Mk1 GTi Cabrio - MoT Epic Fail :(

My lovely Mk1 (NJI4303) runs beautifully but has hit a wall of welding and repairs that sound like £5k or something. I'm kinda gutted cos I've had it since 1995, but I'm also not using it much and don't have a garage (hence the rot - it's been in a friend's car port under a good cover, but maybe it held the damp in or something).

The garage reckon for that money, I could buy a better example on eBay than mine would be even after the repairs.

Firstly, any ideas on how it could be done cost effectively?

Also, what if I decide to sell it? What is it likely to be worth? And how to go about selling it? My emotional attachment says I'd rather someone took it as a Project (it drove us away from the church!), but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

Any advice / thoughts / ideas gratefully received!

I'm near Wrexham/Chester, and I'm on 07901 621498 if anyone was up for giving their sage advice.

 

Maybe take some photos and show the group. Lots of people do welding themselves. Might be time to buy a good machine and learn how to weld yourself! I've just totally restored my Mk1 cabriolet. Some sneaky bxgger had a dirty great big hole hidden under the clipper kit. Wasn't until I stripped it down and took the kit off did it become visible. Anyway I did it all myself and also found a poorly repaired quarter panel. Takes a bit of practice but well worth it and good sense of achievement afterwards.

Alternatively sure some folks in the group might know where you can get it taken care of at a reasonable price. $5k for welding seems excessive but no idea what state your car is in. Might want to get some second opinions and share some photos before doing anything rash.

A lot of times repair shops want to charge a arm and both legs for a repair because they don't want to take the project on hence the exorbitant price.  You may want to shop around, and because they don't want to drop the axle or remove the fuel tank engine or tranny because then they would be responsible for re-fitting.

Which means that you need to remove the parts and have the shell delivered for a better price.

Could also be worth asking in some local car clubs for recommendations for someone to do the work, I reckon there will be plenty guys around capable of doing a great jobs for cash the way the living cost is nowadays. 
General trade don't want big jobs, they can make more with less hassle doing brakes and services, rather than labour intensive and low amounts of parts