What would make a Coop totally unrepairable?

Obviously if you woke up one Monday morning and you saw Godzilla stepping on your Coop and flattening it (although I think the bonnet would 'hold up' quite well ), then it's probably time to start looking for a new Coop.

But I'm talking about Coops whose conditions are due to not being maintained as well as they perhaps could have been - which can be due to many reasons that are personal and unique to the owner.

In most cases it seems to be a matter of the repairs at this late stage just costing way too much. I know for most people, no matter how much they love a car, there is always a point where the cost just can't be justified.

But say if money wasn't an issue, what would such a Coop's condition have to be like for the money to be of no use? Are there any things that have ever been beyond the capabilities of Coop specialists/welders/body shops/part shops in such a scenario? Or can any Coop be saved if you keep throwing money at it?

That is a VERY good question, as I am hoping to keep mine going for many many years to come.

My father-in-law restores classic Austin's and MG's and he goes to any length to restore them, in no uncertain terms he ids-assembles them to the chassis and then starts assembling with parts which look as good as new when he has finished with them.

However, recently one of his MG TD's went up in flames in the spray shop when a gas cylinder exploded, that chassis was too far gone even for him, it was a bent mangled mess beyond any efforts to straighten out.

I have not dis-assembled any of may cars past the interior out and engine stripped yet and do not think the shell comes apart very easily at all, that fun is yet to come (probably on my 20v na)

This (does anyone remember that stunt in Amsterdam?)

Rot in complicated shaped structural areas that are difficult to refabricate. E.g B pillar. Still do-able but require skill and time which is expensive.

A burnt out Coupé would be beyond repair.

Most often rot, maybe dead engine, or stuff like this:














And this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScFuHMQjxxc

That guy reminds me of Doc Brown from Back to the Future.

I guess when that Coop hit 88mph, it really did see some serious shit.

Just clocked one of the comments on the you tube video:

"When you hit the wall did it click what Fiat -stands for [cloud9].Im.A.[cloud9]......"



That was one crash though ..

Still back to the op's original question I guess it's how deep your pockets are, availability of specialists and it's a personal matter how much you wish to save the car? The rarer the coops become these will be questions and challenges that will become more common to owners. Although it goes without saying in certain scenarios repairs would not be allowed due the extent of damage etc.

There is one limiting factor: class A or B writeoff can't be repaired...

In my experience, just about anything mechanical can be repaired. The single biggest killer of Coupes now is corrosion - it can cost many thousands to put new metal into some of the more complex sections of the Coupe structure and even then, the corrosion is still likely to pop up somewhere else a few years later.

Until Coupes are routinely fetching 15k - £20k, nobody is going to spend £10k to repair one with terminal rust

if the owner falls out of love with the coupe ... it game over...

I just love me coupe as long as she stays faithful and reliable I will spend on her.

I just enjoy driving the coupe. even though I have options.