Tom we don't know each other except through this site. But from half way around the world I can feel the anguish you are going through over the loss of a large, very important part of your life. In some ways your 40 may have been what defined you. GET ANOTHER. Show us what'ca got. Build a masterpiece. I'll be watching anxiously for your posts.Man that's a nice straight 40 Wijnand!
That's what you get from 35 years of careful ownership without any accident (other than a broken tail-light lens) and in particular, from keeping a constant vigil on rust-development.
Not one ounce/gram of filler used in any panel repaint (Not even any high-build primer.)
Hard for others to believe that it was ALWAYS out in the weather!
PS. Looking at it again here reinforces my decision to part with what's left of it. The body is the most important part. I'm seldom happy with the work of others. Getting it looking like that again (without any filler), even with all the skills I've developed over my lifetime would be next-to-impossible for me, and even if it were done, the vehicle just wouldn't feel the same.
Edit: They're rugged old vehicles though...
Imagine how much that old engine must have moved around during all those impacts yet it, and all the connecting drive-train and coolant system etc etc, held together to take me over 600kms home without incident and without the need to perform any repairs at all (other than tying the bonnet down with rope - because both hooks were smashed off and the padlock vanished - and swapping the good left-hand mirror for the ground-off right-hand one)
Fan blades smashed into fan shroud:
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Lifting-eye smashed into air cleaner and exhaust manifold smashed into heater pipes:
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Lifting-eye smashed into firewall on other side:
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And I wondered what I was feeling in the steering. (Rag joint rubbing on vacuum line):
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