After a long time without a Mk1 I am thinking of returning to the fold. the reason I got rid of my last one was because of rust issues, and my current car (Fisher Fury) is all GRP so that is not a concern! The way I see it, there are two options.
1) Buy the cheapest half-decent MR2 I can find and a new bottle of gas for the MIG welder. Guaranteed to improve my welding technique, and leaves some money in the budget for spraying the thing once I've patched it up.
2) Buy a "cherished" Mk1 for £2 - 3k and hope there is no hidden rot in it. Obviously I would be happy to keep on top of waxoyling it.
The problems I can see are buying something that's so rusty it cant be repaired, or spending a lot of money on a car which looks great but is a timebomb underneath. I would rather buy a decent one and devote my energies to mechanical improvements, but I'm not sure if there are any decent ones left!