(G) Panda Sisley 4x4 bittersweet yarn

I went down to my very local scrappy last week to get a wing mirror and I noticed as I drew up that there was a blue Sisley in front of the office. What incredible luck I thought! This sort of thing never happens to me! I began looking at it furiously. It had had all the fluids drained out of it by means of cutting fuel and coolant lines and gearbox and sump plugs removed. There was no history and no guarantees anything would work. The prop shafts were in the boot and the seats were covered with blankets. It was very muddy everywhere including inside. It was notably not rusty underneath in key areas that I cleared by hand, although the nearside rear arch was clearly pap.

Worth a pop I thought! Negotiated £150 with the scrappy since he claimed he can sell 4x4 parts very easily and I agree with him. I said I would come back to collect after work that day. I paid and got the V5 and a receipt.

Came back later to find the car had gone. When I asked about it, the fellow looked shocked and said there was a communication error and it had been put in the yard with all the other cars and that there was now a Marbella on top of it! I went to inspect the car again and found it had been lifted using chains around the roof and wheel arches. Also the Marbella, although stripped and not very heavy, had left it's marks, not least the roof rack was crushed along with dents in the roof. I was gutted and reluctantly said that I would still take it despite the damage (loads of parts at least). They wouldn't reduce the price at all as to them it had not lowered in value. This was infuriating as I felt I had lost a perfectly good car for nothing, but I reminded myself that I didn't have a Sisley earlier that day!

Some days later..
I connected all the lines up and filled with oil, coolant and petrol. Amazingly, she's a real goodun'! Engine is sweet as you like and it drives fine. 4x4 engages and spins the output shaft to the rear prop, but the prop has been removed as I mentioned before. This puzzles me a bit and could point to problems, but I haven't found any yet. Rear diff seems smooth and in tact when wheels off the ground. Interior isn't even bad after removing all the pap and soil. It's got all the Sisley bits still on it and everything works.

Question is: what should I do with it now?

Pictures below are how it is now in my friendly farmer's field. There are some close-ups of the damage. It has created gaps on the tops of both the doors, so gaffer tape is water proofing at the moment.

What a shame it has been damaged, do you think it is repairable? How bent is the roof, looks in ok condition otherwise.

What a bummer, I'd be gutted like you
That damage isn't going to be easy to fix, but anything is possible. Prop might have been removed just because u/j's rough?
The only consolation is that it's still worth what you paid for it as a scrapper.

Mike

Will easily get back your money selling the rare 4x4 parts

What a find!

I wish you luck with it, but if you do decide to break it, could I have first dibs on the air scoop please.

Mark

Yeah, not worried about the money. Last inclinometer I saw on eBay went for near £100. It is just the quandary of whether I bother to put on the road. The roof doesn't look distorted and frankly there is probably little or no actual weakening of the structure of the roof as a result of the damage. It is just poor practically and aesthetically. I wonder whether a body shop could tug it back. Otherwise, it is only the rear arch I reckon. These things are worth a fortune on the road, so its pretty tempting to try. The UJs on the shaft feel good and the the spines also OK based on my "Land Rover skills" forged when I owned several series 2s at once.

Wondered how long it would be before someone asked after the air scoop. 5 minutes it turns out! You have hyperthetical dibs.

You have to question why it was scrapped in the first place if it is as good as you say. If it was me, i'd feel uncomfortable driving a car that had been scrapped ofr no good reason(meaning theres a bad one hiding somewhere).

I think strip and spares would be the best option unfortuatley.

What a find. Ashame about the damage. Stupid morrons in the scrappy

Hope she proves useful what ever you decide to do with her. Should hopfully be repairable easily?

@craig, I see where your coming from, but you'd be surprised what some people do. May have not been aware of its value or needed to get rid of quickly due to time constraints (moving out of rented accomidation etc).

Jon.

I do have a concern about a problem that might cause someone to junk it in. My experience is that people will do this with a old car when a small part breaks. It is the straw that brakes the camel's back or an excuse to get a new car. I know a friend of mine that has done this more than once and you actually can't fault the logic if your car is old and not worth anything and you know nothing about cars. The fear of an MOT cost when you see some rust (like this one has on one rear arch) can be enough, coupled in this case with the ignorance of the value of the car.

I have more evidence of it's past. I found two business cards in two different locations in the car. It was owned by a local plant nursery. That explains the sheer amount of soil inside!

3 plans now come into focus:
1) Gonna connect the prop and run around the farm where it lives. That should show up issues in general. Might fix things and go for an MOT as the damage shouldn't constitute a failure.
2) Had the idea of "making" a mk1 hybrid 4x4. Buy a decent Marbella, and knackered mk1 panda (that seem to float around eBay cheap). Mix all the parts together to make a mk1 Panda without rust. Curious project.
3) Sell the parts and move to Marbella instead of buying one.

I think you could try to fix it.
However, if you decide do break it into parts, I'd sign up for dog-clutch lever and the back badge

Cheers,
m a d

should make a good little farm run about. if you do strip for parts upon it being the same as the Sisley in the drive id be up for complete ignition and spark system. and possibly headland washing kit.

Oh man, this old conundrum. I seem to remember having this same proplem about a year ago now and now I have 2 mk1 4x4s!!! I hope you get it going again, but if you dont I would love that roof rack. I have been looking for one of those for so long now. Send me a PM if you would concider selling anyway and I'll make you an offer. Maybe even collect in person as your not a million miles away.

Good luck!

Si

PS love the mk1 panda marbella idea. Will be interesting to hear what differences there are if any when Seat started to build the marbella.

God, you lot are like vultures! LOL

I like the Marbella idea myself.... It's been done before and there's only an engine mount that need fabicated as I recall from the last poster who did it

Jim

...Leave the poor guy alone!!!...that rear arch dont look bad...as for the scrappys..well what can i say!!!
Yes you can make a bomb out of selling it for parts..but hey...see how things go and maybe not make it mint but a great fun runaround...