Dammit - I decided to treat a patch of rust at the front of the drivers door step, where it curves up to the A pillar - as I scraped the flaky rust off, there it was - my first hole

I know there's rust elsewhere, so I'm now faced with the choice of re-shelling or restoring

There's strong arguments for each choice, and I reckon the cost would be roughly similar at about two grand

What do you think?

Not a easy one Nigel,

I would make good on what you have, keep it *original*

Well Nigel I'm going to state the obvious, the only way to stop the dreaded red stuff is to cut it out. You may be able to make good, but you will probably find more red stuff the further you delve. Modern day chemicals are pretty good but only stave off for a little longer. If you choose to patch up, you will be using filler as well. Tough one right enough.

£2K sounds a lot for a restoration Nigel, how much rust have you found ?

If it's sills and the base of the B-pillar then that massively reduces the amount of painting.

To re-shell the coupe would be more than £2K unless your going to do all the donkey work yourself, but it is a lot of work !

Nigel, unless you have had a full inspection, then we are talking educated guess work, might be worth getting the old girl in the air, and having a proper long inspection to see what you are dealing with.

Or am I right in thinking you already know of some specific problem areas.

Nigel, I would re-shell her.

That way you can sort any little niggles out, may be do some race mods to the shell!!

But it's your choice !!!

There are a few sprinty shells coming up for sale soon and I bet Joe (CC) can get you a few! Lol

The rust areas that I know about are:

All four arches bubbling
Bonnet shot to bits - replacement required
Rear quarter panel (below Pininfarina badge) - gone all the way along the bottom edge
Rear of door step by B pillar
Front of door step by A pillar
Driver's side flitch (the panel behind the shock body)
Undertray mounts (the vertical bits just ahead of each wheel - bottom 2" has disappeared )
Boot floor - where it joins the wheelarch - both sides

That's it really - I might even get away with a half-spray, as the glass line upwards is still very good

They are starting to rust, aren't they
I've noticed on my new coop there's spots of rust here and there, and that's the stuff I can see. I think this is the real big problem that could kill off the majority of coops in the next 5-10 years. Who's going to bother spending a couple of grand treating rust on a car that's worth less?

Didnt you have this painted not long ago with your insurance.?
If so surely there must be some sort of a claim there.
Its weird how these coupes seem to rust individually.
I sub out all my bodywork to a place down the road that i have used for years.
There second to non with the finish.
He replaced a rear 1/4 panel and both outer sills on a coupe a few months back for me and said they were very easy to do.

Once they begin to Rust Nigel, no amount of work will restore it, sorry.

If it were me, I'd reshell or do something else I won't say on the web.. I'm serious BTW

shell quality is crap, you'd be better off to get a donor shell, BARE & rework the whole thing, that means on a cradle & strip etc...NOT cheap, .....actually it's VERY cheap prepping if you do it yourself, I reshelled a car on my own years ago, easy, but depends how FUSSY you are.

Even my old bucket has a sign of rust, treated so far, but I know It'll come back, compared to your mileage, you've done massively well

No car maker makes them to last, or else they'd all be out of business

Your shell doesn't sound that bad. I think even with a re-shell you'd be spending a lot of time treating / preventing rust otherwise a year or two down the line you'd be in the same boat.

At least with yours things like the bonnet and front wings can be bolted on which would allow you to break the cost down a little / keep the car on the road.

ME! probably

Don't forget with using a second hand shell that the vin is locked with the reg. number.

If you wanted to use your exsisting reg. number either use a brand new unregistered shell ( with proper reciept) or transfer your present number off, with the DVLA, while it's still mot'ed.

Please note you CANNOT transfer your exsisting number to an OLDER shell.

What he said.

But then, I can't help taking the view that it's like a house. You get it how *you* want it, and sod the resale value...

Ah well - decision made

I've taken advice from three people whose opinion I really trust - Carlt, Paul at Motormech and John at EuroEast. All three have said that transferring my go-faster bits to a good, late shell is the way to go

So - I think I'll run with the rustbucket for the remainder of the year, or until a suitable donor car turns up.

Shame really, but I'm not THAT attached to the car that I'm willing to throw silly money at keeping it alive

However, it does mean that when I find a good car, there will be quite a few bits becoming available as they're stripped off - watch this space

And me, I'm spending close to 2K on the car. I didn't even pay that for it! What I'm saying is, what "normal" ie none enthusiast would spend that? My sister was moaning yesterday she was fed up of getting "big bills" getting her 106 through the MOT. £200 - WOW


Nige - I think it's time for another 355

Can't understand this rust issue.
Mine is a '95 vintage with a tiny 1/2 penny moon on 1 rear wheel inner arch edge.
Absolutely no rust anywhere else even in those hard to find places.
Perhaps galvanising was better on earlier models.
Let's not also forget that rust can also indicate a poor repair.
This isn't meant to wind-up the 20V boys, just an observation.
BTW, you can buy my shell for 1500 quid.

Might be down to the miles - its driven in all weathers - salt has taken its toll over the years, as does driving through the big floods a couple of years ago (had water coming up the bonnet )

So's mine, Nigel - with very little obvious rust, certainly nothing in the 'about to drop to bits' department.

But Joe tells me the original 16v uses heavier gauge steel for the bodywork... which might or might not make a difference. Depends how good the original galvanizing was, I guess. There are certainly rust spots, but the obvious ones on the floor-pan are easy to fix. The one that concerns me is the corners of the boot, at that seam along the sides. Looks very tricky to fix properly.

Not wishing to alarm you, but that's the straw that broke the camel's back with my car - all the other rusty bits are relatively easy fixes, but according to Carlt, the joint of the boot floor to the wheelarch is actually a three-layer pressing and is very complex - this was Carlt's comment:-



It was this comment that made my decision - the last thing I want to do is throw several thousand pounds at restoring the car, only to be going back again in three years

Yes, Carl raised the same point with me a couple of years back.

However, given the history of mine, even with its relative lack of value given other classics, I'd certainly like to investigate how this might be repaired.

I never see a spot of rust on the 16v's or even the 20v n/a's..
Was having this very discussion today at Chatsworth.
Weird.The p plate coupes are always good and the newer they get the worse the rust is.