<VV> "sealed" trunks -- rusting

[Paul Rollins]

At 07:10 PM 3/3/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 10:17:00 -0500
>From: <mhicks130 at cox.net>
>Subject: Re: <VV> "sealed"  trunks
>To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
>
>The original post claimed that the problem with rusty trunks was because 
>some "moron GM engineer" decided to put a rubber mat in the trunk.  I'm 
>contending that the decision to put a mat in was not an moronic 
>engineering decision but instead a moronic marketing decision.  What 
>material to make the mat out of may have been a moronic engineering 
>decision - but I bet it was driven by  moronic cost constraint.  But I 
>wasn't there and I've never been a GM engineer so I must defer to your 
>greater knowledge on these things.  On the plus side, the mat is not 
>difficult to remove and the trunk seems to work just fine without it.
>
>mike


It may be as simple as the fact that, in the 1960's, auto makers didn't 
care about rust prevention. In fact, considering how fast cars rusted in 
Ohio, where I grew up, it is more believable that "rust acceleration" was 
their strategy. The causes of, and cures for, accelerated rust were obvious 
to anyone who looked, even casually. The body structures had numerous dirt 
and water traps built in. Undercoat was created in hell to punish car 
owners for living in areas that used salt in the winter time. It guaranteed 
that a strong electrolyte would be held in contact with unstable iron as 
long as possible, to encourage maximum reaction of the iron with oxygen, 
a.k.a. rusting. A lot of hidden, interior surfaces had minimal, protective 
coating. It wouldn't have been hard to design a car that rusted a lot less.

Quite coincidentally, I have a 1981 FIAT X1/9 -- a car that has a 
reputation for rusting -- which has spent quite a bit of its quarter 
century living outdoors in rainy Oregon. The X1/9 has a front trunk very 
similar to a Corvair. It has a rubber mat. Other than a few, very minor, 
surface rust spots, the trunk floor is perfect.

Paul