'84 Talbot/SIMCA 1100 pickup

Now has rear end of pickup bed replaced with my attempt at recreating the ribs. and after the messy job of painting it underneath have spent today back under there fitting a new exhaust I've had for years (£9.99 Ebay bargain back when nobody wanted a SIMCA van or pickup). Still have to refit fuel tank... getting breather pipe in which threads through the chassis leg is a contortionist's job and rack for spare wheel. Still looks a lot healthier under there from when I first knocked through what was left of the rear crossmember..... before in middle photo & after

And, as you can see in the photo it started snowing as well. Can't put it in the garage though as there's a part finished SIMCA 1000 project in there already..

Was going to fabricate a new chassis leg but brother Kev remembered he had the non rusted and straight chassis legs we'd saved when I cut my SIMCA 1100 oval racer up in 2002 ish. It didn't meet the usual oval racer end even in non contact classes (hard into the barrier) As I scrapped it to build a lighter Talbot Samba... with the front end of a Peugeot 309 welded into it the take the SIMCA engine..!! I'd saved them complete but now have trimmed them down to the area I need. Just need to get the pickup on its side for a comfortable welding job.

Getting ready to turn it over. 2 parts of rig bolted to hubs. Just need to make the cross piece as in the years it's not been in use I used the long bit of box section for another job. Spent a morning firing the rest of the collection up to move them around to make space.

Got it turned over enough to access rotten sill and chassis leg. Spent today grinding off the rusty bits and past attempts at patching. Once I've replaced these sections will add plenty of what SIMCA ignored... drain holes in the box sections..!!!

biturbo228 Yes the SIMCAs and the later Talbots are constructed just as you describe. From what I hear from Peugeot & Citroen owners also, It definitely is a French thing... layers of thin gauge steel spot welded together in a hit & miss way allowing the moisture in big time. Add to that The structure of the SIMCA 1100 had so many areas that filled with water with not enough drainage. Probably the worst car in the range for terminal rust was MATRA's Rancho which was the basis of the SIMCA pickup with the fibreglass body attached serving to trap moisture into the already very rust prone structure. The MATRA Bagheera shares the front chassis structure with the SIMCA 1100 and rots badly too under the fibreglass .
With the work I'm doing on the pickup, I'm trying to add thicker gauge metal in some of the problem areas.

Inner sill replaced and outer fitted. chassis leg recovered from old oval racer trimmed to fit. Just needs bits adding to flanges and sleeve to join it to 'good' section before it is welded to floor which needs some repair work first.....

Progress on the pickup has come to a standstill as I've got a trackday next week and have been busy digging the racer out of 'mothballs' and checking it over.
The pickup only serves as a tow car for shows... I've got A Suzuki Vitara 'modern' for towing to trackdays.

Just about ready to go back on 4 wheels having replaced O/S sill, inner sill, most of chassis leg and much of driver's footwell. Then it will be a case of lifting the back end up high to drop the rear suspension subframe to deal with some serious rust in that. There will be a choice there of welding up the original subframe or robbing my box trailer of the SIMCA 1100 subframe that runs on which I know is more solid but has had the mounting points/torsion bar adjusters adapted.