I have messing around with old trucks for over 25 years and I think I might be falling out of sync with the rest of society on what is rust.

Two different examples of variations of rust that seem to have popped up over the years:

The first, is rust now worth as much as some precious metals? Example, you see an old rusty hulk on the side of the road with a "For Sale" sign on it so you stop because you figure somewhere inside the pile of rust they might be a few useable parts. You talk to the owner about the price and he informs you that the price is $2500. The vehicle would barely make it being pulled onto a trailer without being torn in half. I can assume the owner has confused rust with silver,gold or platinum, the more there is the more it's worth.

Second, I went to an auction that advertised a "Rust Free" truck. When I got there I started to look the truck over, and although it was a very solid truck, when I opened the door I saw the passenger side floor was "Swiss Cheese", but it did have a nice thick coat of paint over it. I also recently bought a truck on uPay that was advertised as "Rust Free", although it's also a pretty solid truck it also had some minor rust through areas that were painted over. I have seen "rust free" vehicles like this numerous times. Now if the rust has a good coat over it does it no longer exist?

Maybe I'm missing something but I have always thought rust was rust. It usually devalues an item or it should either not exist or at least be removed or repaired before it's labeled "Rust Free". Am I wrong?

 

No, Bob. You aren't wrong. Rust is still rust. And "surface rust", even "minor", is really no different than the nasty puckering holes poking through the paint job. I, too have begun to wonder about this question when, like you, I look over a truck or part for sale. I usually write it off to the seller's ignorance or larceny.

Although my truck was very solid compared to many projects I have seen on this forum, the previous owner(s) of my truck were also under some misunderstanding about the subject and thought bondo was a cure.

As to the impossible asking price for some rust relics, I write that off to ignorance and/or greed. The sellers in some instances are really just sounding out the market to see what a fool will pay. In others, they give the used car salesman his deserved reputation. Anyone who has restored one of these from those austere conditions knows what the thing is worth based on the work that it will require to restore (if that is possible). Anyone who hasn't labored so, is gouging as much as they think the market will bear.

The bottom line is: I now know where and how to inspect a so-called "rust-free" vehicle to determine price. Haggling with an idiot is a fool's errand.

That's my opinion and I'm stickin to it.

 

Rust is a fact of life, given our preferences in vehicles. It's just a matter of "how much" and "where", IMNSHO. I have enough of it on hand, now, that I doubt I'd be willing to pay some idjit very much to get my hands on some more.

 

rust is still iron oxide. OK, seriously, though, I agree "rust free" isn't rust free anymore. It's been compromised by the seller's market, as opposed to the buyer's market old cars/trucks used to be. All the true rust free classics are becoming real scarce, and that drive's up the price on everything. I'm not saying "rust free" is ok when it's really not. I agree with Bob, but I see why non-auto restorers are calling them "rust free", even when they really aren't. Just like "lakefront" property up here on Lake Superior's north shore....12 miles inland, you might see the lake standing high in a tree in winter when all the leaves are off....but it says lakefront, and that gets the buyers in to give it a look.

 

Bob.
Could not agree with you more. I've seen vehicles on ebay advertised as rust free, yet in the pictures there is obvious rust, if it can be seen in a picture you have to wonder what it would look like in person. Years ago I went to look at a 39 Ford advertised as rust free, where the rear fender bolts to the body the seam was smeared with tar, I could see rust extending beyond where the tar did not cover the rust. I just walked away. I attribute this to pure greed/dishonesty. Have you ever noticed how some people post pictures and the pictures conviently have dark shadows that make it difficult to get an honest view of the vehicle?
I purchased a front bumper for my Ford 8N that was listed as MINT! What a joke. The thing had dents in it and welds that looked like someones first attempt at using a stick welder. The fact that my tractor is a working tractor I kept it as it was still functional. Chalked it up as one of those "I,ve been screwed".
It is really refreshing to encounter someone selling something and being honest about it's condition. Too many people out there are just plain dishonest!

 

I always got to smile when I see wanted ads.
Wanted: 48-56 Ford half ton. Must be complete and rust free.
(I made this up as an example)

How are you going to find a 50 year old vehicle that doesn't have a speck of rust on it? Sure there are places that have less than others but there is still surface rust. It's pretty bad if people cover it up and ask for $$$.

