General Tailgate rust - 1990 Panda

[tobywood13]

Hi all, I’m considering buying this Panda. It all seems ok from the photos I’ve seen but has some quite severe rust beneath the tailgate seal. Is this a common issue, and is it fairly straightforward to repair? I’ve yet to go see the car, but if this is a major repair job I probably will keep looking elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

 

[FiatMatt94]

When it comes to cars pictures can be very deceiving so never take a sellers word for it as they could be trying to hide something, it's not unheard of in the car world. The best thing to do is to go & stand in front of it to give it a really good going over. As much as we all love old Fiat's the reality is if the rust is that severe under the tailgate seal there will probably be more severe rust elsewhere as Fiat's of that era rotted for fun so unless the car is very cheap & you're handy with a welder I'd probably not consider it & look for a better example.

 

[tobywood13]

When it comes to cars pictures can be very deceiving so never take a sellers word for it as they could be trying to hide something, it's not unheard of in the car world. The best thing to do is to go & stand in front of it to give it a really good going over. As much as we all love old Fiat's the reality is if the rust is that severe under the tailgate seal there will probably be more severe rust elsewhere as Fiat's of that era rotted for fun so unless the car is very cheap & you're handy with a welder I'd probably not consider it & look for a better example.

Thanks, that’s what I decided too. I have experience with MK1 MX5s so I’m very wary of hidden rot! I’ll keep searching.