'71 LeSabre trunk floor, right hand side. Thank you Fisher Body for such a terrific rear-window design that traps dirt/water, rusts through, and let's all the rainwater in the world pour into the trunk - where the lovely rubber trunk mat helps it rust through the above trunk floor. One of these days I'm driving to GM just to slap an engineer. Grrr!
Most of those guys are in nursing homes by now. Blame the accountants not the engineers. I will slap some of them with you.
Ditto. The bean killers always kill our really good stuff...but they have to. Another way to look at it is that your car's design-intent durability pretty much ran out in 1980. You should see what little was left of my car after thirty years of Michigan road salt when I bought it! Devon
Yeah, shocking that it is in such poor condition after 43 YEARS! Find me a 43 year old Datsun to compare it to. You should be hunting down the engineers to congratulate them for doing what they did with the money they had.
Especially after knowing that the cars were only designed to last 5-7 years at most. They sure were horrible at their jobs.
Ok, ok, ok.... A little perspective is a good thing. It's just that I've been fighting this since I got the car in '84... Let's all slap an accountant, LOL!
Face it guys, back then if GM had the e-coating technology that they have today we would still be driving most of these cars around........................and most of the car companies would be extinct today. Duane PS. I know GM gave up trying to stop water from getting in, so they have "water management" systems in the vehicles to get rid of it once it does get in. I remember my friend Rich talking about it on those 4-door GM trucks with the short beds.
I know some of those guys. Might be old but are still feisty. They might take exception. Could end up like this :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdyeWgsa_R8
Hee hee, I remember watching that on the news - don't mess with Nolan unless you like a headlock! Spent the last couple of days grinding, wire-wheeling, sandblasting, and Dyna-Glassing the trunk floor - both sides, removed the gas tank and re-soldered the filler neck as well. Then shot 2 qts of 3M's Body Schutz in the trunk, and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself! Now I need to make up some trunk boards out of 1/4" ply or some such, and I should be good for another decade.
I feel your pain Jim, and don't get me wrong. Nothing was rust free on my car, though much was hidden by body filler. When I uncovered it all I had a lot of reconstruction to do, and this was over twenty years ago in '92: That rectangular spot in front of the rear tire was occupied by a license plate, riveted into what was left of the quarter panel. Took a lot of grinding out filler, previous attempts at overlapping patch panels, what have you. Had to fabricate everything that went back in. It's still holding up pretty well today! Devon
Who said E...Coat technology of today? The junk we buy today is half the weight and rusts twice as fast as a 55 CHEVY. that is why we as CONSUMERS can expect to pay 17K for a 2005 rusted out duramax diesel gmc. I will take the technology and accountants of 1970. The full size buick did not cost more than a house,and a dollar was worth about a hundred pennies(copper pennies).......
I remember my first 66 and the molding around the rear windshield.....that molding would hold water better than a cup! The mechanic I bought it from suggested drilling a small hole in each corner, and using silicone to hold tubing that would be routed to remove the water and have it exit behind the rear wheel. It was either that or silicone the molding in . o No: I had to replace the metal under the rear seat on both sides on my current 66, but other than that the floor pan was good! Scott
Wire-wheel, sanding, Dyna-Glass, and 2 quarts of 3M Body Schutz later, here you go: Now for some diy boards and a new weatherstrip...
