Thread: Disco and rust

Originally Posted by AK83

Yeah you do!

A few cars I've had, either myself, or family.

Dad's 60 series cruiser. maybe 90% rust! I told him not too buy it. Had a lot of surface rust on chassis, and a largish hole in the firewall. Body looked "OK" But in reality was primarily bog. That took a few years to surface. I think it either lived near seaside or was used as a boat tow rig.

Brother bought an SD1 Rover. Chap was Navy, so all it's life the SD1 lived near the ocean. Total rust bucket! I had 4 SD1's myself, hardly ever had any rust.

My current D2a. Body has two or three spots, but underside has a lot of surface rust I have to clean up one day soon. Nothing rusted through badly tho. Again, I think a previous owner used it for towing boats, like the cruiser may have been.

Folks tow boats, car gets a dunking into water whilst launching or retrieving, they don't wash it down properly afterwards .... really who does! ... and eventually they rust.

I should have said 'these days? implying recent vehicles, but I take your point.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

I should have said 'these days? implying recent vehicles, but I take your point.

LOL! yeah, I sort of got your meaning, but the reality is, it's more about the exposure too such conditions.

ie. I'm not into boating, so my exposure to salty water is pretty much zero. I live 300klms from the sea/beach. I don't drive on beaches.

Landcruiser was less than 20 years old when my dad had it. Can't remember exactly, but dad got his cruiser maybe late 90's, definitely not past 2000, so it was 14 years old.

D2a is close to the LR Time D3 rust show. Only a couple of years difference in age. So I'm sure it's not really a matter of it being a recent vs older vehicles issue.

I watch two channels religiously. LRTime and Brittanica Restorations.
Mike at Britrest shows the occasional non Landrover video, and a few times it's either been on his runabouts. He used to have a Yaris and now has a Focus. Both are 'recent' car types. Yaris was dumped due to rust problems, so he got himself a Focus(cheap) and had to replace a sill due to rust problems.
Canada has the same salt roads in winter issue.

I've had over 30 cars over the years, most have been Rovers of some type. P6s mainly. None had any rust at all. I've had about 5 or 6 SD1s, only one had a teeny bit of rust in the boot, I think due to wet carpet syndrome. Easy mig welder fix back in the day. I wouldn't have called any of those cars rusty. Maybe some very small spot rust or surface corrosion, but not a deal breaker.

D1 and D2(TD5) and the two D2 v8s, again zero rust. D2a(only got that recently) plenty of surface rust that has to be sorted before it becomes a real problem. All of it underneath, not much anywhere else, just small spots.
The only pommy car I've had that had rust was my 79RRC. The same ol same ol problem of wet carpet in the footwell problem, but nothing else.

I've found that Jap cars, of any era, rust badly (only Italian cars rusted worse). I had a Lancia ... total rust bucket and deal with that got broken because of the rust.
Had a VW Type 3 that got so rusty, the engine mount welds broke and engine was hanging by a thread ... off to the wreckers.

Sister had many cheap jap cars, IIRC I think all ended up rusted to high heaven. She currently has a 2004 Rav. While not 'rusted out' it's not looking good either. Her issue is she lives in Brighton, only 2 klms from salty water.

When I was younger I lived in Williamstown. Again maybe 1klm from the beach. Moved to wayyy outer suburbs mid 80s. Dad used to have a 73 Cadillac. Rusted out like crazy. He had a mate that was a panel beater. Got the job to fix the rust. I remember as a teen helping to learn a bit of panel work on it. I can't remember exactly, but not long after I was driving, the Caddy was rusting out again, mainly around the rear window area. I reckon that issue was once again living near a salty air environment.

I think environment more than 'era' is the problem.