Is there such a thing as too rusty?

porschenut said:

A hundred years ago Excellence did a resto of an early very rare 356.  What they started out with was pathetic, bet they spent a hundred grand on parts and labor.  I never understood why, think the shop did it to prove they could.  I threw out a couple 914 tubs that were too far gone, the doors would not open until it was jacked up in the middle, watched the door gap grow by a half inch.  Looking at 914 prices now they might have been worth fixing.  So I guess the answer is anything can be repaired if enough money and time are spent.  Why is the bigger question.

or when

Over the weekend, a friend shared a link to a cool BMW Touring for sale. 

There's some crust on the tailgate, I replied.

Nah, he said, that doesn't scare me. 

So different scales for different people. 

David S. Wallens said:

Over the weekend, a friend shared a link to a cool BMW Touring for sale. 

There's some crust on the tailgate, I replied.

Nah, he said, that doesn't scare me. 

So different scales for different people. 

Maybe even different scales of scale for different people. 

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Yay, someone found it. :) 

In reply to Appleseed :

And just think, the others are still down there...

Yes and no as the others have stated. 

When I dragged this 240Z home almost 20 years ago it was too rusty to restore.  I paid $250 and got this car plus a Wisconsin Title - everyone suggested it was not worth the cash/time to invest.  Start with a better one I was told as it was nasty given it sat on a cold and damp dirt floor in Wisconsin for 20+ years.

The question like the Mini Cooper is where are we at in the value of the cars at the moment?  Would this be a better candidate to restore today?

Datsun310Guy said:

Yes and no as the others have stated. 

When I dragged this 240Z home almost 20 years ago it was too rusty to restore.  I paid $250 and got this car plus a Wisconsin Title - everyone suggested it was not worth the cash/time to invest.  Start with a better one I was told as it was nasty given it sat on a cold and damp dirt floor in Wisconsin for 20+ years.

The question like the Mini Cooper is where are we at in the value of the cars at the moment?  Would this be a better candidate to restore today?

 

 

I've been looking at this photo for five minutes and I still can't tell wtf those ARE.....

stroker said:

Datsun310Guy said:

Yes and no as the others have stated. 

When I dragged this 240Z home almost 20 years ago it was too rusty to restore.  I paid $250 and got this car plus a Wisconsin Title - everyone suggested it was not worth the cash/time to invest.  Start with a better one I was told as it was nasty given it sat on a cold and damp dirt floor in Wisconsin for 20+ years.

The question like the Mini Cooper is where are we at in the value of the cars at the moment?  Would this be a better candidate to restore today?

 

 

I've been looking at this photo for five minutes and I still can't tell wtf those ARE.....

Having cut a few of those up that's the firewall and floors upside down.

In reply to chandler :

Correct - that big yellow horizontal piece on the concrete is where the dash bolted to.  I cut off the roof and sold it.  

Appleseed said:

If they can pull a P-38 out from under 268 ft of ice and make her fly again, anything is possible.

A hell of a good story but not a good analogy for rust.  That plane had none.  It was perfectly preserved albeit a little bit crooked.  

In reply to A 401 CJ :

But the "anything can be restored with enough determination and money" is 100% relevant.

Depends on the car and ones goals. When I bought my 1800ES almost 20 years ago, by pretty much all accounts it was too rusty to restore.  15 years later, the values of the cars has increased to the point where that assessment isn't quite so clear-cut. It's at the point where if I restored it myself, I might make a small profit on materials (not on my time).  

But I mostly look at the car as a blank slate to do what I want to, rather than modifying a more original example.  Unlike many folks who are looking at these cars to modify, I actually have extensive experience with a stock 1800ES.  Because of that, I know what I like and don't like about the cars and what I want to change and how.

Appleseed said:

In reply to A 401 CJ :

But the "anything can be restored with enough determination and money" is 100% relevant.

I still disagree.  You cannot "restore" what isn't there.    

With rust you get into a George Washington's hachet "restoration".  We replaced the head and the handle and it cut just like when ole George had it!

In reply to A 401 CJ :

That does depend on your definition of "restore".  In the case of some cars, the value is in the VIN plate. I still remember watching a barely recognizable hulk of a '69 Dodge Charger R/T sell on eBay for almost $10K. Maybe the firewall was salvageable. Pretty much every other piece of steel (and every mechanical component) needed to be replaced. Did someone restore it? Who knows... but it might have been the basis of one of the carbon fiber bodied Chargers I've seen. 

Also the really rusty ones give you opportunities to do really dumb things.  .

Rust made this build possible.  Without rust the shell wouldn't of been cheap, the donor cars wouldn't of been affordable, and it would of been impossible to justify doing this to a restorable 360.  

They are all opportunities if you can figure out a vision that takes advantage of what's left or the value present.