CorroVision

Perhaps... But we will never know until we put the car on a ramp, inspect it carefully with experts and assess the likely condition of the metal underneath the paint. Easy right?

Sadly, that is not the end of the story. In classic car restoration, the only way you can truly tell the condition of the car is when you strip the paint - by which time you are already committed to the full restoration.

So how do we know that the car is worth the sticker price? How do we know whether the car requires light or major restoration? Given that the difference between light and major restoration can be 3-5x the cost, we are truly purchasing a classic car on pure trust and hoping for the best.

This is the same car with the paint removed. It does not look too bad, but further investigation revealed many areas of corrision under the paint which was simply not visible and required much extra cost beyond the original estimate to rectify.

The central issue with this is that a premium price was paid for the car on the assumption that it would require light restoration. In the end, the car needed a full nut and bolt restoration, with sheet metal replacements and a large amount of labour and craft associated with it.

The restoration cost ended up double the initial estimate, which will now not be easily recoverable vs. the current market value of the car.

Until now, there was no way to assess the extent of corrosion of a classic car in a non invasive way (ie, without stripping the paint). Furthermore, as sourcing rare cars may involve travel to remote locations or overseas, it is not always possible to bring the car back to a trusted restoration shop for assessment.

This is where CorroVision can help, by forensically assessing the sub surface conditon of the car non invasively and in situ, using advanced, patented scanning technology. The result is a visual "heat map", pinpointing the areas and extent of corrosion over the entire metalwork and body panels of the car.

So whether you are the buyer, seller or restorer, arm yourself with objective facts to assess the true value and the true cost of restoration of your dream classic.