Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[baconsdozen]

I've spent more time welding my old taxi than any other car I've ever owned. I thought mu old Merc 307D was bad but at least that had the decency to rot where you could usually get at it.
I never had one of the early Crestas or Victors but I'm told these would be worthy contenders for the worlds fastest dissolving cars. Has anyone else got any personal 'favourites' for this award?.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[MikeEdwards]

My current project was a bit rusty when I bought it - with the bonnet open, you could see through the holes in the inner wing and bulkhead into the passenger compartment, and then back out through the holes in the floor. This is where the drivers floor and chassis rail used to be - the pattern is the concrete garage floor below it.



Seventies Vauxhalls have a reputation for being prone to rust, but I'm not sure they were any worse than any other major manufacturer at the time, though I don't have first-hand knowledge being too young then. Ironic given that one of the major points they made with the first HC Viva was that it had underbody sealant applied, salt water testing done and so on. Maybe it gave owners a false sense of security, that they didn't have to check on it periodically.

A mate once bought a 78 S-plate Alfasud which had been in South Africa for most of its life, and was completely rust-free. Unfortunately it was also completely protection-free, and although we urged him to spend a bit of time putting something underneath it, he didn't, with predictable results. What seems like only a year later, the top of the door had gone through to the extent that you could get a hand in through the hole, and it's anyone's guess what the underside was like.

[Dipster]

I nominate my 1978 Fiat Strada! Bought new it served me well for
264,000 kms. No mechanical problems, it was bullet proof. I still had bits of the original exhaust on the car. But it eventually corroded into oblivion. Later Fiats had better protection of their steel bits.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

I nominate the early 1970s Vauxhall Cresta. A neighbour had a not too old one about 1976 and every time he slammed the driver's door a larger pile of rusty shale accumulated on the road beneath it. It got so bad eventually that he had to fit several earth straps to it to ensure electrical continuity!

[ukdave2002]

In the late 70's friend of mine, who was about 5 at the time was promised a 1960's Austin Cambridge by his next door neighbour, who promised to put it in his will......Roll forward to about 2010 the neighbour passed away and good to his word said car was in the will, his wife explained that the car had been backed it to their garage in 1982 and "given some protection".....the garage turned out to be very damp and very poorly ventilated, the protection was layers of carpet now very damp and very mouldy carpet....

He got the car out, but every panel including the roof was a spiders web of corrosion, such a shame as it was driven into the garage with a relatively fresh MOT.

Dave

[norustplease]

1970 VW 181, bought as a part completed project, but on close investigation, it had loads of previous repairs, none of which had been properly protected and had just turned back into iron oxide. Got there in the end, but was totally fed up with welding by the time that I was finished.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[Rick]

The rustiest car I've "owned" was this Model Y (although any car stored as this one had would have been in the same condition). Rather than buying it, I bought the salvage rights as it were, and removed all the useful parts.





http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/rustycar.htm

RJ
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[Rootes75]

We once bought a little Vauxhall Nova as a run about and one day when I had a couple of bags of logs in the boot I noticed a grinding sound coming from the back end. Upon getting home I opened the boot and low and behold the areas around both back springs/struts had completely collapsed due to so much rust. Needless to say the car was then bought by a chap to strip it and scrap it!

[Ashley]

I bought a TR3A and left it with the bloke who used to sort the bodywork for me. I went back a few days later and most of it was lying on the garage floor. "I knew you'd want a proper job" he said.

It looked quite good, but pop riveted aluminium sheet and thick bitumen concealed a total disaster area. All the floors through to the boot had gone, the inner sills, inner wings. I could go on, but it cost a fortune and he did a wonderful job. He was a good friend, he died in last year's TT and we'd known each other for forty years. I miss him.

[Ellis]

The rustiest car still driving and used daily I have ever seen was in the Cornwall village of Polperro nearly thirty years ago.

It was (once) a white Ford Cortina Mark 2 which was used to tow a fishing boat and trailer up and down the the quay ramp in the harbour. There were huge holes in the front wings, inner and outer, the doors were little more than frames but it must have been strong enough to tow and launch the trailer and boat.

I asked one of the locals about it and the state of it.

"Yon 'arbour road be private my heart!"
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[baconsdozen]

Some pretty frightening photos and stories on here!
I once bought a Van den plas 3 litre,I knew it needed some welding on an outrigger and borrowed a big oxford arc welder (this was pretty much at the start of my welding car rust learning curve) it was lowered in the boot with a fork lift and with a loud bang and a cloud of dust ended up sitting on the ground having gone clean through the boot floor. Some plywood filled the hole temporarily,but the recently sprayed car soon developed huge rust patches on every panel anyway so welding the boot floor or anywhere else became pretty irrelevant.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[ka]

For all lovers of the Ferrous-Oxide, try this book, bit pricey, but is available from other outlets cheaper.

Rust: May Need Slight Attention... Paperback – 1 Jul 2006
by W.S.Roger Fogg (Author)
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KA

Better three than four.

[Peter_L]

A neighbour, back in Winnipeg, called me to say he had lost his car keys and the car was parked in a tow away zone. Could I pick up the other keys from home and move the car to a long term park and he would get a taxi to work.

A simple task, but when I got to the car, oh for a camera !!

It was a 80's, so 25 year old, GM Sunbird. As soon as I opened the door, there was that musty, rotten smell that goes with wet carpets, but when I got in I was alarmed to feel the floor move. I pulled back the carpet to find a piece of plywood covering a hole in the floor, but the best bit was the two pieces of 2 x4 wood, secured to the less rusted area of original floor, with wood screws and 2" dia washers. These 2 x 4's supported the plywood and the carpet covered the plywood.

My recovery plan with our motoring association covers any vehicle I am travelling in. I called them and asked them to recover this non-runner, (I pulled some connectors apart).

There was no way I was going to drive that vehicle anywhere.

The downside was a fallout between the neighbours spouse and family, who knew the car was not at its best but had no idea that it was getting to a point where a collision could cause it to disintegrate.

Maybe I lost a neighbour friend, but perhaps I saved a life. The car vanished a month or so later, replaced by something better.

Such is life.

[Dipster]

Don`t they have technical inspections in Canada?

[Peter_L]