I can't speak for the car that originated this discussion as there are no earlier pics.
But, yes... it's possible for a car to get mostly all new metal without those parts being that bad off.
This one got more than maybe was necessary, but it needed a lot. He took it on as a challenge, and did a hell of a job considering it was about 4 months worth of nights/weekends from the start to final blocking.
Not a perfect car, but a pretty nice car. Sold right at about a year after work started on it.
http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/c...w/Restoration/
http://s217.photobucket.com/albums/c...20RS%20Yellow/