I bought my Sprint in 1988 for £750, it looked very smart and the mechanicals were strong, I knew it had some rust but that and the fact it had 13 previous onwers didn't put me off (what do they say about not buying the first one you look at?).
I used it as everyday transport for 5 years in which time I added another 30K miles to the 104K it already had and was only let down once when it threw off the alternator belt and the battery died before getting home.
I replaced and uprated most of the mechanical parts, but the rust was really begining to get hold, the jacking points collapsed, the boot floor fell out, the chassis legs were dodgy, so I did a welding course and set out to patch it up.
By 1992 it was becoming obvious that this was a loosing battle, the extent of the rot was quite alalarming and I was begining to think about giving up when I spotted this very smart 1500 auto at a local garage, and the idea of a shell swap was formed.
I didn't have a garage at this point, so a friend of mine allowed me to use his garage, I estimated it would take a few months but in the end it was nearer a year, as the garage was 20 miles away I only got there at weekends and hollidays.