GT6 gt6 rust, top of windshield

Hi to the Forum

I am close on a '73 GT6. The owner has done a nice job of describing it to me. There are 2 areas of rot. One on the rear quarter lower seam. This does not worry me too much. The other is on the roof seam over the windshield. He reports that there is rot right through the sheet metal in this area. This seems like a pretty tough area to fix correctly. I am wondering if anyone has run into rot up there and has found that it can be addressed properly.

As usual, your opinions are greatly appreciated

Jack

The roof seam is an odd place to have a lot of rust if the rest of the car is ok, I have never heard of that before. I think it might be pretty hard to fix unless to are a pro and very good.
My first reaction is that I would suspect there is a lot more rust on the car that you don't know about.
Having said that, you can fix almost anything if you throw enough money at it....
I would dig into the condition as deeply as possible...

Mikey

According to the various buyer's guides that is a common rust area. Mine has a small spot there and I am dreading getting to it. Check the Hayne's restoration manuals or some of the Brit publications since they take those kinds of repairs on more frequently (at least in print).

Mikey's right, go over the whole thing yourself if you can. Good luck.

Getting the curve there right will take some work...

svtmikey said:

The roof seam is an odd place to have a lot of rust if the rest of the car is ok, I have never heard of that before. I think it might be pretty hard to fix unless to are a pro and very good.
My first reaction is that I would suspect there is a lot more rust on the car that you don't know about.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. As "CinneaghTR" noted, it is a very common rust area on the MkIII GT6 (less so on the earlier GT6s, which still had the bolt-in windscreen frame). Being somewhat of a compound curve area, it is difficult to repair. I've also seen a few of these later models with rot in various parts of the windscreen pillar area. Thing is, on some cars I've seen with that rot in the roof or pillars, the cars otherwise were fairly solid!?

Yeah Andrew
Seems like the Mk III had some unique rot issues. This car seems solid but for this spot. I really am hoping someone has encountered this particular problem and has found a way to deal with it.

Jack

That's a relatively difficult area to fix, depending of course on your body work skills (and time). And, if it's rusted completely through the sheet metal you can be sure that the peripheral area is rotten also, maybe all the way down the A-pillar area, and more.

You note that there's also rust elsewhere. This may be a warning sign telling you to wait for another GT6. MK IIIs are not that difficult to find.

Two rust areas mean one thing to me: there's a lot more rust that you cannot see.

My tuppence worth: wait for another MK III unless you have near-professional body work skills, or this car is <span style="font-style: italic">really</span> nice otherwise.

I think you are correct Mark. This has to be a tough area and the unseen damage has to be considerable. I appreciate your tuppence

Jack

I looked at a '73 GT6 a year or so ago, and it too had rusted through at the front of the roof. Research online suggested that the back of the Mini roof is exactly the same curve, and can be used as a patch panel, but of course Mini roof panels aren't exactly common over here! I saw the reference in a couple of places, but I don't recall seeing anything about anyone actually trying it, so don't take this as fact - might be easier than trying to fabricate from scratch, though. There was a Mini roof panel on ebay.co.uk at the time for 20 Pounds, but the shipping was scary.

Cheers
Alistair

For whatever it's worth: Minis were sold in Canada for many, many years after being withdrawn from the US market. That might make for slightly cheaper shipping?