The Comet I just bought looks somewhat salvageable from the outside, but it is underneath that is the deathnail!! The back bumper had rusted clean off, and here you can see why. The back 4 or 5 inches of the frame rail is gone. The shackle is not attached to anything. Believe it or not, the spring shackle hasn't busted thru the trunk yet.
She's a beauty Craig. I showed your picture to my husband Dale. He laughed and said I should tell you it CAN be fixed. All it needs is new frame rails. Trust me, he will fix anything.
looks scarey to me!! I also liked your reference to the infamous book by Ralph Nader 'Unsafe At Any Speed' which was probably the deciding factor for GM to put the kabosh on the Corvair. Dan
Jean Tell Dale it also needs a little work on the trunk floor, both torque boxes, complete quarters on both sides, one front fender, and a little work around the shock towers. Should be enough to keep him busy
I junked a 71 Grabber once that was worse than that. It spent its life in Chicago. Even the oil pan was rusted so bad it had pin holes in it and leaked. Funny thing about the car was the interior was immaculate. The buckets in my Sprint and that beautiful set of deluxe door panles came from that car.
I would say mine are way better than that. Have you looked under the steering box on that car Jean? That's a bad area for rust as well. (Right, Dennis?)
Believe it or not, there was no rust under the steering box. Most of the rust was in the torque boxes and the floors up front. It's all repairable stuff, it just takes a lot of time to fix it all. Dale has been a metalman for so long that there is almost nothing he claims can't be repaired. As long as there is some clean metal left to weld to, almost anything can be repaired.
Heck, what am I thinking?? My 77 is in alot better shape than those, I better stuff it away in a dry room until I have the money and skills to fix it.
