.
Not to brag, but I may have come as close as anyone I know... once.
First car, wrecked 74 Imperial, really ugly fiberglass cloth/resin that looked like giant piles of snot holding the broken header panel together... not my work, but I never corrected it. I never did find a front clip or enough spare change to buy one... but I wanted only the 74 grilles (I used to think they had a spring loaded mount, but mine were broken). The car had jumped a curb and run through a chain link fence (much stronger than you'd think). I bought her for $50 and a drum set I'd paid $50 for years earlier (no use for it in a one room apt).
Replaced a bent lower control arm, but never got to the bent stub frame (the strut arm had pulled the frame back a couple inches or so), so I bolted the the strut to the LCA with one bolt, in the wrong hole... and had to borrow a 10k lb porta power to do that. Replaced a dead PS pump and fooled with the rear brakes (dealer could not locate rear discs in 1986). Spent a week driving with a couple pieces of wood between the one rear caliper and leaf spring, wrapped tightly with an old coat hanger to make sure it didn't slip off while my buddy in a shop got the broken caliper bolt drilled/tapped out of the mount. Tried to tune more out of a tired and abused driveline... and beat the ever loving dog poop out of my first 440/727. Steered 2 or 10 o'clock (can't remember) to go straight.
Drove half a year, burning up the majority of my wages on gas, cigarettes and adult beverages for the "road trips" that went nowhere (I did pee on trees on front lawns all over the south hills of PGH, maybe that's why it still seems to be home). I'd drain the oil left over in the cans to keep her full (pumping gas had a few perks) and use whatever leftovers I could find for most everything else. Discovered Whitlock Automotive $1.99 fan belts were pure crap, and had to buy new shoelaces for my work boots after getting her home one evening.
18, learned a lot in a little time with her (like frame shops are NOT cheap). One Sunday, I decided to roast the tires on a brick road with a curve, and the front end let go... I can't prove it, the single bolt holding that strut had sheered, but before or after hitting the curb/guardrail will remain in question for eternity. Traded her even for 76 Volare RR that a buddy had stored in a horse pasture for a few years... open title, but we had found the old notary that would forge the signatures for you and didn't even charge us extra (later on, he was the same one that accepted a "yep" as proof of insurance too... I think I had 8 plates at one point).
I always looked when another Formal Imperial surfaced (not too often), once had a customer with a nice black 75 coupe... I thought he was nuts back then when he told me what he paid (5k) back then, turns out he still would be...