This is really not a /6 question but since there are a lot of PNW guys here, I have a dumb question. Seems like there are a lot of car guys up there and a lot of old cars. With all the moisture, how do you guys keep the cars from rusting while you watch? Does the rain just gently wash the cars and keep them clean? Or do all of these cars come form eastern WA and OR and Idaho?

Really just curious; I get up into the 'salt-belt' (PA, OH, IN, IL, MI) from time to time and the destruction of cars there is as one would expect; I kinda expect that in the PNW too but that does not seem to be the case as much.

PNW cars more often than not rust from the inside out due to water leaks into the interior. I don't think the roads have ever been salted here, and the frequent rain keep the undersides of the cars pretty clean. One problem we do have is pine needle and leaf buildup in the corners of the fenders behind the tires. We get many rusted out front fender and rear 1/4s because of leaf and dirt buildup trapping water. We also get lots of rust under vinyl roofs due to trapped moisture and rust out around rea windows due to failed gaskets and trapped water.

I don't do anything special for my cars. Heck, I rarely even wash them.

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Reed is right about most our rust coming from trapped moisture while they sit. So the real rust free cars up here are either stored indoors, or came over from the dry side of the state.
We don't get much snow around here, so typically they have just treated the roads to some sand and waited for it to melt. However, that is all changing, as for the last few years now they have been liberally putting down a liquid de-icer type material before any threat of freezing temperatures. And that is basically salt brine... So yes, our cars will start looking like the 'rust belt' cars in time, though it will take much longer as our winters are far more mild.
I'm still trying to figure out how I want to deal with that, as my old jalopies are my daily drivers year round. I'm leaning towards throwing my old motor oil in a pump sprayer, and coating the undercarriages before each winter.[/i]

_________________

The Pacific Northwest climate (Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Eugene...) is much easier on car bodies than a snowy location where lots of road salt is used, or a coastal location where there's salt in the air. As others have mentioned, interior leaks can be a problem. These old cars of ours were not very watertight to begin with, and they don't grow more watertight with age. Water from a leak can keep metal wet for a very long time, trapped by carpet for example.

However, cars that sit for a long time (or even not such a long time) in the PNW tend to grow moss on the outside, and mould on the inside.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

My second car ever and my first slant six car was a 78 Volare wagon (Super Six!) that had sat parked outside my friends house for thre years. It was a spinnaker white car originally. By the time I got it the entire exterior was covered with a film of green mould with chunks of moss growing at the window weatherstip crevassesand door jambs. Three of the four brakes had locked up and only one exterior running light and one headlight worked (made for an exciting drive home at night).

I eventually had to scrap the car due to rust out in very odd places- under the windshield and the bottom rear hatch lid. The rust started from sitting outside for so long.

I grew up in Alaska which did salt its roads until the mid 80s when they switchs to dirt and sand. The dark dirt absorbs more solar radiation and provides tract and helps melt the snow. One does not find cars older than the mid 80s in Anchorage because they rust out horribly. Out away from town in the bush you can find them, but not in the city. I inherited my grandfather's 78 Mercury Zephyr station wagon when he died. It had spent its entire life from 78 to 98 in Anchorage. I sold it because it was just too rust to deal with. Bumpers rusted through, I could see the road from the driver's seat through the floor, etc... One cool thing about the Zephyr was ithat it had the cold weather package with a factory block heater and a two bladed radiator fan.

_________________
Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Thanks for all the replies, guys. OK, the lack of salt makes sense for the fact that there seem to be a goodly number of older cars out there... which is pretty cool. I just never expected it with all the moisture. Sorry you are getting more salt now...it will indeed change things. I had a friend in my early days, from Oneonta NY, and he would take old cars and get a gallon of roof tar and coat the underside to fight off the salt up there.

As far stuff growing on cars, well I live on a mountain on the Blue Ridge that gets bathed in clouds a lot....but the algae on cars does not get too bad... the slugs eat it all off... LOL. (But they don't eat the lichen on the north side of the cars). But of course we have to watch for salt on the cars a bit more.

I'll be looking a bit more at the PNW for old cars now. Tnx!

Maine started using that crap five or ten years ago pretreating 24 hours before a storm. Five year old cars now have corroded brake and fuel lines in need of replacing and body damage. It is bad stuff, state claims it is saving money using this liquid, but car ownership has become more expensive having to replace steal lines, brake components, and fixing rusted body parts.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Actually they rust out just a badly as other places. I remember buying second owner cars that had all the usual cancer locations 30/35 years ago.

The junk yards used to be littered with them 25 years ago. Most with rusted out bodies and worn out engines. The legendary \6 would start smoking around 100,000 miles and gas mileage was never better then 17mpg.

I believe that I am the only person in town that regularly drives a '65 Dart these days. Most people don't know what it is or they get the year wrong.

LOL.... try driving a '62 Dart around... people don't even know it is a Dart, and not even a Dodge! Well, I asked the question becasue I see a lot more decent old cars for sale up in the PNW than in some parts of the country. Only the desert SW and some parts of the SE have as good a selection.

I will speculate that a largely conservative population garaged there cars because of the wet conditions. So the very problem, leaky cars, actually lead to there conservation.

[However, cars that sit for a long time (or even not such a long time) in the PNW tend to grow moss on the outside, and mould on the inside.]

Is there a life lesson here for us old guys? (My wife has an opinion about that!)

_________________
"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)