Need your opinion on a '66 coupe

[anish]

Hi Everyone,

I have been a Mustang enthusiast for a long time now and I am looking forward to buying my first car soon.
I have come across this website and I am interested in this particular car.

www.gatewayclassiccars.com/orlando/1966/ford/mustang-S342.html

But I see that there is some rust at the bottom of the car which can be viewed from the last few pictures posted on the website.

Can you guys make out whether this amount of rust is okay or will it be a problem?
Please keep in mind that I plan on using this in Michigan for my daily commute (including winters).

Thank you very much for your time.


Best regards,
Anish Dasari.

[Phil Gibson]

That rust looks to be mostly just surface/bare metal rust to me, so it is simply exposed parts that have a coating of rust on them from just being exposed to air.

Having said that, I would highly advise to NOT use this as a daily driver in winter. If you think there is rust on it now, give it one year of driving it in a Michigan winter and see how much damage gets done to an older car from the salt. Add to that the modern conveniences that the classics are missing, like a rear window defroster, dealing with a carburetor in winter, a light rear wheel drive car in snow even with winter tires will be harder to handle, plus just the fact that rust will happen, are all things I wouldn't want to take a car, which seems to be in pretty darn good shape, and let it get a lot of rust damage in the course of a few years.

I think that as a daily driver during non-winter months, it would probably be great for you. But the salt has a way of ruining the older cars very quickly with rust. I wouldn't recommend getting it if it is going to be your only car. If you have a place to keep a second car, try to talk them down on this a few grand then put that money into a winter beater. =)

[anish]

Thank you very much for the advice, Phil.
What if I coat the bottom of the car with some kind of a paint (the ones which are said to be anti-rust in some way)? Are you aware of any? And how effective do you think that would be?

[staing]

Best bet would be buy a winter beater and save the Mustang. You won't have much of a Mustang left after driving it in the winter. Also you can find a nice "driver" in Michigan for under $10,000. Get a Beater Not even driving a 20 year old car would be like a 50 year old one. It just won't handle like a modern car. Best of luck.