[Roderick]

Many thanks for all the responses. I shall have to wait and see. Can't do anything about it at the moment. It depends on the seriousness of the situation and if other repairs are needed elsewhere then it may become a non-viable repair.

I hope not as I mentioned previously everything else about the car is going well. 'Rodrigo' (yes, it has name, sad isn't it?) originally started life being a company car registered in Manchester where it did the bulk of its miles before being bought by a guest house owner in Lytham St Annes. (So yes, Scott, it was near the coast but not right on it) It did not occur to me to be a problem, indeed coastal roads may not need salting as much as inland ones do, but accept there is salty air.
Back tracking, after going to the 2014 Club meeting at Gaydon and talking to possibly some of you, we decided a 75 was what we had always wanted but could not afford. The search was on to find a good one in Copperleaf or Moonstone. Autotrader came up trumps and in October 2014 I asked via the club and Ken Lions agreed to check it out for me, which he did and reckoned it was worth a punt. It's a long drive from Hereford but after a drive around and a bit of haggling bought it. Far from concourse condition but pretty good, it had done 101,500. It has now completed 136,500 having had it serviced and some replacement bits by Jules it is now in Italy awaiting it's return drive back in March.
It certainly turns heads here even today, after all the Italians did vote it 'The most beautiful car in the world' when it launched.
I was going to try a car breaker here to see if there were a few desirable bits to be had, still might.
Sorry, got carried away. Amazing what an emotional hold a car like the Rover 75 can have!
Ray