cwh wrote:
A number of you have said that Florida cars rust because of the ocean salt. I live in Ft. Lauderdale, about as close to the Atlantic as you can get without wet feet. Rusty cars are very rare here, except for those obviously from up north. I have two '96's, not a spec of rust on either, and both have well over 200,000 miles. Beach Patrol trucks, yeah, they go away quickly. Regular cars, no.
I had an '89 Civic a few years ago that I bought in Naples. It lived its life about 5 miles from the Gulf. It had several spots of surface rust starting up...and that's with less than 20 years of age and about 200k miles on it. For comparison's sake, I had a '79 Accord from the Seattle area that had similar age and mileage (years earlier) and it didn't have the slightest hint of rust.
When I worked in Florida, I tested vehicles. We parked some brand new ones outside (about 25 miles inland from the Gulf in SW Florida) and let them sit for about six months without moving or washing them whatsoever. The amount of corrosion occurring was significantly worse than others left in other states (southwest, south, and north) for the same time period. Heat and humidity help rust. Florida is hot and humid. If you're by the beach, you'll get some salty air to help things out, but the unrelenting heat and humidity are the biggies if you're inland a bit.
Bryce