Sorry if this offends anyone, but its not actually about a VW!

*hides*

Mates got a 1951 Ford Twin Spinner Ute shell (quite quite rare from what I can work out). Its pretty damn old and rusted and from some of the rebuilds I've seen of VW's around the traps it appears some of you have had to deal with shells of this quality before.

Wondering what the reccomended process would be to go from a rusty old shell to bring her back to life? Or is it past its used by date if its advanced rust on the shell?

TIA.

pics mate?

Anything is restorable. You may end up replacing more than what is original though.

I had a look at an Aston Martin at a motor trimmers yesterday that cost $100,000 to be restored. That was the body, paint and assembly.

Looked pretty sweet.

First step would be to spend the $500 or so getting it bead blasted.

The floor and chassis can be sandblasted though, as it wont warp. The sand blasting will rip through the rust and show what it really has.

This is like getting a pre purchase inspection on a second hand car. Is it worthwhile.

I have seen a few people get the floor and under vehicle blasted only to scrap the whole thing.

Better losing $hundreds sooner than $10,000 later

Hey it may only have a few holes in the floor pans. Easy compared to chassis replacements.