Having seen all these restoration posts, I thought I'd start my own, going right back from when I bought the car, and then updating it with the pics of the new build...........

So from the beginning.................................

Bought this Sapphire Cosworth back in 1999 - standard looking 2wd with a few bits:







Came with the 4x4 bonnet, twin lights, and was Stage 3, running a 200 block, and 4x4 head.

I didn't give a lot for the car as the paintwork was ropey, but since I knew the car was gonna be resprayed, I thought I'd buy it anyway.

The car had rust on the arches, and really bad rust on the tops of the doors where water had collected:







So I sent the car in for the respray, only to collect it again the next day, when the bodyshop told me they weren't prepared to do the little bit of welding I wanted doing under the car.

I collected the car, brought it home, stripped the back end out to find:

Diff - all the bolts to the driveshaft had been fooked over by a person eager with the chisel.



One of the rear trailing arms bent, and all the rear bushes totally knackered.



Also found a little bit of rust on the rear chassis rails. Got prodding with the screwdriver and the result was: