Advice please - should I simply scrap it?

My wife and I love our very tatty seaside Jimny. Its a 53 plate convertible with OEM Suzuki hard top fitted. The power steering pump is noisy, and rear end is rusty as hell underneath, but it can be left for months and will always start without hesitation and has been a fantastic tool for the local work it does, including occasionally launching a small rib.
Some knocking noises from rear end yesterday. Inspection shows the rear panhard to axle mount to have entirely sheared from the axle itself. I see fix kits, however don't know how big a job this is and whether bolt-on or weld, I anticipate I would need a garage for this, all local fixings look very rusty?
Anyone with experience, do I simply sell the roof and scrap the car or is this a job worth doing? Rear nearside shock is also leaking - its got 6 months MOT remaining, but do feel its starting to look uneconomic to repair.
Any thoughts very welcome, Ian

It all depends on how much it is worth to you. By that I mean sentimental value. For me and my current jimny money and work required are essentially meaningless as I am utterly smitten because it's mine. That being said being objective for a minute if it's been in the sea to the point of axle brackets rotting away then that is unlikely to be the limit of the work it's going to need and if you're paying someone to do it for you it's going to start expensive and rapidly move past prohibitive..it's also worth mentioning that there are repairers and there are repairers and an mot bodge is not the same as seamlessly letting a patch in or attaching a bracket securely.

Hello Ian-

What does "uneconomic to repair" mean? You seem to recognize that scrapping is the only realistic alternative, so anything more than £0 spent on repairs is a cash loss. But presumably you will need to find another beachside beater to replace the J. So what is it worth to you to delay that purchase?

My vote, do what Lambert calls a "MOT bodge" and keep driving until something expensive breaks. You can probably find a local lad who does cheap welding -- ugly but solid is all you really need, you're not going to be giving the car to the British Museum. For the leaky shock, wait until it fails MOT and then spend five bob on a used one from the small ads.  Maybe you'll get another season or two out of it.

In short, do the absolute minimum possible to the car so that you can keep using it. When the next repair looks like it is going to cost more than dinner and a show, sell the car to a farmer for whatever it brings, buy something newer, and spend your time at the beach relaxing instead of worrying about car repairs.

Good luck!

What would you get to replace the Jimny? Another Jimny or indeed another cheap 4x4 under the 5k bracket could also be a rust bucket and need stuff doing to it unless you have a bigger budget to get something nicer but if its just a beater car then it may be worth just fixing whatever breaks and keep going until It really can't get through an MOT. If you do scrap it as you have rightly recognised keep the hardtop as that probably has more value than the car lol.

Some real useful views here, thank you. Quite right to promote the fix and carry on mindset, I am very tempted to try it. Especially as I'll get the winter season out of it prior to MOT. I'd probably replace with another Jimny and prices look fairly strong, certainly wouldn't want to spend over £2.5k. I'll go see if I can find a local welder.

Wish me luck and thanks, Ian

Sadly as is often the case, the O/P hasn't been back to update. l wonder if they decided to repair their Jimny.