The guy that is selling it has a few, and says he only buys ute's with good engine bays and good trays. He said that the motor and g/b are fine, and it drives quite well. I mean, I'll see soon enough, I just wanted to get some info first. Thanks for your help so far guys.

well, the guy assures me that the engine bay and tray are close to perfect, and the interior is quite good. I plan on paying around $500 for it, which is the only reason I am interested in it.

Worst case scenario....

2x rear 1/4's........$400
1x tailgate...........$165
2x front guards....$165
2x sills.................$200

The doors look ok, so, for around $1500 I could have something that wouldn't be too bad, (apart from paintwork!) if the ute is what he says it is.

Thoughts? I really need to know so I don't end up with a turd box!

Thanks.

Well, thats it, I'm thinking that it will be a LOT cheaper to get replacement panels than to have the origonal ones fixed up. At least then I would have a straight body, and I would be able to start from scratch with rustproofing, etc.

I mean, the thing is roadworthy too, aprt from the rust!

Just wondering if you guys could take a look at the following pics, and let me know what you think about this ute. It looks a bit rough, but I was thinking that nearly every panel can be replaced cheaply. But, is it too far gone? I know I have seen something worse that has been restored. How much would you pay for it?

Thanks for your time!

Leigh

1200 Ute Pic1
1200 Ute Pic2

Cool, so if done properly they should be fine, right?

Well, I can tell you that they are still reasonably hard to find. A lot of them are owned by old fellas that have had them since new and still putt around in them. Finding them cheap and in good condition is a hard task. When I bought mine, I didn't want to pay a fortune and I also wanted something in origional condition so I didn't have to look after it too much while I gathered the funds to have it fixed up and re-sprayed. Most restored or modified ones will go for around the 6,000 to 8,000 mark. I looked at about 15 different ones, and most of them were bog on wheels!! The one I ended up buying was in origional condition, perfect engine bay and perfect tray. Only thing wrong with it is the sills are rusty, and hopefully they will be easy to fix!

...that is all!

Hope that helps you a bit!!

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on this situation for me.

I have a 1200 ute that is in overall pretty good condition apart from the sills. They are quite rusty to the point where it would not pass a roadworthy, and apparently, this is quite common. Can these be repaired properly to be undetectable?

I was thinking of getting some sheet metal strips bent up to be welded in. I think this would be the way to go.

Can anyone advise on the best thing to do here?

Thanks for your time.

Leigh