GT6 GT6 Repairing Rust in Rear Quarter

[petrops]

I am narrowing in on a GT6 and have 3 candidates all of which look to be pretty good .......
except.......
each has some amount of rust in the rear quarter. I replaced rear quarters on a GT6 about 35 years ago but must confess that I don't remember how challenging it was and probably did a hack job. I am looking to you guys to tell me how easy/rough it can get.

The first and worst has gaping holes along the bottom seam for about 9 inches. In truth this may be the best of them as it is original paint. It certainly looks like the rot is not confined just to the outer panel. Likely hits the inner panel as well. This is a nice original car but the rear rust is considerable.

The second and third look to be similar. Just some blistering on the lower rear quarter with paint that is 10 years old.

The question is: Should I go for the nasty case and appreciate the fact that it is original paint and likely that it is a case of "What you see is what you get" or should I like the idea that there is just a little bit of blistering coming through 10 year old paint?

And how hard is it to do a full replacement of a rear quarter and what if there is inner panel damage as well.

Thanks guys.

Jack

 

[Mark Jones]

Well, with original paint there isn't going to be bondo hiding more damage. The other two may be just as bad or worse, depending on how much bondo may be hiding.

I replaced the rear quarter and sills on my Spitfire two winters ago and I found the panel fit was very good and the job of replacing them wasn't that difficult. I'm very happy with the end result.

 

[tdskip]

Tough on Jack.

I've never done this on a GT6, but the larger the replacement panel the more difficult the alignment would be, no? Once rot getting into the inner panels the job can be much more difficult since you potentially lose you alignment/fit reference.

I agree with Mark that if you don't know what is under the paint you are looking at potential surprises, and those are rarely good.

Have you tried the magnet test on the other cars? If the other cars were simply repainted and there is some bubbling it might not be that bad off, but try and poke at those spots hard if the seller will let you.

DON'T TRY TO DO THIS ALL REMOTE - get a local person to look at the cars in question.

Hope this helps.

 

[CinneaghTR]

There are some specialist books and articles on Spit/GT6 quarter panel replacement out there for reference. I can dig through my stuff to get the citations later if you need them and after you decide on a car.

I would go with the most original and known car, meaning you have the best idea of what you will be getting yourself into. There will always be surprises.

Also, take into account the cost of the overall restoration/refurbishment. Does one car have OD, the hard-to-find bits, etc., that will be better in the long run?

 

[trfourtune]

blistering is a very, very bad sign. It means someone did some kind of cover up job before. Unless you can see what's there, it could be much worse. If you can get the owner to strip the area inside the car so you can look at it form the inside out (lights and mirrors usually required), forget it. I am not familiar with gt6 details, but this stands true for most. The underneath could have a bunch of tar hiding what's there. IMHO
R

 

[vagt6]

blistering is a very, very bad sign. It means someone did some kind of cover up job before. Unless you can see what's there, it could be much worse. If you can get the owner to strip the area inside the car so you can look at it form the inside out (lights and mirrors usually required), forget it. I am not familiar with gt6 details, but this stands true for most. The underneath could have a bunch of tar hiding what's there. IMHO
R

That's excellent advice. It's assumable that if there's bubbling, there's more extensive rot behind the bubbling and there may a lot of it. In fact, with such signs you may assume that you're going to need extensive rust abatement work possibly including sheet metal fabrication, sill replacement, maybe more. That's serious work, unless you have near-professional level auto body repair skills.

However . . . IF you have the skills to fix it, not a problem. But if you don't (and you're paying someone else to do it) you're going to get over your head in this car very quickly (i.e., cost of restoration will exceed retail value of the car). That doesn't take much for a GT6.

My tuppence worth: wait for a better example. Patience is the greatest of virtues when purchasing these cars.

 

[petrops]

Thanks to all of your for your great feedback. I am dying to get back in to one of these but as some of you have pointed out, patience is the key. I will likely pass on all but the original paint opportunity and will have someone take a look before I make the trip (Allentown, Pennsylvania). BTW it does not have OD.

Jack

 

[vagt6]

It took me over a year to find each of the last two GT6s I purchased. The last one, a rust-free '70 GT6, took almost 18 months to find.

It was worth the wait.

Good luck to you, let us know . . . :thumbsup:

 

[UmmYeahOk]

Just how original is this paint? I mean the cars 40years old (or almost) Something could have happened in the 70s, something could have happened in the 80s...

...but more importantly, if youre going to fix any rust on the car, youre going to have to sand away that originality, as well as paint over it. The very second you start to restore that car it will lose its originality. With that in mind, I would pick the car that needs the least work.