just curious ...

As I remember (that's sort of an oxymoron!)Ford had to buy back some cars because of the rust.

I have heard of a car that when jacked up at the rear - the inner wings move up until they contact the cylinder heads.

This car looked fine.

I wouldn't want to drive it though...

I worked for Ford in Dearborn in the late 70's. They had 3 cars they had bought back in the parking lot. They cut inspection holes to look at the rust. They shredded all 3. At the time there was a rust repair kit they would pay for.

I believe that the problem was with the first batch of cars that was sent to Stroppe for correction.
The rust was in the rear upright area. It had actually occured on the pre-production cars that Ford had and was testing here in the US.

I believe that there was a correction made to the car on a running production basis of adding drainage holes to the bottom of the uprights.

There was some discussion in the press at the time and mention of Ford restocking the repair panels necessary was mentioned.

At the time the entire rear inner panel was what you purchased to repair the damaged area.

There was a lot of comment about the cost of the panel and the labor required to replace them. They may have been replaced under warranty by Ford to the original owner if I am not mistaken.

I think that there was also a guaranteed trade in value for the car to the original owner towards a new Ford product after Ford announced the discontinuation of the Pantera program.

This is all circa 74-5.

quote:

I believe that there was a correction made to the car on a running production basis of adding drainage holes to the bottom of the uprights.

Where? The only hole I can remember was in the big channel at the very back that ran up to the rear of the car. Drilling holes in the bottom of the other channels in the rear was something we had to do ourselves and was a common topic of concern. Also at the bottoms of the A and B pillars. I still see cars occasionally that have not been drilled out.

I met a guy at a car show last summer. His inner panels were criss crossed with cuts and welds. He told me that he had been driving down the road when the a-arms tried to come into the engine compartment. It was a very narly looking repair.
Jeff

One can ask Mike Drew about his car.

When he bought it, Gary warned him that it was a rust bucket, and there were much better cars available. Gary even made him sign a special acknowledgement regarding the rusty condition, if I remember correctly.

Mike then drove the car from LA to Oklahoma. He told me that when he wanted to change into the right lane, all he had to do was to let up on the gas quickly, and the car moved over. It flexed that much.

I have personally seen a car that was so bad that it could not be aligned, which is how I was contacted. Inspection revealed massive rust. The new owner was not pleased.

Chuck

I bought an Alfa Guilietta Sprint once during a really bad snow storm when I lived in Chicago. Driving it home, I felt a strong draft at my feet. Turns out the floorboards were history. And that explained why it kept wanting to go sideways. I thought it was just skidding because of the bad snow storm. No such luck, it was the unattached suspension that rusted out. There's a lesson to be learned there; never buy a car in a snow storm!