I'm getting tired of looking at rusty cars. I know that Porsche started galvanizing cars in the 70's and, for the most part, unless they've been wrecked or repainted, rust is much less of a problem.
What other companies galvanize their car bodies and when did they start?
I know of a few; Audi beginning in the early 90's, with the 200 I believe. I think VW began with the MK4 cars. Google also says Volvo and Mercedes started in the mid-80's.
944
924 starting in 79
I think Audi was galvanizing cars in the 80s. My friend's beater 87 5000CS was spotless- always assumed it was because it was galvanized.
80s ford pickups were I believe
turboswede wrote: 924 starting in 79
If I'd only known this before I bought my 77 that rusted away! ahahaha
If I remember right even the Yugo is at least partially galvanized, seems most of the better import cars were by the mid 80s. It should be noted that unlike say, on a steel boat sitting in saltwater 24/7/365, the sacrificial zinc won't stop rust, just slow it down. Which is why boats are made of plain steel with a few strategically placed chunks of zinc bolted on, and with cars they have to plate the whole thing. IIRC it's got something to do with the boat being grounded in the water, and the car more or less floating electrically.
Of course at the end of the day they'll all rust if you neglect them long enough. If you keep after stone chips and cavity/underbody waxing, even a plain steel car isn't likely to rust out in salty winter conditions. It's just a weekend of work and couple hundred dollars(and maybe a drive to Canada for the waxing) most people aren't willing to put into a car they don't plan to both drive in winter and keep forever.
bgkast wrote: 80s ford pickups were I believe
I was looking for pictures of rusted out 80s Ford trucks when I found this
Now my mind doesn't work anymore 
In reply to Nick_Comstock:
You ain't kiddin'!
If 80's Ford pickups were done, it not work so good!
I know Audi didn't galvanize the 5000 or 4000, I know they did galvanize anything A-named, I don't know if the 200 (renamed 5000) or the 80/90 (B3 chassis) were galvanized. I don't think I've ever seen a rusty B3 but very few people bought B3s around here so I don't know.
Which is a shame since a Coupe Quattro is high on my want list. So is a B5 anything, and those suckers WERE galvanized, so I'll settle.
I was told by a Porsche enthusiast that 944s were galvanized, 924s were not, when I was discussing my desire to get a 924. He sold me with that statement. (I don't know if this applies to the 924s which is a 944)
I am not much of a BMW enthusiasts but I do note that I've never seen a rusty E46 but plenty of rotted out E36s. Shame that you have to get an "Ultimate Parking Machine" to get a corrosion-resistant BMW but at least that generation M3 comes with the Euro engine.
1980 Lotus Esprit S2.2.....
924s is galvanized.
if Ford trucks were galvanized in the 80's, they have some 'splainin to do about what they consider "galvanizing" to mean because they all started rusting within months of their first encounters with a salty MN winter..
novaderrik wrote: if Ford trucks were galvanized in the 80's, they have some 'splainin to do about what they consider "galvanizing" to mean because they all started rusting within months of their first encounters with a salty MN winter..
Floyd Galvan slapped each and every one of 'em on the tailgate as they left the factory. BAM, Galvanized!
Mitsubishi Starion
In reply to kanaric:
Floyd must have worked for Mitsubishi before going to work for Ford...
Volvos are galvanised too, I think from the 740 on.
The Miata is galvanized.
Harvey wrote: The Miata is galvanized.
by the guy at the Ford truck factory?
DeLoreans are not galvanized, yet the bodies at least won't rust. The frames still can.
I had a truly annoying human being talk my ear off about galvanized cars once. My take away from the experience was that Germany has a very strict anti-rust rules in place. This means that German cars built in Germany, for at least a time, were pretty much all galvanized. Of course this was expensive and part of what led VW to build cars in Mexico and the U.S.
This guy was so serious about getting a galvanized car that he bought a late 90's VW even knowing the maintenance nightmare it was likely to be. In the end the car had prior crash damage that wasn't repaired well and the car rusted out anyway, which almost made up for having to listen to him.
novaderrik wrote: if Ford trucks were galvanized in the 80's, they have some 'splainin to do about what they consider "galvanizing" to mean because they all started rusting within months of their first encounters with a salty MN winter..
I believe the inner front fenders were galvanized, but I don't know about the rest of the truck.
I went to work for the BUDD COMPANY, an OEM body part supplier in 1987. Every part for the Explorer, BMW X5, etc. we ever made at that time was galvanized. We stamped and assembled almost all their painted exterior body parts in our plant. After assembly, we shipped doors, fenders, etc. to the assembly plants for windows, door latches, painting etc.
We were a long term contract job shop and made various body parts and sub-assemblies for numerous US branded makes and models. Plus a few non US brands as well. There was only one part I remember we produced while I worked there that wasn't galvanized. That part was a body-side panel for the Dodge full-sized van. And we only stamped them, we didn't assemble anything onto them.
The long winded guy mentioned in another post was somewhat correct. European branded rides did have longer rust through warranties at that time. However, that didn't mean a different metal or galvanize processes were used. And contrary to a lot of myths, the non-US branded parts we made didn't have thicker or different steel. We didn't change the steel feeding the Blanker Press when whey changed over from a BMW blanking die to an Explorer blanking die or for any other.
What the European rust-through rules meant to us was we had to apply better sealant treatments around all the flanges where parts are "married" to each other. I'm referring to the flanges you see when you look at the metal inside the edges of your door, lift-gate, etc. Typically that flange is part of the outer and it is crimped around the inner. That's where we applied the watertight sealant.
The most rust free vehicle I have owned was a 1989 Ford Ranger PU! I did help it by spraying some undercoating on the body when new as well as drilling a few holes and spraying inside the rockers and doors. I installed full inner cargo box fender liners instead of the simple splash shields Ford used. The vehicle was parked outside from day one, driven in the worst of Chicago & WY winters and didn't have as much as a rust bubble when sold with 175K miles & 15 years old.
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