Where on "Earth" would you buy a car, best and worst climate, if you had a choice.

I've been thinking about this quite a while. Where on Earth, (geographically speaking) would be the best or the worst place to buy a car.
I live in California, the climate seems to be fairly good to sheetmetal, but maybe Nevada or Arizona might be better.
South America, I was told has a lot of abandoned American cars, but the humidity has to take a toll.
I grew up in Switzerland, there is snow in the winter and they use salt on the roads to melt it, so a 5 year old car there, has more rust than my 52 here in Los Angeles.
The east coast poses other problems Florida is Humid and Jersey has snow.
Maybe Australia has the best "survivers".
Where is Hot rod heaven???

 

Australia worked for me!
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I would like to get a 1962-64 Desoto out of South Africa but since that is the center or most of the international scamming I will have to pass.

Have you tried checking Ebay Argentina or Ebay Brazil?
They have a heck of a lot of cars for sale and I suppose you could get them shiped by rail from there? I had mine shipped in a container.

 

I sold my first car, a 67 Buick Skylark, to a guy from Minnesota who was out in Cali for a trip. He said it was the cleanest Skylark he'd seen in his life. Said all the stuff out there was all rust.

I say SoCal, but I may be partial.

But, I have seen some nice stuff out here in AZ.

 

The Midwest sucks...if you live in the rust belt...well, it didn't just get it's name from manufacturing. The best...well, I have no clue

Bill

 

I too have spent a lot of time trying to figure this out. I've never considered places outside the US, tho.

The desert SW has the least rust, but the wind and blowing sand ruin glass, and strip the paint off, the "patina" can be a bear to work with -- but at least it's not rust-thru! The sun also ruins any rubber, all the weatherstripping, and interiors, etc. Another factor is that these states were sparsely populated 50 yrs ago, so there just aren't a lot of cars to choose from. You have to watch out for cars people drove down from Chicago, too!

Oregon/Washington get tons of rain but since there's no salt most places, cars up there are really pretty clean. Being at sea level and lots of clouds, paint and interiors last a lot longer than the SW. But all that moisture does cause rust-thru, and you get mor floor pan damage (rust from the inside-out).

The SE states are a distant third, as long as you aren't in a coastal area.

 

NOT NEBRASKA!!!!
joe

 

Arizona-Best

New York-Worst

 

upper texas for these 2, cleanest ive found for sitting, one 40yrs, the other for 25

 

Ok...this is what happens to cars in Kentucky.

Hills, Creeks, Riverbeds. Plenty of places to roll them over/into.

I've heard of people building up house-seats out of old cars. And wandered through more than enough creeks that have been lined with old cars.

Either that, or they end up in the woods.

Generally, paint stays on. Moisture and winter takes its toll though. Leaves and pine needles get stuck in seams and drip-rails, were they hold moisture and eat the metal off. Salt eats up floorpans and quarters. Where there not in the open to get sun/rain damage, they stay in the shade where leaves and pine needles cause the same stuff. And usually, tires go flat, grass collects under the car, holds moisture, and eats the floors out.

 

I would think Iraq or Saudi Arabia would be a good dry place. They have no rain, no trees, no humidity, nothing.

One of those little countries there made an artificial forest. It was real trees, just not there naturally. They decided to let it die because it took too much water to keep it alive.

They have no water too. Metal minus water = no rust.

 

What about bullet holes?!

 

You get down in the AZ NM area there are many more trucks than cars. The inland desert areas of Cali are good as is Oklahoma.

I ran across a 1959 Impala here in Iowa years ago that was very soild underneath (unusual here in Iowa) but upon closer inspection the rear fins could easily be moved. Come to find out it was from florida so the salt air rusted it from the top down instead of the other way around.

No matter where you look make sure the car was not a transplant from another area with worse problems. You ca find solid cars in the midwest but they are rare!

 

The problem with the middle east is that there arent or very few American cars there, on the other spectrum Turkey and Cuba have tons of cars but they have been bastardized and modified (in a bad way), just to keep them on the road, so that's not good either.

 

Any place hot and dry.

 

I read somewhere that GM sells more SUV's in the ME than in the US.

Maybe not alot of hotrods there..werent they pretty much camel jocks before WW2??

 

Oklahoma and Kansas have both been good for me. My Okie OT '88 Lincoln is so clean that you could lick the chassis..The rubber parts of my '64 Ford from KS are junk but the sheetmetal is solid as hell. I can unbolt any part from this one with a shot of PB blast to lube the threads from dust..We've also bought Va, NC, SC, Georgia and Fla. cars that were great bodywise. So long as you stay away from coastal cars, the south has some solid iron.

Jan

 

I bought my car from Indiana where it had been for it's entire life. As close to no rust as you'll find on a non restored 53 year old car. They don't rust in the garages in the midwest either.

 

Anything west of the rust belt is pretty good but there are always exceptions. Hunting for old tin is a lot like fishing, you would be suprised at what is in your own back yard.

 

I've noticed that if the car is within 5-10 miles of the coast they rust really bad,it doesn't help that we get over 60 inches of rain a year here in lower al.(more than seattle!)

 

west/southwest, I grew up in NM, bought cars from AZ, TX (top part near el paso as well as DFW) and parts of utah (near the AZ/NM border) that whole area is pretty much the same, my 49 chevy was rust free, my 47 buick is rust free, my 50 merc is rust free, all were sitting in the weather for many moons prior to me....

 

Mobile is officially the wettest city in America with just over 64" per year.

 

TX
AZ
NM
NV
Dry, arid, no salty roads... ever seen a shiny junkyard? They got 'em, freaks me out.

 

I just got a rust free Model A sedan from of all places Minnesota.Go figure.
Shane T.

 

If you are talking 50's or older tin the south west especially AZ and Ca, if you want something newer, the central valley in Ca is really good, weather is not as hard on rubber/plastic parts as So Cal is...

 

California weather just preserves cars.
All the good ones were bought years and years ago though

 

Mojave Airport in Ca is where all the old aircraft are stored Very kind to metal a little hard on rubber etc.

 

LOL

 

I like southern BARN finds ...



The down side is that the South was so poor back during the depression and not as populated as other areas ... there are not a lot of Pre WWII vehicles in the area. There are more people in Los Angeles county now that there is in all of SC, NC, and Georgia combined ...

No salt on the roads, not much snow and rural as a general rule makes the Carolinas a good place for cars. But like said before ... cars from other areas are really showing up ( D@^* Yankees moving down here ) so you have to be a little more careful than you used to.

 

Certainly not New England. I tried not driving our 96 T-bird on the winter roads and it still rusted out.
I found SF Bay Area was great when I lived there for 4 years back in the 70's. Never had to wash the 65 Goat but once a year, the rest of the time was just dust it off.

 

we cant get cars from Cuba -ever!,.... they are protected by law like endangered animals.... no export of old cars allowed to any country.