How far south.....

......would I need to go down the I75 corridor to find an area to shop for rust free vehicles? I've come to the conclusion that I want another Astro/Safari and it would be worth my time and some travel expenses to go somewhere where there are far less rusted vans available. A days' drive would put me as far as Nashville, Knoxville, or even the Carolinas if I don't limit myself to I75.

Georgia is rust free, Carolinas are hit and miss, as it still snows there.

you need to go West...not South.

I'm in TN and we see plenty of rust.

Another vote for GA. Or you could keep going to Gainesville. We have people there.

GA is a good place. I have never seen so many rust-free cars down here.

We get snow twice a year, and they don't salt the roads, they just wait for it to melt.

South of Pittsburgh, that's for sure. No rust-free or less than 300,000 mile Astros around here!

I vote for heading west as well, nothing like Phoenix or Albuquerque for rust free cars.

I've had 2 shells that I built up into race cars, and both were from the Carolinas and in great shape. I just assumed everything that far south would be good, including from areas around Nashville that I'm familiar with. Georgia wouldn't be out of the question. The southwest would probably have to be a fly-n-drive.

My B-I-L is in Huntsville, AL and to me it looks like great rust-free car country. For me, I would go there because i could stay with him or have him shop for me, but, I have to agree that Atlanta is the biggest city of the south and likely to offer the most.

Mississippi would be good, but possibly a bit far for you.

South of the Mason-Dixon line, but East of the Mississippi the cars have much less rust, but it is wet, so mold is an issue with long-dormant machines. Rust can pop up, but it is usually minor. Beware of coastal cars as the salt spray can be as corrosive as road salt up North.

In the West / Southwest, cars tend to have pristine sheetmetal, (with faded paint) but the sun bakes the Hell out of the interior, leaving trashed seats, cracked dashes, etc.

pick your poison. Good metal---dry climate,(West) Good paint and interior--- South / Southeast

I went to Chattanooga, TN to get my '90 Miata and it is rust free. I would suggest at least southern TN or farther south or head west.

Even "badly" rusted cars here (SC) will usually pass as rust-free in your area of the world.

Joe, I wouldn't be looking at anything that had been sitting dormant for any length of time. Huntsville isn't very far from the area around Pulaski, Tn. where I used to travel to.Chattanooga is reachable in a day from here ,too. And, anything has got to be better than 8-10 year old vehicles with 100,000+ miles of Michigan winter roads.

Are you using something like Craigslist Helper?
This will allow you to search keywords by distance. You can search listings that contain "Astro" for 300 miles with Atlanta as you starting point.
Here is the original discussion surrounding this "helper"
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/searching-multiple-craigslist-sites-with-alerts/33304/page1/

I would also recommend searching www.autotrader.com
Google up a zip code for Atlanta or Chattanooga and base your search from there. If you use the advanced search functions you can limit the search to just vehicles with less than 75k miles or only to include awd models, etc.

What's your criteria? I have a Chevy Astro van and I am contemplating selling it and getting a small trailer. And a Miata.

2001 Chevy Astro LS 102,5xx recent oil change, new drums and shoes on the rear done last week, front brake pads (I think rotors too but I am not 100%) about a year ago, cold a/c front & rear, 2" receiver hitch, tow/haul package, not 4 wheel drive, dutch door, new tires & shocks approx 2 years ago when I bought it, about 25,000 miles on her since then. She's got cruise, cd player, ipod controlled through the OEM stereo and looks sharp inside and out. She's a great van, I just don't haul that much stuff for the store anymore and a trailer is all we really need. I am in the Raleigh NC area.

EastCoastMojo,
That's a pretty good approximation of what I'm looking for. One with AWD would be a plus, but my former Astro was RWD and got through winters just fine. Could you PM me with the interior/exterior colours and how much you would be looking for it ? Is there any rust showing along the inside bottom edge of any of the doors or hatch ? The whole reason for me looking further south is to get a rust free example.

I like to call it champagne because it sounds fancy but it's a light gold with a beige interior. I have put down a grey carpet over the original carpet when I got it to prevent messing up the very nice original beige carpet. I will be pulling that up when I detail it - hopefully this week. I can take some pics for you when I do. There's no rust on the body anywhere I can see, there is a little rust on bolts and clamps under the hood. I will talk to Chuck and PM you with price.

Thanks !!

sometimes you can get lucky with Rot. I recently picked up an 87 Saab with rotted out doors.. but very little body rot. It came from not far from cleaveland Ohio... you know, the rust capital of the country

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/cto/2571938388.html or

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/2572257438.html

clownkiller,
I had seen the first one while searching Craigslist, but not the second one. Thanks for the links.
mad,
I got 15 years out of my last Astro. All of it in Ontario and Michigan, so I want as rust free as possible. Maybe I can find one that will last me another 10 or 15 years that way.

Cotton wrote: you need to go West...not South. I'm in TN and we see plenty of rust.

That's funny! When we go to TN, Marysville, marvel at th rust free cars. Remember, my wife's 91 ranger rotted so bad, the gas tank fell out, and I was genuinely afraid she may fall through the floor!

It's all relative!

Joey