Although a few years ago (2015) i had a good look around a BMH Clubman shell and to say i was not impressed would be an understatement.
Now i am a picky bugger but if i am paying out top dollar for a brand new shell i do not expect poor panel fit and finish. Now moving on to my Clubby. Virtually every external panel bar the sills were Heritage. I'm talking over £3k's worth of panels here and two of them were bad as in no way they should have passed quality control.
Dents in the bonnet bracing that were internal, crap spot welds, razor sharp edges and the bracing in several places where it should be touching the bonnet skin, there were massive gaps. The front panel which is bloody expensive, i spent probably the best part of 5 hrs sorting out rubbish welds and poor panel fit.
The bonnet went back as i was not prepared to split it all apart. The front panel as i mentioned i dealt with. Those two panels collectively are over £450. I get the whole bucks / forms / presses are worn, but shoddy quality control is something that should have been dealt with before the panels left the factory. Then there is the spider tracks of rust hidden under the Ecoat.
So if you go down the new shell, expect to spend money on the prep. Do spend a lot of time ensuring everything is sealed correctly and once painted its thoroughly rust proofed.
So budget accordingly, or if you are capable and have the time, do a lot of the nitty gritty work yourself.