I'm curious.  What percentage of these cars end up with rotten frames in you guy's experience.  I have 5 or these (1 project and three parts cars) and 3 out of 5 are rotten behind the drivers front wheel.  These are Alberta cars.  Is this typical?

66 Grande guy wrote:

---

I'm curious.  What percentage of these cars end up with rotten frames in you guy's experience.  I have 5 or these (1 project and three parts cars) and 3 out of 5 are rotten behind the drivers front wheel.  These are Alberta cars.  Is this typical?

 

---

This problem was common on east coast cars, Nova Scotia especially where there is salt in the air as well as on the roads.
By the early 70's on '66 Pontiacs and Chev's the frames had already rusted thru and were patched to go thru Safety Inspection. My 66 2+2 that I bought in 72-73 was already welded up and needed it again. It wasn't the exception, it was very common. Quite a few had already been scrapped due to rust out.

 

-- Edited by eeluddy on Sunday 11th of July 2010 07:27:49 PM

Out of the 4 Cars I have, 2 are rotten and 1 is not and one is slightly rusted where the trany cross member joins the frame on the inside of the rail..The unrusted frame is a B.C car and it was garage kept for 25 years.

 Well Ken, with all the ones I have gotten here lately, the percentage is way up! 2 from you were later Alberta cars. Being from NL myself, that was always a given, except for Labrador. 99% rust free and had I been smart, I would have had many, many, many frames and parts thereof nestled away!!!

 I find that Saskatchewan seems to be the best of the 3 center provinces for rust through and with the 2 cars I got from BC, mind you, 1 from Salt Spring island and the other from Kelowna, they were absolutely shot!! But that being said, I don't know where these 2 cars spent their childhood either.....

 

-- Edited by 67Poncho on Wednesday 7th of July 2010 10:06:59 PM

So Vinnie, whats the percentage and does it depends on where they are from? Of the two you ended up with the 67 GP(with the speed warning dash) was from Sask and the 67  2+2 is from northern Alta.

kenny the curmudgeon

 I got a 4-dr Strato from Edmonton area and the 2-dr post Laurentian from north of the 'Peg and that are both toast. The 2-dr especially. There is rust in that car that I have never seen before!!  I would say at least 67%!!!! (lol)

My God if it's worse than the the 2+2 I dumped at your place last fall, thngs have to be rough!

66 Grande guy wrote:

---

My God if it's worse than the the 2+2 I dumped at your place last fall, thngs have to be rough!

---

 It is pretty bad........... Not as bad as the 2+2, but bad enough!!!

 

Yike!   Its a good thing you don't know where I live!

67Poncho wrote:

---

66 Grande guy wrote:

---

Yike!   Its a good thing you don't know where I live!

---

 (lol) I can find you, again!!!

---

It was Northern Saskatchewan Eh!!!... Ken!!      Wink Wink!! 

My 65 Impala Convert from Calgary is solid, my 65 SS hardtop from Manitoba not so good, soft at the tranny mount and rotten in front of right rear wheel, to the point of lower control arm moving. It now has a nice solid 65 Canadian Pontiac  frame under her and all is well.

The areas I found the worst on any of the '69 Pontiac or Chev Impala cars I've owned in my lifetime were always both ends of the tranny cross members where they met the frame and the dog leg on the frame where the driver's side back wheel sits. My '69 Parisienne ragtop has a really good frame in it right now as does my '69 Grande Parisienne hardtop. Mind you since I acquired them, I've kept them in good dry storage out of the elements. It also doesn't help when cars are left in fields for years and then someone drags them out for sale and of course think they're worth a mint and a half! Dirt floors are another killer. Went to look at a 2+2 for sale about 10 years ago. Ad read: "Always stored" and "rust you'd expect for a car of this age. I got there, walked in a driving shed that had a dirt floor, laid right down on the ground, looked first at the dog leg at the back before I did anything else (and the guy commented, You must really know these cars eh?) then when I opened the front driver's door and could see the dirt floor the car was sitting on, I said to him, "How much did you say you wanted for this car?" "$5,500.00. I've been told it's worth $30,000.00 when it's restored." UHHHH---HUHHHH....."Thank you for your time fella, hope you get what you want for it" and I just drove away shaking my head. I really don't know what the bucket seats were sitting on that they too weren't on the dirt floor! Bad enough it was on the dirt floor but the roof was all but peeled right off of it too! The springs and stuffing in all the seats had obviously been nested in over the years. The tranny cross-member had disconnected from both sides of the frame to boot; as seen through the no-floors in the front seat compartment! So all this being said makes it pretty easy to surmise why so many of these cars haven't fared well and of course, salted roads being the worst nemesis. Hmmm....so much for a quick reply on this one fellas! LOL!

A few weeks ago I was scrapping out a 66 Cadillac convertible. The frame had been repaired, nice and solid, but needed finessing to be pretty. I respond to an ad on kijiji " looking for a 65 Cadi frame" He wanted a boxed convertible frame which I had. After wasting lots of my time with e-mails haggling and offering peanuts for a frame that is virtually impossible to find he has the nerve to offer me $200 after I said $350 firm. Then he still didn't even show up. I'm going crush it as it's now in the wrecker's. It would take me a full day to remove the frame and get my knuckles cut up as well. If that's all they are worth forget it!

GIMME A BREAK! You did the right thing Earl. Talk about gratitude or what eh?! Some people. Like ya said, just TRY and find one that's still alive or doesn't have to be shipped for 10 times the money you were asking; if it comes from the U.S.!! No brains no headaches man!

A 65 -66 Cadillac is a very expensive car to restore. If you can't afford to pay $350 for a factory BOXED usable frame, then you sure as heck need to sell that car!

I haven't had the chance to take a real close at the frame yet ... soon ... but I think the rear end might be a little rusty.

So the early consensus is that if you have one that isn't patched it is the exception unless maybe you get your cars from southern Alberta or the interior of B.C.?
(or heated  garage kept)


What is this world coming too?  Somebody really should talk to GM about that!

From what I can tell the frame on my 69 Laurentian is good.

I have a local Manitoba 69 B body Pontiac frame that is great  , and another that was totally rotten.

Out of approx 10-12 1969 Chev B bodies I've parted over the years , I've only seen 4 that were solid enough. 

Northern Sask , and southern US (Georgia & Indiana) were great frames , yet Nebraska was just rotten ( despite a great dry body).

I would say at least 50% + of the  69 B bodies in the fields may have  issues 

I had a 69 Biscayne 2 dr post form AZ that spent time in Ontario; I had to replace the frame.  Around these parts the frames from cars in the north in Labrador hold up well. I put a frame from a Labrador wagon under the 2 dr post.

I also have the full frame from a 69 Caprice, North Carolina car that spent a few winters outside here, but the frame is solid.  

Thanks Guys.  I'm still trying to figure out what it all means....

it means there is a nightmare of rust that lurks below the surface at anytime and anyplace and it will come to visit your house as soon as you are not lookin and it also means that the real good stuff is still out there rotting away and there aint much left

-- Edited by timbuk on Saturday 10th of July 2010 12:56:48 AM

Hey Timbuk! What a beautifully sleek looking Chevy! I had a '66 Strato Chief 2-door post when I was 15 that was that exact same colour! And I just noticed, a Super Sport ta boot eh?