OK so I found the car up North, back when I was working up there. It was a non runner and hasn't run in all the time I've owned it, I've never driven it!
I had it transported back home and started stripping it down straight away for a full restoration. I knew the car was bad and was braced for plenty of rot, the vinyl roof was hiding plenty!
First thing I did was strip the vinyl roof, I had to see just how bad things were...
The rear window frame was rotten right round but worse still was the front A frame pillars, I must have halved the structural integrity by removing the vinyl!
Better still was the sunroof I found lurking under the vinyl, at some point a sunroof had been fitted to the car, then at some other point someone must've taken it out to repair it, I'm guessing it leaked!
An ally plate had been riveted onto the roof and smoothed over with filler, the vinyl had cleverly hidden the evidence. It wasn't until I removed the headlining that I realised the full extent of the repair work...
Someone had shaped a piece of wood and then beaten it into place to stiffen up the roof where the repair was made! The headliner nicely covered that too, I had no idea when I bought the car!
You can probably see hints of the original citrus green under the vinyl, when these repairs were done the owner must have had the car sprayed red at the same time.
It was somewhat worse than I had perhaps anticipated but then these things always are, there was plenty more to come...