Structural damage

[stefanzhr]

Ok,
First of all, I am entirely new to everything to do with cars. I have a good amount of knowlege from online reasearch, but no experience because until now, i've lived in an apartment and had no place to work on cars.

Anayway, if a car has been sitting in a driveway for at least a decade, and the body is made of more rust than steel, is there any chance that the chassis/frame/whatever is holding the car together from the inside is still ok?

The reason i'm asking is that every day i pass by a '68 (or '69) Camaro that has been in the same driveway forever, and part of me dies every time i see its beatiful lines just rotting away.
I know the body is hopeless, so i could replace it with a fiberglass one. The engine would also probably need replacement since it is probably the reason why the owners stopped using the car. But is there any chance that the car can be saved?

[79Bandit]

yes this car is very easy to save most of them are found that way and when there done you see them in magazines...it will take a big budget and long hours but is very do-able and why replace with fiberglass? you can cut out whats rusted and put in new steel...steel in my opinion is always better than fiberglass and is easier to repair.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by stefanzhr

Anayway, if a car has been sitting in a driveway for at least a decade, and the body is made of more rust than steel, is there any chance that the chassis/frame/whatever is holding the car together from the inside is still ok?

The reason i'm asking is that every day i pass by a '68 (or '69) Camaro that has been in the same driveway forever, and part of me dies every time i see its beatiful lines just rotting away.
I know the body is hopeless, so i could replace it with a fiberglass one. The engine would also probably need replacement since it is probably the reason why the owners stopped using the car. But is there any chance that the car can be saved?

Generally there are no fiberglass bodies for these cars. These cars have a unit body construction, with a front sub frame. This means all the body parts fronm the windshield on back are structural (except trunk lid) and must be made of steel.

Rust problems are critical in these cars. Severely rusty floors, rocker panels and sub frame mounts will mean the car is not safe to operate.

There is a HUGE supply of aftermarket parts for these cars, including most of the steel body and chassis parts that are likely to rust, as well as countless other body, mechanical and interior parts.

For this reason, these are some of the best cars to restore, because parts are so easy to get.

However, such a project will be expensive if the car is as rough as you say it is. IMO most cars in this shape are not worth fixing; it will end up being cheaper to buy a good '68 Camaro than fix this one, even if you got this one for next to nothing.

There is a very slim chance this car might be a rare model, such as an original Z-28 with a 302 V8. Such cars are very rare and desireable, so they are often worth fixing. However, it's very unlikely the car is one of these.