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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.
