I grew up on Long Island in the 1970's and rusty hulks from the 1960's, where everywhere and they looked like you could just fold them them and throw them away. Cars from the '70's and the '80's didn't seem to rust as much and certainly cars from the '90's and beyond didn't seem to rust at all. I've always chalked that up to The Big Three's vast improvement in corrosion resistance over the ensuing decades. And imports always seemed impervious to any rusting what-so-ever. I've lived in sunny locales like Dallas, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee over the years and down there I rarely if ever saw a rusty or what is referred to as a "rusted-out" car or truck. Then I moved the family here to bucolic Cleveland, Ohio and suddenly I was eight years old again with my eyes be-sodden with a slew of rusted out bombers from all decades domestic and foreign. Seriously - the amount of rusty vehicles up here is incredible. This shot-to-shit 1962 Chevrolet Impala four-sedan a prime example of what I see up here every day and is also a time-machine to my woe-begotten youth back on Long Island.
Typically, rust, or oxidation of metal, occurs when the metal is exposed to iron, oxygen or water. The chemical reaction between the metal and the iron, oxygen or water breaks down or oxidizes the metal causing the appearance of rust. On painted surfaces, like on an automobile, rust can occur when the paint is scratched, even in the slightest, or the underside or back of stamped metal, for instance a door or fender, is unpainted, wasn't properly sealed or treated at the factory or it's protection has eroded off over time. In the case of this sorry Impala, it comes from an era when it was just a matter of time before the elements got the best of it. Seeing this thing is now fifty-eight years old it's somewhat a miracle it's still "alive" now.
Well, "alive" is a relative term. That "283" down there is all seized up - can't even spin the crankshaft with a plug or two out. Blown rod, crank, whatever. It's dead. And I wouldn't put any faith in its Powerglide either. Blame the relentless summer time humidity up here for most if not all of that harmless surface rust or what some refer to as "patina". It's as sticky as South Florida up here between Memorial Day and Labor Day; the saving grace is it rarely gets that hot.
While New York and other states in the North East are part of what is referred to as the "Salt Belt", that is states in the U.S. that use rock salt in winter to melt snow and ice and give drivers traction, there's something almost perverse about rust here. You don't see it Pennsylvania nearly as much, Michigan has it to some degree too but up here on the shores of Lake Erie, rust is a way of life making the best efforts of corrosion resistance engineers seemingly a waste of time.
In addition to being known as the "salt belt", this region of the country is also referred to by some as the "rust belt". Rust belt is an incongruous term that denotes not only a rash of rotting, oxidized metal but it also describes a vast region stretching the from north east to Wisconsin that's seen a prolonged economic downturn.
Seemingly like the pandemic, if you live in the salty rust belt, rust affects us all. This Impala worse than most cars that are still above ground. That there in all its infamous glory is the GM "X-frame" that underpinned many GM designs from 1957-1964. While it's survived the elements for the most part we can't say the same about the driver's side floor pan.
The GM X-frame allowed for a low floor which was important in an era of longer, lower and wider. The cars were gorgeous, my favorites of the era were the 1961 "bubble top" coupes, but they were deadly in a serious crash. The problem with many of the X cars was that side impact reinforcement was done by bulking up the sides of the body as opposed to the actual frame. Nearly sixty years of good old fashioned Ohio road brine on our '62 here and you have next to zero side impact protection.
If you're wondering - we're looking up through the trunk here - or what's left of it. This is like one of those fascinating cross-sections of whatever you'd see at some sort of car or industrial design show. From here we can also see how safely tucked into the middle of the car the gas tank is. Despite being rusty as hell, this still ain't no Ford Pinto. Although, who knows how rigid the rear frame is on this thing.
What if anything can be done to stop this kind of corrosion? Good question. Since we've lived here it seems that everything rusts - even cars not five years old yet. So that tells me there's something different about the salt they use here compared to the stuff they use on Long Island or PA or Michigan. Some say find a car wash that does the under carriage and have that done constantly. Especially during the winter. Best thing to do, though, to avoid rust is move to the Sun Belt.
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