Well spent some time with a car that I got and it's been fun. It's a car that has spent all or at least most of it's life in the desert.
72 - 1.7 tailshift
I drove the car and was impressed on how well the tail shift worked. Deciede to start surveying the Hell hole and see exactly what I have. There was a lot of crap there so I was hoping for the best, usually it's not this good.

I started by just vacuuming out the corners then with some Maguires #6 just cleaning the surface. I was amazed how good the condition was.

I can tell from the trunks that it's the original factory paint. It's god a few nicks and scratches, but the patina and color are good, and in good condition. I did find something interesting.

The corners of where the seals come together actually have some butyl like the windshield. I believe this may have been a factory thing as there would be no need to add it, and it's all 4 corners.

Here she is -

The result

Looks pretty darn good in there....

The rest looks pretty good too. Couldn't help but to keep cleaning. Yes I will drop the motor to get the tin all clean and new hoses all around.

The records indicate a repaint in 84. Not a great one 7-8. It has some chips and a few imperfections. Fortunately, there are areas like the trunks that were not painted leaving the factory paint which is in pretty good condition. Even the track on the engine deck lid is perfect factory paint. I could tell as the seal had over spray on the edge.

You are just trying to make us jealous. BTW, You thinking about redoing any of the rubber parts?

Pretty much all of them. I know a guy

The drivers side looked good too!
Lots of crap again not sure what I would find

What amazed me was the lack of surface rust from the chipped paint.

Again buytl rubber in the corners.
Anyone have this on their early cars?

Yes, that's exactly how they did it. That car is sweet!

It does have some weirdness at the jack points. Looks like they broke off the tube and decided to cut the plate off. Not quite sure, WTF !! They tried to bondo it over to look smooth. I started removing and will post some more pics. I think they damaged one and decided to remove both? There's not much rust on either side.

The mythical unicorn!

That seemed to be a common practice when the jack tube was messed up or rusted out...
I've seem many with the jack plate gone and a flat piece of stock welded over and with fiberglass patches.


I love it ....you've started down the slippery slope....start by cleaning one spot and end up removing the engine to clean more

Cool! I'm glad that this worked out. I wonder if Don would still have the car if I hadn't asked.

Sounded like he had kind of lost interest. Has a few other irons in the fire. I'm honestly completely (and happily) surprised it cleaned up this good.

You going to leave that sticker in place, Mark.

I've been really tempted to make a new one and swap it out.