Rusty ‘78 308 Purchase

Hi all, considering a ‘78 308 GTS that’s had a cheap repaint years ago. I can see some body filler in it, and several rust bubbles. I’ve read about repairing the doors and am less concerned with rust there. However both quarter panels have rust bubbles behind the rear arches above the black-trimmed break line on the most visible surface as well as on the underside of that 90 degree bend where the body-colored upper quarter comes in to meet the black line. One bubble in the bar aft of the targa top, and one on top of the quarter panel alongside the engine lid. Tiny bubbles in the 90 degree corner where the rockers meet the quarters. There is filler in the panel surrounding the rear glass. I read here that most have some rust, is there a right price for this one? Overdue for a major, has some oil leaks. Looking for a driver, doing my own mechanical work but no experience with bodywork. I'm budgeting for a full repaint regardless as the old one has failed and shows crazing throughout.
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I've seen much worse! Ignoring the filler repairs, with a bit of luck those small bubbles may be just under the surface and not into the metal? Maybe from poor body preparation the last time it was painted. You never really know until you push a scriber into it! Someone should develop a small xray machine you can run over the body of cars to check metal thickness

 

That doesn't look horrific, but you never know how bad it really is unless you strip the paint and filler. How not to let the rust get worse might be more practical if you are looking to buy one. Just some thoughts.

 

Appreciate your insight. I think I will revisit it with a magnet to get a better idea of what I'm in for. A few rock chips show what looks like two very thick layers of silver paint. I've read these have...inconsistent factory paint. Hopefully it's just the one cheap respray done so far. Just wish it was ratty original paint so I'd be able to see all body/rust issues. Appreciate any other pointers when checking one out.

 

If the rust is on the outside that’s one thing… If it’s coming through from the inside that is a different ball game… just saying…..

 

Some of those rust spots, especially the one in the very first picture, look like the painter tried to address prior to respraying. It looks like the respray covered up a significant amount of surface rust holes and now those are starting to grow. The problem is, you can address all of these bubbles, but you don't know where the next bubble will appear!

Personally I would buy the car if it were a good deal, but I would plan on either making it a rusty, fun, knockaround 308 that I drive and leave in parking lots, sit on, etc OR I would plan on having it professionally media blasted down to bare metal and start over completely with the paint. Any half measure is going to look like this again in a few years

edit: looking more at the pictures -- the final picture looks like it has a significant amount of body filler combined with not great sanding. Something weird going on with that part, wouldn't surprise me if it were badly rusted and rebuilt with body filler

 

With bodywork looking like that, I would also take a good look at the front outrigger portion of the chassis as well. You really need to remove the front wheel arches to get a good look in there.

 

Thank you for all the input. Had it on a lift and the frame is solid (was not able to remove the inner arches though) but the engine is covered in oil, lots of play in front wheels and some bad wiring throughout. 39K miles, needs a major, and the cosmetic concerns. Lots of filler in addition to the rust, unfortunately both in the same areas so afraid of finding even more rust taking it down to metal for a respray. Driver side B-pillar/buttress is full of filler, can't imagine that was a collision repair. As Cameron noted, that is likely a bad rust repair. Looking for a sort of ratty driver but don't want a disaster project I'd be financially buried in. What would you offer for such an example? Seeing clean 308s (clean-looking, in photos, this one looks good from a distance too) online for $60-70K that seem to need little more than a major service and a new owner. Is this a $20K, $30K car in 2023?

 

You could maybe go off bids from the low end of bring a trailer for comps https://bringatrailer.com/ferrari/308/. Lots of those show the combination of some rust and lack of maintenance. I would guess somewhere in the low $40k range would be pretty fair at the moment. If you can talk them into $20k-$30k and then decide to pass, let me know! I believe that is more like the range for cars that are wrecked, in pieces, have serious mechanical issues, etc