Trunk Check

[Justwondering]

I'm wondering if my car is unique, so I'm asking for you to check your trunk and post what you find.

Are the bottom of the rivets rusting? Is there a spot of rust on your trunk tension rods?

Stand at the trunk, look at where the bottom of the vinyl roof ends on the body just behind the trunk. Inside the trunk are the bottom of the rivets just about where the vinyl roof ends and the car body begins.

See if any of the rivets are rusted.

I used 2 methods:
1. Took my smartphone and activated the camera. Hit the button as if I was going to take a selfie so it reversed the camera direction. Opened the trunk and stood beside the car. Held the camera in from the side and took several photos moving the camera a few inches each time.

2. Took everything out of my trunk. Stuck a pliers in the latch so the trunk couldn't shut. Got in the trunk and took pictures of the rivets.

What I found were two bubbled areas where the rust was bad. Every single metal rivet bottom was rusted. Every plastic rivet with grommet were not rusted.

Is this just my car or does anyone else have rivet rust in the trunk?

Rivet Rust

Trunk Tension Rod Rust - only a spot where the rods touch.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I haven't crawled in my trunk but I suspect the same issues. Any 20 something year old car is going to have rust. Especially in spots that have wear.

 

[Aspen500]

They all have at least a light surface rust on the underside of the package tray and trunk channel, etc (similar to what happens under the dash on the bracing and stuff). Those areas never got paint, just overspray if you're lucky.

20 something year old car,,,,,,,,,,,,,"our" cars are more like 35-40 years old. Just hit me, the first year F-body and I assume M-body(sorry, not sure if they came out in '76 also) are now 40 years old. Yikes! How time flies, doesn't it?

 

[Jack Meoff]

They all have at least a light surface rust on the underside of the package tray and trunk channel, etc (similar to what happens under the dash on the bracing and stuff). Those areas never got paint, just overspray if you're lucky.

20 something year old car,,,,,,,,,,,,,"our" cars are more like 35-40 years old. Just hit me, the first year F-body and I assume M-body(sorry, not sure if they came out in '76 also) are now 40 years old. Yikes! How time flies, doesn't it?

Yes Sir.
My Caravelle and Volare are well into their 30's.
My Fifth is the baby clocking in at 28 years old.
Point being.....yes these cars will have rust in unseen places.
Under the dash is correct also. I grabbed a dash out of a decent looking Fifth and all the metal on the back has surface rust.
Nature of the beast. ...

 

[Darth-Car]

Heck I have surface rust on the underside of the trunk lid itself.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Heck I have surface rust on the underside of the trunk lid itself.

My never oil sprayed formerly winter driven Caravelle is an ongoing battle with rust. I think I'm slowly winning though.

Metal rusts and it's actually very surprising how well these cars have held up compared to some of the newer offerings.

 

[Aspen500]

Suppose it depends on where you live. Here, I don't consider a light surface rust to really be rust. Out in the desert southwest, might be a different story.
Way back when, I got some upper control arms, control arm brackets, front spring hangers, etc from Arizona. The guy said they have some rust and if not acceptable they would gladly take them back (this was more or less pre-internet). I got the parts and was like "this is rust?" Could pretty much wipe it off with your bare hands.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Up here they try to kill your car. Every winter is an assalt on your car. I'm amazed anything is still alive in Lake Ontario from the spring runoff. We know rust up here. You can watch cars disintegrate before your eyes.

All in all I'd say justwondering's car has faired very well by our standards up here. I have to drown my Fifth in oil every winter just so it doesn't get eaten.


Just for reference fun.

http://www.forfmjbodiesonly.com/cla...nadian-Mopar-s&highlight=save+Canadian+Mopars

 

[Justwondering]

Oh my lord...
Mostly lived in dry, hot west Texas.
Moved 'north' , still in east Texas. Eight miles south of the Red River. Seems really humid in comparison.

Here I am obsessing about rust and its nothing compared to what you folks deal with. Wow.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Oh my lord...
Mostly lived in dry, hot west Texas.
Moved 'north' , still in east Texas. Eight miles south of the Red River. Seems really humid in comparison.

Here I am obsessing about rust and its nothing compared to what you folks deal with. Wow.

They truly are nuts up here with the salt. I swear they do it on purpose so you have to buy a new car every few years.
If it wasn't for the shop I take my Fifth to drowning it in oil it would be dust by now.

 

[Aspen500]

Remember when some states had or were considering so called "clunker" laws? Wisconsin has had one for 50 years, called winter road salt.

Put it this way, at work we're already seeing vehicles as new as 2009 with holes starting in the 1/4's. As I mentioned in another post, we had a 2007 Toyota Tundra scrapped because the frame was so rotted the truck was bending in half. That's 2007,,,,,NOT 1997! Hey, but were "safe" on the roads in winter.

Guess it could be called "job security". I'll bet we go through 100 feet of brake tubing a week replacing lines that rotted out. How safe is that? No ice in the winter but you die when you make a panic stop and the pedal hits the floor.

Or the ones that come in on the flat bed with a control arm mounting point rusted off or even the arm itself rotted to nothing, or the strut towers that become detached from the vehicle because what it was attached to,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,isn't anymore.