Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

In C55 news, I picked it up from the bodyshop yesterday, rust was taken back to bare metal, rust converter on, left 48 hours, taken back to bare metal again, primed, painted, put back together, and then they did the bonnet to get rid of stone chips. Looks spot on. Oh, the dent guy also went over every panel, so it's 100% straight. I dropped it off at the garage I've been using to MOT and service it, and do the final things on the (frankly scary) list they came up with when I first bought it.

Hopefully I can pick it up before the weekend.

You're quite right... BTW here's a little film about my mate, Anna, talking about her love of old cars... She's the best, I'm also in love with her husband, Dapper Dan... Deffo would... With Dan... Just to be clear...

https://youtu.be/VhKTazoWBxA

Meet James the dent guy- useful chap to know if you drop stuff on your car

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I enjoyed the recent Car Wow video about dent removal. A real talent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odFP7n9dOOo

It's very clever work, and it makes a huge difference to how the car looks.

Rust on the bottom of a door skin - repair or get a door from a scrappy. On my 2003 Vauxhall combo van, looks like the rust on the bottom of the passenger door is fairly bad, paint lifting, so if it gets through an mot might repair it. Don’t want to spend a fortune as I only use it for mountain biking trips. By repair I mean pay someone who knows what they are doing to repair it.

How much is a door from a breaker?

will it be an mot fail? i thought it had to be near suspension mounts/safety issues

Might not be the door that is an MOT concern, but that if it makes it though said MOT then fixing the door becomes something that might be desirable?

Seem to about eighty quid for a bare door with no fittings. Not an MOT failure issue more should I bling it up with a non rusty door if there’s a few years left in it (it’s only on 80k ish and has a fairly sedate life)

That's got to be way cheaper than having the rust fixed. My C55 cost £1,250 for all four wheel arches and the bonnet, plus dent removal, for context.

It's a lot more about the adventure than taking on another project car, I've still got a mostly solid mini shell that'll be getting an r1 engine at some point.

@ricky2slicky The plan has evolved slightly, we're now looking to buy one each as he's a native polish speaker and has family there, if time/money/reliability allows we're gonna try and take a detour to the nurburgring on the way back.

Sounds a bit like my beetle experience but probably far lighter, guess I'll keep an eye out for a spare engine assembly! Glad to hear they're not too cramped, was worried I'd end up driving it from the rear bench seat.

She's finally up for sale - w460 om606 £16k

Do want, but have nowhere to keep.

On a different note, rather than flogging my 911 around Brands Hatch, what would be a good, inexpensive rear wheel drive car to use for this purpose from Spring onwards next year?

How about a Z4, as I have proved they can be had for less than an MX5 in good condition. Mind you, I bet you could make it expensive!

RX-8

MX5.

that'll be getting an r1 engine at some point

Fucking hell mate! I hope it'll be one of the big bang engines! Those things sound menacing flying by.

rx-8

I'd end up rebuilding the engine in the first three months of ownership

mx5.

I've never owned a four cylinder car, and I'm quite tempted to see if I can never do so (very silly I know).

How about a Z4, as I have proved they can be had for less than an MX5 in good condition. Mind you, I bet you could make it expensive!

I was just looking at 3 litre Z4 coupes on Autotrader, if only they were slightly cheaper!

An e36 would probably be the quickest cheap car I reckon.

More likely a 5pw as the promotive complete kit supports them, the big bang would be rad but I reckon it'd be far more costly to make it work, afaik the 5pw can also handle some boost without taking the head off ;)

e36

I thought that.

It's the sort of car that can be left on the street too.