The rust thread

The why we hate road salt thread got me thinking. What's the rustiest, or just plain fubar'd car you've ever seen on the road? I submit this,
It has current plates. I bet it's fast with all that weight reduction going on.

Is that a Michigan plate?

That's pretty bad. This car is not the worst that I've seen but is the worst I've ever repaired.

Just a small sample of before:

After:

My friend is from Wisconsin. Her father gave her a truck to drive here for a little while. The bottom of the doors were rusted through in multiple places, so he carefully ran duct tape in neat rows across the bottoms of each door, then skim coated it all with Bondo. After that he rattle canned the bottom foot of the truck black. Looked sharp when he was done too!

In reply to bravenrace:

That turned our very well. Good job.

My eyeballs need a tetanus shot now.

cdowd wrote: In reply to bravenrace: That turned our very well. Good job.

Yeah, wow man. Is that what you do professionally? Want a side job (seriously)?

In reply to DrBoost:

No, it's a hobby. I did a build thread on it here if you're interested:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1990-civic-4wd-wagon-puzzle/59643/page1/

Pretty sure I've put this up before, but while the body of this 99 Expedition looked just fine other than some rust on the inside bottoms of the doors, this is what the rear lower control arms looked like after I ended up poking my fingers through them...

bravenrace wrote: In reply to DrBoost: No, it's a hobby. I did a build thread on it here if you're interested: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1990-civic-4wd-wagon-puzzle/59643/page1/

Thanks, I'll check out the thread. If you are looking to make a buck (or a lot more than a buck) IM me. I don't think I want to tackle the rust on our minivan myself.

In reply to DrBoost:

I used to do stuff on the side, but now I can't even keep up with my own stuff. I wouldn't have done my Dad's car at all if it hadn't been that he's old and just loves that car. The car itself wasn't worth it.

In reply to DrBoost:

Do you have pictures of said minivan?

I traded this one off (released it to nature) recently:

It's surprising how much stuff can rust and still hold its general shape while rolling down the road.

In reply to ClemSparks:

That would be considered relatively clean here. Hell, your running boards are still attached! Mine fell of my '78 Chevy years ago.

I had an old Chevy that rusted so bad the unibody cracked in half, much like the Tacomas were doing. It bent in a v shape, not a ^ shape, though.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to ClemSparks: That would be considered relatively clean here. Hell, your running boards are still attached! Mine fell of my '78 Chevy years ago.

I was thinking the same thing. That looks like a pretty good tow pig to me.

mndsm wrote:

bravenrace wrote: In reply to ClemSparks: That would be considered relatively clean here. Hell, your running boards are still attached! Mine fell of my '78 Chevy years ago.

I was thinking the same thing. That looks like a pretty good tow pig to me.

Like I say...it's amazing how they'll hold together. The chassis was solid. One of the axle tubes looked a little thin from corrosion near the u-bolt (which broke on the drive home or such).

I traded it off for something more fuel efficient ('92 F150 with the injected 300 I6). It was good for towing, but cost me $20 in fuel every time I started it, it seemed.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to DrBoost: Do you have pictures of said minivan?

I"ll get some. And I understand about not taking side work. Your reply is almost word for word what I tell just about anyone that asks me about doing mechanical side work.

ClemSparks wrote:

mndsm wrote:

bravenrace wrote: In reply to ClemSparks: That would be considered relatively clean here. Hell, your running boards are still attached! Mine fell of my '78 Chevy years ago.

I was thinking the same thing. That looks like a pretty good tow pig to me.

Like I say...it's amazing how they'll hold together. The chassis was solid. One of the axle tubes looked a little thin from corrosion near the u-bolt (which broke on the drive home or such). I traded it off for something more fuel efficient ('92 F150 with the injected 300 I6). It was good for towing, but cost me $20 in fuel every time I started it, it seemed.

See, here they don't hold together. That's the difference.

I don't have photos to share but I used to own a '67 Opel Kadette station wagon. It was so rusty the driver's door would fall off the car if I tried to open it, so I had to get in and out from the passenger side.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to ClemSparks: That would be considered relatively clean here. Hell, your running boards are still attached! Mine fell of my '78 Chevy years ago.

Agree, my first thought was "That's not too bad". It helps that that truck was made out of actual steel. It can do some rusting before it becomes a structural issue.

However, that Grand Am in the first post.... wow. I had a co-worker with a similar vintage Grand Am that drove it until the front crossmember rusted out so bad that the steering rack broke loose while he was driving it and he junked it. And the body on his didn't look half that bad.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

I had a Duster once that the front end fell to the ground while I was driving it on the freeway. The torsion bar mounts rusted out. I might also mention that the Civic wagon I posted pictures of only has 89k on it, and has always been well cared for and garaged.

You can't talk about rust without talking about my CSX.

Yes, that's a ramp. The car is on the ramp.

If that thing was just a regular ole Shadow and not a CSX, there's no way it'd be worth saving. Though I might have considered a "body swap" instead of trying to fix it.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

Trust me on this, if this thing wasn't a CSX, it would have been recycled LONG ago.

These days, the floor rust is all patched, and I have sheet metal to patch the rockers and have started trimming that stuff out. I need to patch up the spare tire well too, and after that the car will be rust free. If my stupid Dakota didn't regurgitate it's entire braking system over the past 4 months, I would have had that all fixed by now.

Speaking of rust...

You guys should have seen the brake lines on my 1997 Dakota. I cannot believe they were holding fluid and pressure for as long as they did! The truck has exactly one original factory brake line at this time.