 

YUPPIES, Its them Darn Yuppies again. They've decided that "Rust" is Value Added Nostelga.

I Hate Yuppies.

 

Exactly right, and remember it wasn't on anyone's priority list to build a rust-resistant car or truck back then...bye-bye running boards, cab corners, door bottoms...

I've seen low-mileage, original '48-52's from the most arid place in the US (southeastern NM) that had rust at the bottoms of the front fenders. What hope was there for PA and MI trucks??

 

"Rust Free" and "Rare" My two favorite add openers....quickly followed by "Rat Rod"...The price is set by one of two things...Wanting to sell, or Wanting to see how much you can get... I will say though Bob, I have paid near gold prices to own some rust...I see the correlation.

 

A term that I like is never rusted. This should eliminate the poorly rust repaired parts.

 

I totally agree with what has been said. Every old truck I looked at was like that "rust free" and worth more than gold. Many of them were just a rusted body with no drive train, no glass, no interior, etc. for $2500.

There are extremely rare occasions, however, where the seller is completely honest. When I was looking at my 56, it was way over on the other end of Tennessee (I'm in Northern Arkansas).

The owner took a hundred pictures for me and each came with a description of this ding or that scratch. I knew where the filler was, I knew where primer was, I knew every scratch in the windshield, I knew where they had replaced/patched panels, everything.

He even told me someone (way back) had welded a trailer hitch to the frame and later cut it off. I would have never known had he not told me that.

That kind of honesty is problably almost non existant now. I wish everyone was like that. I was very fortunate that Tacson found this one for me.

 

Brian,

I have also run into situations of complete honesty. When I was looking for an original Ford script flatbed for my F-4 I found one on the other side of the state. The seller sent me a stack of pictures, that he took with a conventional camera and paid to have the pictures developed, through the USPS. Some of the shots he must have stood on his head to get, showing me the two bad spots under the bed. When I went to look at the bed I noticed one thing he forgot to tell me, the bed had all of the original hardward, not a single piece missing! In good concience, I couldn't even haggle with guy over the price, $200. Now that was more than honest.

There are still good, honest people out there. My opinion is there are vastly more honest ones out there then non. I like to think that at least or we're all in a lot of trouble. My main point at the begining of this thread is a lot of seller's aren't being realistic, maybe not really dishonest but they could be a little more accurate of their discriptions and more reallist of their expectations.

 

It probably has to do with interpretations of the the word rust. To me, surface rust due to thin paint or chips/scratches is acceptable. Holes, pits, or bubbles; certainly not. I wouldn't be upset if something was advertised rust-free if it was minor surface rust.

I cringe when I see any old pickup or car in any ad or online auction that is just a shell with more missing/damaged parts than good/present parts listed for 1,000s of dollars. When I was a kid in the 80s I bought a 56 IHC 3/4 4X4 that was straight, rust-free, and running for my kid-dumb offer of $400. A couple years later I bought a 60 1/2 ton 4X4 Ford with 6 cyl/3 speed, running with usual rust for $375. I just haven't adjusted to the idea that people offer to pay 10 times that for a dead rust bucket.

 

I thought I knew what "rust free" truck meant. I had one. Or, at least I thought I did. When we sanded off 30 year old paint, all we found was bondo, all over everything! Doors, lower fenders, cab corners, roof, and one side of the bed. Boy was that a rude awakening! My old pal, who did the work years ago, earned his nicname. "Bondo Bob." Now we have to fix it and it ain't cheap! I'm chalking it up to a life lesson.

 

I spent Saturday afternoon wandering around a swap meet. You post sure hits home, there were alot of people there selling gold. It was a bit hard to recognize however, because to the untrained eye it looked like very thin swiss cheese and flaky bulbous lumps.
Apparently I am un-enlightened and all of my years messing around in this hobby have been for naught. I thought I knew what rust was and the reasons to avoid it, but now I find that I have been completely wrong and that the rusting hulk of a (insert your favorite vehicle here) is realy a priceless museum piece.

Oh, of the alchemeists of the renaissance could see us now. They struggled, toiled, and labored long hours into the night trying to convert base metals into gold. Little did they know, all they had to do was go to a swap meet and start paying some attention to a Model "T" cowl section to see ferrous oxide transformed into the magical, alluring gold.

Bobby