Most rust free state

[BurnerBrown]

THere is a post on rust, now how about rust free.

I am from the Pennsylvania rust belt, and am always amazed at the rust free vehicles out west.

Where is the least rust, Arizona, California, Washington?

[JVictor75]

Originally Posted by BurnerBrown

THere is a post on rust, now how about rust free.

I am from the Pennsylvania rust belt, and am always amazed at the rust free vehicles out west.

Where is the least rust, Arizona, California, Washington?

California trucks have rust because of salt water, humidity, and patchouli infestation.

Washington trucks have standard rust in the standard location. Unless they ever lived anywhere near Seattle (rain capital of North America).

Arizona trucks by and large will make you just sick when you see them in the junkyard. More or less completely rust free, especially if it was actually from here originally.

I just saw an absolutely prisitne 1968 3/4 ton LWB with the I6. Factory White paint with not even so much as a blemish, all the emblems intact, no damage to the metal bed floor (it was scratched up, but that was it), no A/C, but it had perfect glass, the original 16" steel wheels, and hubcaps. And NO Rust. At All. Anywhere. I Looked. Hard.

Desert Valley Auto Parts would not sell the truck whole as it had come in for unrecoverable salvage. Apparently, the original owner was a little old man who used the truck once in a while to go to/from the hardware store, the dump, etc. Well, he died and then his grandchildren called and said that they wanted to "get rid" of granddads' old truck. They didn't want to deal with the hassle of worrying about getting the title switched over and they didn't think it would have been worth anything. So they scrapped it. Even Brian (the front desk guy) was kind of irritated at them because THEY DROVE IT TO THE JUNKYARD AND WERE COMMENTING ON HOW NICE IT DROVE FOR AN OLD TRUCK!!!!!

Not lying, not exaggerating I think that truck in particular could have probably gone for somewhere in the neighborhood of $6K-$8K because of how absolutely flawless the body was.

I practically begged them to sell it as the truck was just perfect (other than the six banger) but they couldn't because of the non-recoverable salvage title .

If you want rust free trucks, look no further than the American Southwest. (desert areas specifically, Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, East Southern California)

That being said, be careful. Most (but obviously not all) of the owners of these trucks are starting to become aware of what they've got sitting underneath the tarp in the backyard.

[70 net440]

Maybe it was the patchouli, that rusted the rockers in my trucks. Arizona won't let you re-title a truck once it's been salvaged? Even The People's Republic of California will let you re-title a car with a little paperwork. But, back to the original question, Cali trucks from the desert might not be too rusty, but all of the ones up here in the north have the normal rust.

[see ten]

So I guess my next project needs to come from AZ then?

[tcb-1]

my 69 step came from Wyoming. very surface little rust, and no rust through.

heard that they don't use salt at that altitude because it would actually freeze back to ice....

don't know, but it sounds feasible...

[longhorn70gmc]

I had to comment on this. I have driven all over Nevada, California and Arizona looking for these trucks and parts over the past twenty years. They are all good areas. My Longhorn came from Fontana area here in California and my Half ton from Bakersfield. They are sweet and have no Rust/cancer and just little surface rust if that. My Longhorn cab is the nicest I have ever seen. Ridgecrest is full of these trucks and they are in great shape. California deserts are a great place to look for anything from the early years. Arizona and other desert states are great too. Beach communities are not.I would answer your question with saying go with Desert communities here in the south west. Arizona has allot of parts places that are very helpful for our hobby. Good Luck

[smoky02]

I will say that the desert community here in Afganistan is a horrible place to look...I haven't the first classic Chevy or GMC out here...LOL

[tcb-1]

Originally Posted by smoky02

I will say that the desert community here in Afganistan is a horrible place to look...I haven't the first classic Chevy or GMC out here...LOL

stay safe out there smoky.

[N2TRUX]

Try Colorado. Due to the lack of humidity and them not using salt on roads I have seen some amazing trucks come out of Colorado. Texas is good too, but we do get some rust due to the humidity. What we call cancer is what you guys consider surface rust.

