Tom Austin

Considering that the original post atarted out like this . . .

1964 coupe..Frame off, but body not done over. Older paint. Frame is perfect,sharkbite suspension and has new engine. Next is paint and body..(previous owners idea to do body last....)

. . . I'd say he's now the owner!

Sniper168gr

If that was the original frame from the car, the frame looks like it is in decent shape and was not badly rusted. Hard to tell from the pictures though but if true, then the birdcage should be in decent shape.

The worst rust I've seen on a car over the years are those that sat outside and where the grass has grown up around the car, traping moisture under the car and rotting away the undercarriage and birdcage. As the others have posted, I would inspect the birdcage by looking between the frame rails and under the dash. You can also remove the panels on the B pillar and inspect the birdcage from that angle as well. If they all look good, then the bond on the inner door may have been put there for aesthetic reasons. The one picture you posted is cause of concern.

Now having said all that, if you can purchase the car cheaply enough to off set the risk, and worst case have to repair the upper part of the cage, then it could be worth it. The body and frame look good in my opinion.

MOXIE62

You did n't tell us it was a rat rot. wasted time

kolsen911

I've heard and read a little about coil over shocks as I have them on my car. Mine are to vertical and I have heard they need to be more angular, but these look like they are to much?????????

superhero

So I pulled the glove box and pillar trim.
Please let me know if this seems normal..
Rust looks minimal to me..Would it be a concern during a repaint.
Again this is a restomod driver not a class winner...

Sniper168gr

Lots of rust from what I can see on the upper part of the cage. Bondo is more than likely covering up rust.

USMC 0802

Really?

That’s an odd response, and a little surprising coming from you, Moxie.

It looks like an awesome car that was built to be enjoyed with a modern, lightweight, powerful (generally maintenance-free) drivetrain and suspension.

The gentleman is asking a simple question; I thought we were all here for the love of these cars. Shame some of apparently are not...

OP - It looks like a good bit of surface rust, but doesn’t appear to have compromised the structural integrity of the cage.

I would buy it.

woodsdesign

Looks like surface rust to me also. That wouldn't keep me from buying it.
One thing you can do is poor a glass of water on the outside corner of the windshield and watch inside the car. If there is a serious rust problem the water will come into the cabin.

Easy Rhino

That looks to me like water IS getting into the cabin. There is bubbled rust beyond just surface rust, there is apparent streaks of running water down the lower windshield frame, which has no original zinc chromate primer left on it, and you're looking at the "good" side of the frame.

It's a great looking car, but that rust still concerns me.

Does anybody think that those a-pillar rivets are non-original?

65GGvert

That's that's a lot more than surface rust that's old rust that's been patched and filled and covered and now it's rusted again. It's going to take some work and some dollars to fix it, if you're going to fix it.

superhero

My thoughts exactly..Are the Rivets original?
Did someone patch this up?

Twan Sloot

I don't know too much of the changes they made to the the birdcage throughout the years, but what I can say is that I have seen other birdcages with those rivets.

And what I can tell from the rust is that it's on the edge, you should also pull the drivers side trim and look there as well. And an easy way to tell the condition of the birdcage in the back is to pull the inspection caps in front of the rear wheels.

tuxnharley

Looks like significant rust that wiil continue to get worse with time, swell, and crack the fillet/paint further.

Two more steps you could take to look further are:
- pull the intetior A pillar trim caps and look there at the wind shield frame vertical members of the birdcage.
- buy or borrow a fiber optic cable inspection camera and go in through the door hinge openings to see what the part of the bird cage looks like.

From what I have seen in the pictures you posted I would likely pass on this car.

Jeffthunbird

The pictures of the area behind the glove box look solid but the surface rust is definitely there. It looks a little worse than mine and I consider mine to be fully solid with normal surface corrosion consistant with a 50 year old car that was garage kept. I call it average or slightly better. Yours appears to be slightly less than average condition but not concerning-glove box area.
There was a 5 year old post recently dug up by me that has some info and pictures of what it should and shouldn't look like. Search bird cage.

Mikado463

drive it like you stole it and hang on ! ......

kolsen911

Nobody wants to comment on the rear coil overs???
I had my modified rear suspension changed to coil overs and now I learn I'm going to have it changed again after finding someone who knows what they are talking about. After a lot of research on my part I realize mine is not right.

Best ask around and do your own research or you might be spending money on cleaning up the rust and changing the rear suspension also.

Steve410

kolsen911,
It looks like the rear coil overs are laid down to work with the pivoting rocker arms attached to the outboard end of the shocks.

kolsen911

I see that now. It does look like that swivel would give it a vertical component. Somewhere I read that the coil over shouldn't lay at more than a 45 deg angle that's what caught my eye.

Steve410

I suspect the more vertical installation of coil overs is for straight line cars, i.e. drag racing where you are adjusting for fore/aft weight transfer and not so concerned with cornering.

65GGvert

I know some of these guys are trying to be positive, but surface rust doesn't cause pieces of metal to split and curl up and fall off. Surface rust isn't covered by bondo and then more rust comes through. You have some rust issues there that I would not want to deal with. Because I'm sounding more negative than I like, I'm not going to respond any more to this post, I've given you my opinion and restating it won't make any difference.