MONTE CARLO southern state guys - is this considered normal rust?

[paradigm]

Started looking at the floors from under the rear bench, and peeled up this stuff and noticed a lot of surface rust in the rear passenger floor area. Also the driver left front floor corner and passenger right front floor corner have been patched already. Also noticing rust along both door bottom edges, and some starting in the bottom of the rear fenders behind the rear wheels besides the marker lights and some along the rockers. Also a little bit on the trunk lid bottom edge. The body was taken off the frame at some point, the frame was covered in POR-15 and new bushings installed; the frame appears extremely solid.

Is this considered normal in the south or are your cars pretty much spotless when it comes to rust? I am from the north east with a car that lived in MA and NH it's entire life, although likely stored for most of it given the mileage (68k) but the rust concerns me. When I was shopping, a lot of the cars I looked at had similar rust, but they are all north east cars. I am wondering if I should sell this car and look for one that is completely rust free in the south or if I should continue to work with this one.

Also is thls foam backing material that I found pasted to the floor ontop of the rusty floor OEM or is it something a prior owner would have stuck on to possibly cover the rust?

 

[Texas82GP]

It depends on what part of the south and the circumstances. If you're talking humid Gulf Coast and the car has been sitting outside (parked up, not being driven), that rust isn't unusual. Cars are designed where when you drive them, air circulates in the doors and other inner panels and drys them out. When the car sits up, that doesn't happen.

No matter what, if water is infiltrating the interior and the carpet and padding are staying wet, the floors are going to rust.

Out in the southwest, it's so dry, it doesn't matter if the water gets inside the car, but the paint and interior get baked from the sun.

For perspective, my brother's dailey driver is a 22 year old GMC that doesn't have a spec of rust. It is parked outside on a concrete driveway and it gets driven regularly. Park it up on dirt or grass for 5 years, and it likely would develop rust. Oh, this is in Houston.

 

[SS_Malibu]

It seems a little excessive for a southwest car. It was probably brought here from somewhere else and “sold as” a southwest car.

 

[paradigm]

It seems a little excessive for a southwest car. It was probably brought here from somewhere else and “sold as” a southwest car.

I should clarify that I am asking about southern cars to see how much better (if any) they are for rust compared to my north east car. I look at southern cars as the bench mark for the most solid cars and trying to gauge how much worse my car is and if I should consider selling it for a cleaner car from the south.

 

[565bbchevy]

I would say since you said the frame was off at some point and has POR 15 on it along with new body bushings then you are ahead of the game and I would just do the rust repair and move forward with the project.
IMO welding in floorboards are a relatively easy fix.

 

[Texas82GP]

My brother's 78 Z28 had pin holes in the floor boards, a rusted out lower rear quarter and trunk drop off, and rust damage in the rear window channel. The car has been in Houston since at least 1985. It sat under a carport from 1990-1998 and then was garaged from 1998 to 2006. We restored it from 2006 to 2017. The inner structure was pretty sound but most, if not all of the rust damage was from sitting around.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

My brother's 78 Z28 had pin holes in the floor boards, a rusted out lower rear quarter and trunk drop off, and rust damage in the rear window channel. The car has been in Houston since at least 1985. It sat under a carport from 1990-1998 and then was garaged from 1998 to 2006. We restored it from 2006 to 2017. The inner structure was pretty sound but most, if not all of the rust damage was from sitting around.

Garages if not properly ventilated will trap humidity inside and can cause worse rust damage then if a car was parked outside.

If a car was ever exposed to salt and never washed off the underbody, it can cause extensive damage. Even if it was exposed just once and never washed can do it.