[yote1234]

im in arizona.. been here from 1964- present. i've seen cars parked here outside for 35-40 years...no rust... but they are getting bought up and taken out of state..some to garages,.others to rust...

[DirtyLarry]

Colorado and New Mexico aren’t too shabby either. No humidity, no salt, no ocean. All my rides are Colorado natives and 99% rust free. For winter deicing, Colorado does use 6% sodium chloride in the sand mixture just to keep the sand from clumping up and being difficult to spread. If anything, we get sand build up in body crevasses that can hold moisture on the rare occasion we actually get rain and rot from inside out. Over the past few years the DOT has been using some liquid magnesium chloride on interstate highways that is mixed with many other liquids to make a corrosion free brine. Well, so they claim…we’ll see…. This is not the same crap liquid calcium chloride they are using in the midwest and east that is a known car killer.

I work in the auto manufacturing world and states are actually classified by corrorion for certain recalls and campaigns…..such as old GM B-Body ABS module recall of the early 90’s. That recall was predicated by state DOT deicing products and practices. Usually the states that use raw 100% sodium chloride solids (large rock salt chunks) are the absolute worst states (MN, WI, IL, IN, IA, MI, OH, MO…pretty much the entire mid-west). The states that use calcium chloride solids (smaller salt flakes) like areas of NY, PA, NH, and other far eastern states are not as bad as sodium states but still BAD. All the coastal areas are pretty bad as well.

I lived in Detroit for 5 years….wholly crap…I cannot believe how they insalt the roads out there everytime a gray cloud blew over time, which seemed liek 364 days a year. When we moved back west we ditch both of our couple year old vehicles (new 1998 Silverado and 1997 Poncho) for new ones as they were already showing signs of rust. Not surface rust…but bubbles! WTF…As a CO boy, I had never seen that before on any vehicle. Hell, I was raised beleiving any vehicle under 15 years old was NEW.

My job requires travel all over the country and MI, MN, OH, IL, IN come to mind as the absolute worst areas I see Swiss cheese vehicles on the roads. I wouldn’t not buy a Tupperware bowl that laid in the streets of those states.

[smoky02]

Originally Posted by tcb-1

stay safe out there smoky.

Thanks....and don't worry, I've only got about 62 more days...

[69RAT]

If you look in Eastern WA they are usually pretty rust free, we're kind of a high desert.

[b-rad]

smoky ya i know what your talking about here in iraq i see these trucks with no rust at all i seen one last time i was here on the the side of the road i was begging to take the doors off my PLT SGT was like hell no i was so bumed about it

[smoky02]

LOL...would have been awesome if he had let you...but you'd have been getting crazy looks when you rode the C-17 home with them...LOL

[70' GMC]

Theres a truck in hallsboro that came from Nebraska and it still has cab corners and rockers the man that has it wants 900 dollars for it the cab roof is white and the rest of the body is a dark blue it is a 70 or 71 . It is a 2500 it has a motor and transmission but it will not run. So would it be worth 900.00 dollars?

[67ChevyRedneck]

My grandpa bought a ZERO RUST original 52 chevy deluxe 4 door from the Nevada desert, somewhere near vegas.

[boundstaffpress]

No matter what state you find a truck in, ask the seller if he has any information on where the truck was before he had it. Bought a nova in chicago and sold it in Southern Colorado. It was not your typical rust free dessert car. I was honest about the rust, but I didn't advertise chicago in the ebay title.

[Dingfodgy]

Out here in Oregon there are some good vehicles to be had. East side of the state is high desert- so they're is less rusting out there. Here in the valley it's a bit wetter, like about 40" of rain/snow per year wetter, but we too do not use any salts on the roads just sand/gravel and the occasional de-icer in the urban hills.

Trust me there's plenty-o-patchouli out here....but I think it's the spilled micro-brews (we have a crap-load of kick a$$ beers) that's causing all the rockers to be rotted out.

Southern Idaho is fairly dry as well- I've seen some good steel 'round them parts.