Best car to learn bodywork

[rich.]

this may seem a like im a trouble maker, but have you thought of an mgb?? they rust everywhere & there are lots about for reasonable money & if you cock it up you can buy a new body to cover up your mistakes..

[Martin Evans]

There's me expecting to see you recommend a Micra .

A Midget would be better, as it's a simpler shell.

[JPB]

The Micra would be a good idea, but you don't weld that up alone. You get well-known British movie and TV star Anna Friel to do the metalwork while you sit back and drink beer, so maybe not the best way to practise?

[Willy Eckerslyke]

I was thinking of suggesting a Land Rover too (though JPB beat me to it). I reckon you can still get a Series 3 for similar money to a Herald. But when it comes to bodywork welding there's only the bulkhead and grill panel. You can have hours of fun patchworking the chassis though, and parts are even cheaper than Triumph bits. Values seem to be climbing fast so they're one of the few classics that I believe can leave you in profit after restoration. Except that to make top dollar you'd replace the chassis with a new one, leaving you even less welding practice.

[majcd213]

Cheers all- swaying between metro and herald- landy would be great but then I want to learn to weld car panels and so bolt-together doesn't really help. I think it will probably be a metro as they and their parts are cheap (really cheap) and plentiful... now I just need one that needs bodywork but has enough MOT to get me home....
Thanks for all your help.
MIke

[JPB]

It depends on how accurately you would be looking to repair the shell, but assuming you were thinking about replacing entire panels, I'd recommend popping into your local college library and taking a look at the Thatcham Methods slide covering the Metro shell before buying anything.

They're slightly more logically assembled than the dear old mini but, in some areas, are a disaster waiting to happen if you simply set to and replace metal in what at first seems like the right sequence.
Assuming that you're equipped to do it though, go for it. K10 Micra survivors outnumbered miniMETROs by more than 5 to 1 in 2002 and I can't imagine that figure having changed in the ARG product's favour.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[rich.]

There's me expecting to see you recommend a Micra

am i that predictable?

[JPB]

There's me expecting to see you recommend a Micra

am i that predictable?

Yes. Thing is, Anna Friel and I would have backed you up had you chosen the Micra, but they rarely rust enough to become interesting projects. Which reminds me, I'm still waiting for photos of one that's for sale locally and can't now remember who the seller is, or was. Knowing my luck it'll have gone by now.

Well someone has to buy one and save it, even when that someone's surrounded by other old cars that have been "saved" since last September.

[rich.]

There's me expecting to see you recommend a Micra

am i that predictable?

Yes. Thing is, Anna Friel and I would have backed you up had you chosen the Micra, but they rarely rust enough to become interesting projects. Which reminds me, I'm still waiting for photos of one that's for sale locally and can't now remember who the seller is, or was. Knowing my luck it'll have gone by now.

Well someone has to buy one and save it, even when that someone's surrounded by other old cars that have been "saved" since last September.

i would have gone with a micra but ive never seen a rusty one on the other hand ive seen and owned/welded lots of rotten mgs...

[Martin Evans]

There's me expecting to see you recommend a Micra

am i that predictable?

Yes. Thing is, Anna Friel and I would have backed you up had you chosen the Micra, but they rarely rust enough to become interesting projects. Which reminds me, I'm still waiting for photos of one that's for sale locally and can't now remember who the seller is, or was. Knowing my luck it'll have gone by now.

Well someone has to buy one and save it, even when that someone's surrounded by other old cars that have been "saved" since last September.

I'm sure you'd rather work on Anna Friel's bodywork.......you're not stalking her are you.....what if she's a member of this forum