80s cars that didn't rust

[Mrcento]

Feel like being on the east coast of Scotland, where even cars not known for rot show their weak spots and look like rotboxes before 10 years old, i feel uniquely qualified to comment....

The answer is the Peugeot 205. Not even a doubt.

There sheer amount of examples, not even just the 'special' ones, ordinary cooking models,  that have lived their entire life locally still on the go today and still solid says all you need to know. If they survive here, they'll survive anywhere.

[Madman Of The People]

80's cars that don't rust?

Chevrolet Corvette C4 - glass-fibre reinforced polyester.

Matra Rancho - fibreglass and polyester.

Renault Espace - fibreglass.

Talbot-Matra Murena - fibreglass epoxy.

Pontiac Fiero - reaction injection moulded urethane and thermoplastic olefin.

DeLorean DMC-12 - stainless steel.

TVR "Wedge" models (various) - fibreglass.

Land Rover/Range Rover - aluminium (body).  Chassis rot is a different story, however. 😁

 

[mk2_craig]

4 hours ago, Madman Of The People said:

Matra Rancho

Shame about the poorly rustproofed steel Simca van that the fancy Rancho bits were nailed to! 

[M'coli]

On 14/05/2025 at 21:29, Mrcento said:

Feel like being on the east coast of Scotland, where even cars not known for rot show their weak spots and look like rotboxes before 10 years old, i feel uniquely qualified to comment....

The answer is the Peugeot 205. Not even a doubt.

There sheer amount of examples, not even just the 'special' ones, ordinary cooking models,  that have lived their entire life locally still on the go today and still solid says all you need to know. If they survive here, they'll survive anywhere.

Except on Clydeside. VW Passat, 1987: bought with 70ish thousand miles after 3 years as a company car, went on to do another 13 years and more than doubled the mileage, scrapped in 2003 for a little bit of welding but more importantly bereavement and no power steering. 

VWs seam sealing was superb and sprayed on, whereas Rover Group were still applying it - sparingly - with a brush. Owning a base-ish model Polo(£100) and a contemporary well-specced Mg Metro (£150) was eye-opening. The Polo was awesome, the Metro, not so much...

[Low ontime]

First welding job I did…   was a mk1 fiesta… penny sized hole ended up being  6” plates dotted around the car, inner wings where horrid.. 

in comparison bmw e30 rust was usally only about 1” back from the rust spot, better steel, thicker steel 🤷‍♂️.

all 80s cars rust, think Ford was one of the worst D reg to G reg… 

[mhrallye]

think i own two very good cases of extremes - my "winter" daily 1991 audi 80 b3 and my late model 1992 mk2 golf - audi has 174.000, used in all weathers, never washed and for good measure been smacked up the back 10 years ago - the golf - not used in winter( sparingly to keep it mobile) only 69000 miles on it - guess which is rustier? especially underneath! and guess which has had to have welding done to it's underside...

 

yep - you are right... it was the golf!

for example - see the tailgate of the golf with a huge hole under the no plate thanks to some dimwit at pdi drilling a hole through the tailgate for the no plate....

compared to the damaged untreated bare metal on the rear of the audi which only shows surface rust...

and how it got like that...

 

[Schaefft]

3 minutes ago, mhrallye said:

think i own two very good cases of extremes - my "winter" daily 1991 audi 80 b3 and my late model 1992 mk2 golf - audi has 174.000, used in all weathers, never washed and for good measure been smacked up the back 10 years ago - the golf - not used in winter( sparingly to keep it mobile) only 69000 miles on it - guess which is rustier? especially underneath! and guess which has had to have welding done to it's underside...

 

yep - you are right... it was the golf!

for example - see the tailgate of the golf with a huge hole under the no plate thanks to some dimwit at pdi drilling a hole through the tailgate for the no plate....

compared to the damaged untreated bare metal on the rear of the audi which only shows surface rust...

and how it got like that...

 

Pull the rear valence out, replace bootlid, add another 200k miles of rust free motoring.

[R Lutz]

VW and Audi made some memorable adverts to highlight the corrosion resistance of their cars. The Audi on a sea-swept pier, but the VW advert was the best. It said simply, and I'm paraphrasing 'before you buy anything, you should check the contents of the tin' and it listed the corrosion ingredients by weight. 

[camryv6]

On 16/05/2025 at 07:28, mk2_craig said:

Shame about the poorly rustproofed steel Simca van that the fancy Rancho bits were nailed to! 

