'Joker Goon Car' kit - built as a rust bucket '77 Monaco

[cdsbigsby]

Hey all, getting started on this kit, picked it up cheap for $5 sealed at an antique show. I've always wanted to make a junkyard diorama and to that end I'm almost finishing up an old beater 78 Ford F250 scrapper's truck and trailer, so it needs an old junk car to haul. I'm just getting started on the body, here's where I'm at so far. Body color will be Rust-Oleum Satin Almond, good boring beige color for a late 70's land yacht.

 

I'd like a second opinion on something though: I'm using the salt method for rust, you can see in the first picture I'm ready for paint - is that an unrealistic amount of rust for a '77? I am in Ohio so it doesn't seem too unreasonable to me.

Edited April 26, 2016 by cdsbigsby

[charlesdcamden]

Im in Kentucky. And alot of mid 70s cars down here are pretty rotted out.... The amout of weathering youve got going on is fairly moderate in my eyes lol

[69NovaYenko]

It looks darn good for a 70ties car that has managed to survive the harsh winters and  been on the salty roads in my part of the world until 2016. I have seen some were the entire lower rocker panel beneath the doors is totally gone along with a third of the outer skin of the door and fender sheet metal. I`ve seen silver duct tape holding the outer skin of body panels sheet metal in place to keep it from flapping in the breeze as it goes down the road. They call my part of the world the "rust belt" for a reason...lol.

I think it looks good; it just a matter of how ratty you want it to look..it`s a matter of personal taste.

Edited April 26, 2016 by 69NovaYenko

[xbazzarex]

ive seen cars from the 90's with more rust than that and im from pa, in md now. id say it looks pretty darn good. but those rust holes do look quite nice on it, or quite bad not sure if rust is ever really a good thing....

[Rider]

That's really cool man!

[1972coronet]

The beltline moulding should be 'peppered' with rust bubbles and rot-out , too . My personal rust-free California '72 Coronet had rust along the same moulding

[Tom Geiger]

I always suggest the guys who want to do a correct beater do a bit of research.  Go on the Internet and find photos of similar cars that are rusty. eBay Motors is a great place to find detailed photo sets.  Every car rusts a certain way, and  photos will give you a good guide how to proceed.

 

 

[IHSS]

I"m born and raised in Ma. about a 10 minute walk to the beach. Growing up with a couple of VW's and a Plymouth Duster, I can say you need alot more rust. Around here I don't think I remeber seeing a Chrysler vehicle that didn't have the bottom 6 inches of the rear quarter panels completly rotted away. It was also really common to see the rotted metal replaced with duct tape and then painted a wrong shade of a matching color. Chrysler were common for the rear quarters to disapear and it seems like every make and model had specific area's the body would just disitigrate. After my mom sold her Duster she got a 79 Carolla. This was in about 81 or so. I think that car started rotting out within the first few month's. The thing I have always remembered about that car was every time you closed the door little streams of rotten metel would poor out from somewhere radomly around the car. The VW's were the worst. My folks had a beetle when I was real little and I used to drop peebles and small sticks on the floor and then turn around real quick to see if I could see it bounceing down the road behind us.

[charlesdcamden]

Oh! And chrysler vehicles up until the late 80s or early 90s had a bad habit of rotting thru the very center of the doors at the top, til about 8-10 inches down. Especially the drivers side. I have no clue why though. The Ram D series trucks were the worst. 

[1972coronet]

In 1976 ( June / July ) I was with my parents , visiting family in Pennsylvania and Ohio . One of my aunts had a 1974 Caprice , and its quarters were already rotting-away ; same with the lower-front fenders , and the doors' edges . I was 6 years old , so the line-of-sight with that oxidation was right in line with me ! Ha ha ha !

Ever see a vehicle that's resided near a beach ? Even California cars rust-away ...

[cdsbigsby]

Glad to hear it. It's kind hard to tell but the entire probably 1/4" of both quarter panels are completely ground off. I was wanting to paint it but it's been rainy here the past couple days.