I’m currently looking at buying a SC400 from Chicago and as y’all know, they have their rust issues. I got photos of the bottom of the car i’m looking at, and it’s quite rusted. I was wondering if you guys could look at it and tell me if it’s an absolute no go, or possibly worth it?

 

I'm gonna give that a big negative... Unless you're willing to pay shops extra to work on something that's going to drive them insane. My car's a little rough underneath but nothing like this. Anyone else think I'm being a little too harsh?

 

If you are trying to find a clean one to keep for a long time, try and look a little further out or maybe even travel to buy one.
That car would take so much time to treat the rust, and everything will break when you try and remove it including those rusted fuel lines at the fuel filter.
There are probably areas you can't see that are worse, usually the front radiator core support will look bad also.
I can't think of a price where I would buy that car, likely whoever let it get in that condition will be the last owner of it

 

Heck no. As mentioned want a nice car be willing to travel and buy from a non rusts best area. It may seem like more work initially but over the long term it pays off many fold.

 

That looks really nasty! I wouldn’t touch it at all.

 

Unless you want to get into putting that car up on jackstands, dismantling every part of the undercarriage and restoring the rusty parts of the shell's underside and every suspension component I have to agree with everyone else on a hard no. You CAN probably restore it with enough time and effort but as Ali SC3 said there is probably significant rust in areas that you can't currently see. A full body restoration might be in order to get it all right. It makes me sad to see but I also recommend looking for another example in far better condition.

 

I'm gonna say a hard pass on that unless the guy is selling it for like $500

 

V, I believe $500 would be high.

 

It depends on the asking price and your plans with the car. If you just want it to get from point A to B and do not want to put any more than the absolute minimum in it to keep it safe and roadworthy it could be a good buy if very cheap. I would say completely pass if you intend to keep it a long time and want to restore it because you will never win against the rust. If the interior is immaculate, wheels/tire great, headlights clean, etc...it could be a great parts car for when the right one comes along but is in need of some misc things. Changeover what you want and donate it to charity at that point. I have been looking to buy a crashed, burned, rusted, etc but with great seats...97+ SC for 3 years to swap into my 98.

 

Did he send you any pics of the front subframe? Because that tends to rust faster than the rear subframe. Especially here in Chicago.
If you plans are to buy a starter car to see what it's like to own a SC, this will suffice. However if you intend to keep it or build one for power or drifting, I can tell you right now everything that's rusted will need to be replaced with brand new OEM or aftermarket parts. It will need a new rear subframe eventually (that looks like it won't hold 3x stock power and I don't think it can be saved). Everything else you see minus the actual body will need to be bought new. Shocks, control arms, bolts, nuts, swaybar, subframe mounts, exhaust. Things like the subframes and exhaust hangars will need but be bought off people parting out cars..
As a Chicago native, I can tell you this is not the worse SC I've seen people dump 10k into, but I can tell you honestly that all that rust is going to cause horrible problems with replacing parts. And in these pics the surface rust on the body doesn't LOOK too bad for a Chicago car. But I gotta warn you, Chicago SC prices tend to be a bit inflated vs other states. A car that's cheap as hell in southern Indiana or Ohio tends to be $1000 more here in Chicago just because there's more people willing to pay

 

Can't say I would think its worth spending the thousands of dollars in restoration, but if i was planning on beating the crap out of the car and junking it in 2-3 years and it cost a few hundred dollars.. I might just drive it and not care.

 

What's crazy to me seeing this kind of rust on any SC300/400 or Soarer is that it still happens despite all of these cars having their steel bodies galvanized from the factory. Not many cars get that treatment during manufacturing but the SC/Soarer did. And still some unlucky examples can develop rust like this. I've never kept a car in a state that uses road salt during the winter but I assume that must have something to do with it.

 

If it has good body panels (unlikely) and an immaculate interior (probably also unlikely), if you could get it for $200-$400, it might make a good donor car for something with a better structure but lacking in the other areas. But, that will require a lot of work and parts swapping (AKA free time).

If it were me, I'd pay more and look further out for a cleaner example. It will be better in the long run. But, never hurts to really lowball and see what happens.

 

First I’m not an SC guy, (looking to get one my self) but I agree with some opinions on here. It depends on what you intend to do with the car and how much the owner wants.
With that being said, if your willing to put in the work and you have a high skill level and you can get it for cheap. I think you can make it happen but again it depends on what I previously stated.
to give you an example I brought a GS back from the dead. It was rusted pretty badly in some places but since I know how to weld I cut out the bad spots and welded in new/replacement panels, I got the car for real cheap so it was worth it to me. For the other rusted parts I either sandblasted or chemically removed the rust. But I was fortunate enough that the damage was superficial. Despite popular belief rust can be eliminated if removed and the remaining metal is sealed properly.
But I will agree that you may need a donor car also.
Somethings you cant bring back like that subframe AliSC3 was talking about if it has lost too much metal from rust the you must replace it. It wouldn’t be worth rebuilding.
good luck.