What to do with a rust bucket

[Mrbenn]

I have a 2nd '77 roadster which mechanically was great (until I took it off the road). But body wise it was an absoute shed. I can't really afford or justify the expense of getting it back on the road. But the engine and running gear are really good. What else can I do with it? I did see that there was a few people using Hawk 289's and also there used to be a Lotus 7 replica the Locost?? I think. But the 289 has a 5-6 year waiting list the Locost seems to have disappeared.

What I have left doesn't seem to be worth a massive amount split up and it doesn't seem to sell as is. If I had a garage I'd have a crack at rust repair myself. But as it's sat under a cover outside there may not be much point.

What would you all do?

[Not_Anumber]

I built a Hawk 289 in the 19902 or more specifically a flatter sided Hawk Ace body on a Hawk 289 chassis. Great fun though an expensive hobby that was frankly only achievable as I went halves with a work colleague who later bought out my half when he came into some money. It used MGB front and rear suspension but a Triumph 2500 6 pot engine (brought up to TR6 spec) as a believable stand in for the original's Bristol 6 pot engine which are just not affordable and available. I considered building with an MGB 1800 for about 30 seconds, concluding a heavy 4 pot engine didnt tick any of the boxes.

I had a lot to do with the Locost community for some years as I bought and rebuilt an MK Indy which the later Haynes roadster type Locost chassis was was based closely on. (The original Locost was largely replaced by the Haynes version of the same) There a lot of Locost/ Haynes roaster 7 esque builds with exotic and modified engines but an awful lot that have a Ford OHC Pinto engine as they were at one time very cheaply available. Given that is a heavyish 2 litre engine putting out just under 100bhp I can see no reason why a standard, twin carb 1.8 B series engine wouldnt be equally suitable given it's similar size, especially if it were coupled with an overdrive gearbox.

These are costly and involved projects though just to use up some running gear that happens to be hanging around.

Personally I would spend an hour taking off any covers and lightly cleaning the car, take lots of photos and put it on Ebay as a car ready for restoration. It may be time to let your head rule your heart on this.