VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Meets, Tours & Events Old Gold Cars & Parts Junkyard, Old Town, FL

Three of us VCCA members paid a visit to the Old Gold Cars & Parts junkyard/salvage yard earlier this week. I was surprised how far gone all the cars were. What happened to rust-free southern cars??? Guess they can't sit outside for 30 years. The yard is mostly GM and mostly Chevy - acres of Chevys. One 1939, one 1940, one 1941, one 1947, three or four 1948s and then dozens of early 50s cars, a few of the 55-60s, and then hundreds of 60s and 70s Chevys. Great place to visit, but not much left to buy. A few photos posted below. Cousin Dave is standing beside the lone 1940 and the last photo shows Dave, me & Jim Donley by a '66 Chevelle.

Warm weather does not mean a lack of salt air. Anything near the ocean is susceptible to rust mite invasion. Rapid City had some of the best salvage yard (no junk) rust free cars I have ever seen and they get lots of snow in the winter.

Salt air is bad as it accelerates corrosion. The real problem is temperature and relative humidity not rain or snow. Rain hits the outside and mostly runs off and then dries away fairly rapidly in most places particularly in dryer climates. However if the air is saturated (high humidity) then as the temperature drops water condenses on not only the exterior but also the interior so eats away from both sides. The reaction rate doubles with a less than 10 degree temperature rise so the hotter the faster it corrodes. End of chemistry lesson for today.

Thanks, Chipper! It really is amazing to see how bad it is. Most of the cars with rear windows have the glass barely hanging in as the sheet metal has completely rusted away around the glass.

It is easy to tell the humid Southern cars from the salted northern cars. If the window channels and top are rusted it is from the humid south. If the lower panels are gone then it is from the "rust belt". I live in gulf coast Texas where we have dew on the cars outside 300+ mornings per year. Don't leave anything uncovered if you want it to last. If covered provide air flow under the cover so moisture does not accumulate inside the cover.

Just as you guys are amazed at the rust around the windows and under the tops, we go up north and get amazed at the missing rocker and lower quarter panels and large rusty spots where paint was once applied.

I throw a couple of moving blankets over the car and under the cover if I'm going to leave it outside...Then remove it all if it's rained...

Uh-huh...