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Having gone through a major restoration of a fairly to very rusty car, I will offer my opinion. I think some P-car owners assume their car is rust free because they have seen no rust, but I think rust lurks in most of them. Areas that are the most difficult (some virtually impossible) to inspect are also among the most rust-prone areas. In my car, these were the door latch pillars, the structure behind the forward portions of the rear inner fenders (up above & forward of the fuel tank & same on passenger side), and innner & intermediate rockers (probably outer rockers too but easier to see and was already replaced with stainless on mine when I got it). I also had rust in & in structure behind wheelhouse areas around halfshafts, floorpans, structure behind back portions of rear inner fenders & more at rear. My doors were pretty shot and needed about bottom half outer skins & rebuilding structure, worst at bottoms. Areas below radiator and in headlight buckets are commonly rusty on many but mine wasn't bad there. Granted, mine has substantially been a southeast car, has been driven in rain some (though probably not a whole lot), probably not on salt, and is a very early one with somewhat less spray protection than later factory mods.

We replaced rust with new metal and applied rust encapsulator in most places inside & out. Even then, the insides of the frame rails are difficult to treat.

I did inspect my car prior to purchase and missed most of the rust--and it was a beautiful car before the restoration. It had very little bubbling of paint anywhere, and the extent of the structural rust wasn't very evident. It got great comments on body/paint, even from fellow P-car owners. Even my reputable body shop didn't see a lot of it until they dug into it, despite having examined it some after being blasted down to metal.

It wouldn't surprise me if some of that re-rusts. I'm told that with a unibody construction, all welded, welds induce rust more quickly than just metal. I do think rust converters or encapsulators are key, and we have had very good results with those on other projects.

My (somewhat biased) experience. Was it worth it? Yeah. But I would get someone to inspect it who has been through that on a Pantera before I would buy one as a newbie. I would have bought a different Pantera in retrospect, but I don't regret mine as its uniqueness has grown on me in the process (it's #22). Another one wouldn't be the same. I definitely think a desert state Pantera with no water or salt exposure would be way closer to rust free.
Let me toss this one into the pot,having spent many years 'messing around' with restoring old cars,-the worst problem of ALL has to be the Ever Present rust problem. On all cars. - This is why alot of people that restore cars worldwide make quite extreme efforts to ensure that this is NOT a problem, by buying body-shells & body parts that have not been in an an envirionment or climate that rust can take place.ie.dry/non-humid climates; like here in the Transvaal, South Africa. We here are continually seeing guys coming from all over the world buying just that here in the rust free Transvaal. A problem for us here as this drives up the prices & we lose our local cars. Alot. Certain buyers come here and just buy shells since the mechanical stuff can all be rebuilt properly in other wetter climes, but NOT rust. A friend of mine who rebuilds old Jags has sold 6x Mk2 body-shells this year alone and unfortunately a great many cars are being bought here and shipped out to Australia, USA Britain and Moscow ( mainly US cars.)Be aware that not ALL parts of South Africa are like the Transvaal, climate-wise & so its important to know where the car has been, to determine whether its rust free or not.
A few P.I. Newsletter / mags. ago there was an article on a chap who came out here to South Africa and bought a nice Gt5. It seems he had a fine time here & bought a good rust free Pantera. We have a very small, but quite active 'Pantera Crowd' here in Johanesburg and i am sure we could find one of us to check out a Pantera for a prospective overseas buyer here who may be thinking of coming out here to see some Wild Game & perhaps buy a nice rust-free car.... OR,..if there are any folk out there who are interested in the future buying one of our 'Brand New' Pantera Replicas with all the latest Hi-Tech, highly needed up-grades (suspention, brakes etc.)...... -have a look at ALAN B's posting in the Technical Questions; under :"180 degree Headers" to see pics of this exciting venture of ours. Why struggle with trying to fix old fashioned,out-dated designs when you can obtain one with all the right upgrades first time around. I know i am tired of trying to fix all these problem areas & things myself over the years.(I have owned 3x )
Regads, tai.
You question should really be, "Are there any rust-free 32-year-old cars of any make"? The answer is of course, to be careful to inspect all '70 Camaros, 356 Porsches, XKEs, Panteras etc before you buy. Panteras are no worse (or better) than any other all-steel car of the vintage but I'd do a thorough inspection in all the well-known critical areas before writing a check. I'd also buy a 'Bondo-meter' (AKA a 'paint thickness gauge' before going shopping. Bondo sculptures abound in this era of cars..... I'd also join a marque club to collect info and purcase a copy of the DeTomaso Registry which keeps track of cars that have been scrapped and reincarnated.
quote:
Originally posted by Buttondoor:
Having gone through a major restoration of a fairly to very rusty car, I will offer my opinion. I think some P-car owners assume their car is rust free because they have seen no rust, but I think rust lurks in most of them. Areas that are the most difficult (some virtually impossible) to inspect are also among the most rust-prone areas. In my car, these were the door latch pillars, the structure behind the forward portions of the rear inner fenders (up above & forward of the fuel tank & same on passenger side), and innner & intermediate rockers (probably outer rockers too but easier to see and was already replaced with stainless on mine when I got it). I also had rust in & in structure behind wheelhouse areas around halfshafts, floorpans, structure behind back portions of rear inner fenders & more at rear. My doors were pretty shot and needed about bottom half outer skins & rebuilding structure, worst at bottoms. Areas below radiator and in headlight buckets are commonly rusty on many but mine wasn't bad there. Granted, mine has substantially been a southeast car, has been driven in rain some (though probably not a whole lot), probably not on salt, and is a very early one with somewhat less spray protection than later factory mods.

We replaced rust with new metal and applied rust encapsulator in most places inside & out. Even then, the insides of the frame rails are difficult to treat.

I did inspect my car prior to purchase and missed most of the rust--and it was a beautiful car before the restoration. It had very little bubbling of paint anywhere, and the extent of the structural rust wasn't very evident. It got great comments on body/paint, even from fellow P-car owners. Even my reputable body shop didn't see a lot of it until they dug into it, despite having examined it some after being blasted down to metal.

It wouldn't surprise me if some of that re-rusts. I'm told that with a unibody construction, all welded, welds induce rust more quickly than just metal. I do think rust converters or encapsulators are key, and we have had very good results with those on other projects.

My (somewhat biased) experience. Was it worth it? Yeah. But I would get someone to inspect it who has been through that on a Pantera before I would buy one as a newbie. I would have bought a different Pantera in retrospect, but I don't regret mine as its uniqueness has grown on me in the process (it's #22). Another one wouldn't be the same. I definitely think a desert state Pantera with no water or salt exposure would be way closer to rust free.




Great info Buttondoor!
This IS a great group ,,, I have been looking for some time. Its hard to find nice clean cars ,,! There at your house. I'v had several cars inspected and still no pantera at my house . What I really need is for all Calif. cars to be inspected and "For Sale" so that I can pick one. ( ha,ha, ) Dreaming..


[This message has been edited by shotgungrooms (edited 06-25-2004).]
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