GTA bodywork and overall longivity

Hi Folks

Having never owned a non-metallic bodied car, I was wondering if there were any specific things that needed to be done with respect to maintenance and/or protection? Is this pretty much the same as a metal bodied car?

Also, having watched an old video of the GTA cars being made, I was intruiged by the gluing on of the panels. Does this degrade over time and has anyone experienced detaching of panels from the subframes? Can this be repaired?

Sorry for the newbie questions, but I was curious to hear others experiences on the bodyshell and subframes.

sbb

Hi Folks

Having never owned a non-metallic bodied car, I was wondering if there were any specific things that needed to be done with respect to maintenance and/or protection? Is this pretty much the same as a metal bodied car?

Also, having watched an old video of the GTA cars being made, I was intruiged by the gluing on of the panels. Does this degrade over time and has anyone experienced detaching of panels from the subframes? Can this be repaired?

Sorry for the newbie questions, but I was curious to hear others experiences on the bodyshell and subframes.

sbb

Biggest problem with gta's strangely enough is rust. Areas to look out for are the rear subframe and suspension turrets, front cross member also the where the fibreglass is bonded to the sills. The average mot tester may not be aware of the rot spots and may miss them, also be aware of previous bodged repairs from the times when the cars were very cheap and previous owners went for the cheapest repair. Never heard of panels becoming detached but micro blistering is not unknown. A posts were cut with hp water jet and factory sometimes attached them slightly damp lets say so its not unknown to encounter some small bubbles at bottom of a posts. In saying that the the number of cars with totally original paintwork is probably now quite low. No doubt others members with far more knowledge than me will be forthcoming with more info. Your car is quite low mileage so may be free of these faults. It was my car in the JM video incidentally.

[stephendell]

Glue / bonding failure not on issue on any of the cars I’ve owned with the exception of the door hinges where failure can cause the door to drop.

No special treatment required for the paintwork. Clean and polish as a regular car.

As Terry says hidden chassis rust is the killer on these...