But if you're not prepared for the backlash of the crank then you could easily get hurt, so better be careful, after all it is an engine.

There is a good reason starter motors were not considered to be a luxury by the public at large, even though Henry Ford thought otherwise. He lost a lot of market share due to that decision alone. With some luck there is a starter motor there, which will make this a lot easier.

Fun fact: the Citroen DS's sold in 1975 still had an emergency starter crank shipped as a standard, and you could , if you really wanted, still crank it by hand. I tried once and figured that it had more symbolic than practical value.

You can see the hole for the crank clearly here:

https://cdn.classic-trader.com/I/images/1920_1920_inset/vehi...

If anything then getting such an oldie to run and take it for a spin will make you appreciate how much you take for granted when operating a modern car, and that even though conceptually nothing has changed the implementation itself is what makes all the difference.