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I have been into cars since I can remember having various fast Peugeots, VW, Impreza's and over 30 Marlin kit cars several I still have a Marlin Cabrio 24v V6 cosworth powered but this is a concours show car that only come out if there is not a hint of moisture
I have had several quite practical sportscar/kitcars also but wanted something sporty and practical so this is when I started hunting for a MX5 and found Charlie, she was in a salvage yard as a CAT d, but she only required a headlight, bumper and headlight
The deal was done and within a few days in my garage looking rather sorry for herself, totally filthy inside and out but once washed I could she that she had been a well cared for car.
Further inspection and doing my homework I found the rear sills rotten and several places on the arches in a bad way
I also found the front chassis rails to have a few small holes in them
and for one moment I thought to cut a run but the discovered M-m forum and Wayne for advice, and it turns out if repaired correctly this is not a big problem. 
I forgot all about the accident damage as this could be fixed in a few hours and started on the rust, with the chassis rails, everything near them was removed to gain access, and all the rust cut out and metal shaped to the hole size and welded in, then the whole chassis rail was enclosed in a folded steel box and welded the full length from back to front. Its was treated inside with Waxoyl and the outside painted, Shultzed twice and Waxoyled. While I was at it, the whole front end removed, bumper, wings, radiator, lights etc and everything Waxoyled before been put back together.
I was happy with the front so turned to the sills and thought ow my god this is a 7 year old car but hey ho, I have a friend who has a body shop that I have used for years and also a TR and MX5 specialist and is going atleast 1 MX5 a month. I agreed with him to do most of the work but he would do the prep work and painting.
So I got started
First of all cutting the external bodywork away, finding the internal sill, very rust but with 1 small hole in each side, this was quickly plated up and the hold sill, cleaned, rust killed and primed, painted and rust proofed. The external bodywork was welded back in place having sourced these from a specialist, The arches metal was rusted and this was cut away and new metal welded in. I then trailered the car to the body shop and handed it to them. I kept popping in to take pictures
When I went to collect Charlie, I could not beleive the change in here, I also got them to repair the bumper. I asked the bodyshop to not wash her as I wanted no water inside and of the panels before she was treated.
Once she was home she was treated to a full cavity Wayoyl, includding heating the Wayoyl up to it was like water and pouring it down the rear arches to get everywhere. I have also Shultzed the inside arches includding the arch lip and covered it with a special wheel arch lip seal to prevent water getting to the edge. The whole of the underside has been Shultzed and then Waxoyled.
So now I am on to the prep work to get the car looking amazing but wanted some mudflaps but thought the Mazda moulded flaps are to expensive so put STD peugeot flaps on usung Riv nuts in the std wind holes to fix them on
The interior has been stripped out cleaned and put back in, the leather seats have been cleaned, leather fed and protected.
So this is present day, I will keep a update of Charlie's progress but its all about detail now
