Fastest rusting vehicle?

Toyota Tacoma frames...

Any 60's/70's car with a vinyl roof, immediately under the roof and behind the back glass.

Some Ford Tauruses had bad rust problems as well. My boss had one, and they had to replace some body panels when it was only a year or two old (doors or fenders, I forget which.)

stuart in mn wrote: 1957 Fords. The headlights had an 'eyebrow' above them that would collect moisture and dirt, and the headlights would eventually fall right out of the car.

58's were the same way. I had to replace the fenders when I got it in 1962 and then again in 1966 when I went to sell it. I did live in salt country (SW PA) at the time so that probably was part of the cause.

As far as whole cars though, the Vega was the worst I have ever seen.

A friend of mine worked in a body shop in Maryland. He told me that every F-150 that came in (even brand new ones) had rust coating their frames. I don't have trouble believing that since they don't seem to have a protective coating like most cars. Just paint.

PubBurgers wrote: Old VW Bug's and Honda CRX's. I've had 6 CRX's and roughly 0 of them had no significant rust.

my 91 had 0 rust. 0.... SC car FTW!

Pretty much every mid-80's-early 90's Honda, Acura, and Nissan in New England has rotting rocker panels and/or rear fenders. Every stinking one. My old 240SX even had large chunks of the frame rails missing and the driver's side rear fender looked like someone had gashed it open.

Someone else mentioned Subarus rusting quicky: The rear passenger-side fender on my Impreza is starting to rust, but otherwise the body is fine. Every suspension bit, on the other hand, is rusting. That's part of the reason why I abandoned my STi conversion plan and relegated it to winter beater status. Shopping for sports or autocross cars in New England sucks because everything under $2500 is rusted.

Early Civics.

I think those vegas were crappy.

We had a 1986 Pontiac Grand Am SE that started rusting after the fourth winter we owned it. that baby was aweful for quality.

but it did look sharp....

Early 70's Ford Torino. When my Uncle's stationwagon was about a year old, his seat "fell through" the floorboards as he was driving. The dealership blamed it on the heavily salted roads in Cleveland.

At least they offered him a discount if he wanted to buy another car

I remember reading back in the late '70s....about the time Porsche STOPPED selling them, that rust was the biggest headache for nearly all 914 owners. Even owners that never drove in snow saw their cars develop frame rot. Tho, in fairness, that was because of where the battery sat. Another good(?) ruster is the Ford Capri followed by the Fiesta. Like their contemporaries, the VW Rabbit, the Capri could, and often did develop rust in the "A" pillars that eventually caused the windshield framing to sort of disappear. Pretty much impossible to repair.

As the former owner of a 280Z, Datsun's 240-280Zs and the 280ZXs easily succumbed to the rust worm, especially in the front subframe rails.

Nothing rusts in Nevada. That's why so many people from the East Coast fly here to pick up dead 55 Triumphs and wounded Italian sports cars from the 70s.

However, if you like nice paint, stay far, far away.

Mid 70's Fords were pretty bad.

I remember my Dad had a '76 LTD and a '78 Cougar which both started rusting a couple of years from new.

I think people looked at is as more of a fact of life then. Seems crazy now. "A 10 year old car w/ rust? WTF?!"

I think the Alfa Romeo Alfasud is most deserving of that title.

Ive heard stories of Chevy LUV trucks rust on the boat on the way over....

Joey

didn't chevettes rust through the shock tower?

mtn wrote: didn't chevettes rust through the shock tower?

Indeed. It was discussed in a recently-unearthed Chevette thread here.

I should also add the Datsun 240Z. That and many early-70's Japanese cars are said to have started rusting on the lot.

Peugeot 404's The reinforcing frames rotted on the showroom floor. I used to have to drive 4 and 5 year old trade ins to a frame repair shop to be rewelded. Hit a bump, and the doors would open

famous wrote: Early 70's Ford Torino. When my Uncle's stationwagon was about a year old, his seat "fell through" the floorboards as he was driving.

I had a '69 Torino GT in college. The floor pan around the seat bolts rusted through, so I had to bolt some 2x4s in there to keep the seat from tipping over backwards. One day I was driving down the road and heard a flapflapflapFLAPBANG noise, looked in the rear view mirror and saw that a 1' x 2' section of the rear quarter panel had ripped off in the breeze. Eventually, one of the rear leaf springs rusted through so the car was riding on the bump stop on one side.

It still ran great, though...

I think Alfettas are probably the worst, followed closely by most old mopars.

ddavidv wrote: Ford Pintos and Chevy Vegas were in a race to see which was worse. I think Vegas won that contest.

Coming from the pacific NW, where there are many cars running around that don't exist anymore east of the Missisippi, I ill say that vegas were vastly worse. There are still a lot of Pintos running around in the NW that have no rust, while there are few vegas in similar condition. Even back in the '80s, when the cars were fairly new (less than 10 years old) Vegas were the ones that had rust problems.

Even as late as the late '90s, before I moved east, I could (and did) buy Pintos at auction that were uncared for and still had no rust.

So instead of basing my choices on east coast vehicles that can't help but rust regardless of manufacturer, I say anything that rusted easily back there, where rust was simply not a regular issue, would be a candidate.

And that means Fiats/lancias, Toyota pickups, and pre-galvanized Porsches, and especially the under battery areas of 914s.

Of course, since moving east, I've come to realize that cars that we'd pass up as scrap would be considered clean, easily restorable finds over here.

I think we need someone from AZ to comment on rust, becuase if it rusts away in AZ.. then It's bad.

integraguy wrote: I remember reading back in the late '70s....about the time Porsche STOPPED selling them, that rust was the biggest headache for nearly all 914 owners. Even owners that never drove in snow saw their cars develop frame rot. Tho, in fairness, that was because of where the battery sat.

Ditto. These cars pre-dated Porsche galvanizing the bodies. I just brought home today the 1974 914 I just bought. There's going to be about a mile of fresh weld bead in it by the time its done.

In my personal experience, anything by Fiat or IHC...it's a coin toss IMO. Honorable mention goes to pre-80 Subaru.

I have a PCA friend who bought a '73 914 brand new. It rusted away after three years of daily use so instead of replacing (no, replacing would indicate there was something to remove before putting something back in its place) installing new rockers before it folded in half, he traded it on a brand new '75 914.

I guess he opted not to drive this one every day in Chicago. He still has it!

Alfasuds and Lancia Beta easy.