Hey Guys,

I'm thinking of purchasing a 72 Notchback & I am in need of some advice as to where I need to look as far as rust is concerned. I've only ever really been invloved with Beetles & Bay Kombis so I'm not real sure where to look.
I have not seen the car in the flesh as yet but the owner has sent me the following picture that is supposed to be the worst area. What sort of damage could I expect to find once I removed the front guard to repair this? Is this a common area? What other areas do I need to look at that arent readily visible, but may get picked up on a blue slip inspection?
Its about an 7 hour round trip to look at the car so I wanted to get a bit of an idea before I made the journey.

Thanks
Brendan

This is a fairly common area, I would look closely at the rest of the car.
As a starter, check the :
Bumper mounts, top and bottom corners of the front guards, lower rear guards and doors, lower sections of rear window, sill panels and under battery area, floor pan behind seats ( especially under the matting).
Under the bonnet area check the inner front corners ( almost always rusted where there is extra reinforcement panels on the post-68 cars), the front bumper mounts, rear panel of the dash just in front of the fresh air inlet ( always check under the grey vinyl trim),
Hope this helps, finding a rustfree Type 3 is difficult and repair panel hard to find & expensive,
Cheers, Patrick.

Good advice from Patrick as covered most areas that I know of. If the price is right then its worth repairing bottom and top corners of guards or getting replacements. The rust in the pic isnt a real problem to fix, just a bit fiddly. Have a look at my posy in Members Cars under 71 fasty resto. I have a few detailed pics of rust including this section. Dont forget to lift up as best as possible bottom of rubber seals for front and rear screens. Dont quote me but I think you may be able to stick head under rear guard behind wheel and with torch look into the water boxs where the release flap is.

don't forget your magnet, extendable mirror and flashlight and chequebook. hope it works out for you

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm away on holidays at the moment so will not be actually having a look at it until a couple of weeks time if it still available.

Cheers
Brendan

You can probably have a quick look through this thread when you get a chance - it was a notch resto I did for a mate that uncovered a few nasties once I dug a bit deeper.
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=63595 

In summary, under rear window seal, under brake fluid res, bottom of a-pillars, guard/body mounting surface (can't check until the guards are off), and a few others!

Al