In the doors the original factory color came out – a for that time highly popular “Oro Antico Metallizzato” or metallic gold. The owner and I quickly decided it was not going back to factory color. 😎 A look inside the doors showed where the external rust bubbles came from – it became clear there was more rust waiting for me. The factory put a tar like coating on the blank sheet metal, however it soon cracked and gave water plenty of opportunities to attack. This is the main reason why most of these S4/Fidias are rusted out and need (very) extensive sheet metal work. Luckily this one is not as bad as most. Obviously the floors got saved by the dry climate this car was used in.
Further dangerous electrical “fixes”, lots of bondo gobs and Mickey Mouse “repairs” with silicone. Many bolts inside the doors were rusted stuck and no WD40 or blow torch made them come out whole. Interesting detail: these cars were painted with the door hinges installed, under them there was no more than a light coat of black primer. Of course this looks awful when the hinges come off. These cars were not meant to exist longer than 10 years, so in fact the ones surviving did very well.
