Rustbuster
Who ya gonna call? Rustbuster!
You can tell Rustbuster has been around for while’ laughs founder Ian Allen. ‘We’ve had a website since the year Google was formed in the Nineties’. Although the catchy ‘rust.co.uk’ web address proves Ian was an early adopter of the ‘online footprint’, it’s only when you set foot on his premises that you realise how much blitzing corrosion means to him and his team.
Ian has spent much of his career researching the technical side of rust prevention. ‘I was all about paint but after discovering a gap in the market while reading Practical Classics, I sold my paint business to concentrate on the automotive side of things.’ He’s clearly proud of the company’s reputation and finds that customers arrive on his doorstep, largely thanks to word of mouth.
We arrive at the Lincolnshire facility just as James Walshe’s scruffy Saab 96 is being given a preliminary inspection. With its layers of surface corrosion and flaking underseal, the car has been sitting around since 2012, so the full Rustbuster treatment is long overdue. Initial impressions are good. ‘We’ve seen worse but there’s still plenty to do’. Ian and colleague Rob then embark on a pleasingly thorough examination, which includes use of an endoscope inside the sills.
His work is so meticulous, it’s akin to brain surgery but Ian is quick to admit he is a car nut. The current project is a Porsche 914, which he found in the hot and steamy desert of South Central USA. You might think all that dry air would have been kind to the Porsche’s bodywork but taking pleasure as he does in annihilating corrosion, Ian appears to have actively sought the challenge. ‘I managed to find the only rusty car in Texas’ he beams.