I was going to say ask @Skizzerabout them not rusting

[Asimo]

On 16/05/2025 at 03:26, Madman Of The People said:

80's cars that don't rust?

Chevrolet Corvette C4 - glass-fibre reinforced polyester.

Matra Rancho - fibreglass and polyester.

Renault Espace - fibreglass.

Talbot-Matra Murena - fibreglass epoxy.

Pontiac Fiero - reaction injection moulded urethane and thermoplastic olefin.

DeLorean DMC-12 - stainless steel.

TVR "Wedge" models (various) - fibreglass.

Land Rover/Range Rover - aluminium (body).  Chassis rot is a different story, however. 😁

 

Matra Rancho  - horrendous rust except for the plastic lifestyle bits. See @Skizzer youtubes!

TVR have dreadful rust troubles with their chassis.

[vaughant]

Back in the day, which was early 90's for me passing my test so any galloping rot was really starting to show, looking at you Ford/Fiat 🤣🤣, deffo the french cars seemed to really outlast their competitors. 

My sister had a Renault 11 made of filler in one rear 1/4 near enough as it was bumped but even on an E plate in 1998 it had not one hint of rust on it anywhere. She drove it for years until I think it either got nicked  or crashed into but it never got cleaned, serviced it fuck all and it still looked spot on, no rust anywhere.

I also had a 1984 Porsche 924 in about 2004 and it was totally rust free everywhere... It was a bag of steaming shit, but it didn't have a hint of rust. 

I think the Saab 9000 sneaked into the 80's and they seemed really good, my old man had an x reg 99 and it had rusted everywhere but he then bought a mega low mileage, 1983, 99 that was gleaming which was in about 1994 and still totally and utterly mint until the day he died in 1997... With just 15k on the clock 😱😱😱😱, my mother sold it for £2k to a friend who only ever paid her a grand for it but they did at least drive it out to Greece and use it there for a few years so it had a good life 😀😀.

I also had a 1989 Audi 80 I gave £30 for that was totally rust free. 

On the flip side my first series 1 rs turbo was completely and utterly rotten at just over 10 years old and fucked as well. The next one I bought was actually a lot better but starting to go in places. The mk4 seemed just as bad, maybe a bit better on a g plate and oddly e plate ones always looked decent. 

Surmise that french were/still are amazing at rustproofing, I was doing a service on the Laguna earlier and underneath is still like new and that's now 17 years old with 190k on it. Really easy to service as well, I'd recommend one of them to anyone, genuinely one of the best cars I've ever owned and clearly well looked after by @Pat Earringsand @twosmoke300. Changed the air and pollen filters which looked pretty much the same as the ones that came out. Only the fuel filter to do as they only had one type and we weren't sure which one it needed. 

I think I didn't get all the oil out with the Aldi electric pump as they said 6.5l needed to go back but a 5l filled it completely including the filter? All looked like fresh stuff going in on the dipstick but after a run and check it had gone black quite quickly. I think I'll drop it again in 6k as it's so easy to do 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.

[Justwatching]

From personal experience, DeLorean and Volvo 740 held up really well against rust.

My Ford Fiesta/Escort, Mercdes W123, and Fiat X1/9 all had the amount of rust you'd expect for age/condition. Average for the era. 

My Rover 213 and Jaguar XJS were really rotten. Looking at other examples online, it was a model tenancy and not just my individual car. 

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Justwatching said:

From personal experience, DeLorean and Volvo 740 held up really well against rust.

My Ford Fiesta/Escort, Mercdes W123, and Fiat X1/9 all had the amount of rust you'd expect for age/condition. Average for the era. 

My Rover 213 and Jaguar XJS were really rotten. Looking at other examples online, it was a model tenancy and not just my individual car. 

Istr the 80’s early Jag XJ40’s being particularly bad for rust too. 
They were reasonably common still when I was in the garage and it’d be rust and/or electrical faults that did for them. A shame really because they were lovely cars. 
I remember a red D reg XJ40 that I drove in for MOT and it was absolutely loaded with toys and was insanely comfortable. That MOT was its last though! It was rotten underneath. 
I very nearly offered to buy it from the owner to fix and keep but my work mates put me off it with the rot and electrical problems. Still kind of wish I’d gone for it though.

[Madman Of The People]

23 hours ago, Asimo said:

Matra Rancho  - horrendous rust except for the plastic lifestyle bits. See @Skizzer youtubes!

TVR have dreadful rust troubles with their chassis.

If you can’t see the rust, it doesn’t count!

😆