im not blaming the windshield place at all, im just not pleased with the results they found. the windshield cracked because i put too long of a screw in when i was installing the molding/weather stripping upon return form the paint booth, and the crack kept getting bigger. I didnt think id be able to sell it cracked so i took it to get replaced. Im fairly confident the door hinge area is in good shape, but i will know more as soon as i get a break and can check out the car.

 

simple.. just disclose the issue. there is still a good market for 69 convertibles. someone with money or glazed over corvette fever eyes will buy it. put it out there and wait for a buyer. ignore the lowballers who say they won't touch it due to the rust.

rusted cars change hands all the time. it is just not a 25K car if the rust was not there.

 

yeah, im not going to try to hide the issues, id be disgusted with myself if i lied thru my teeth to get this car sold.

 

Many of us have described a worst case scenario. The rust may be rather minor but something the glass shop won't install a new windshield over without repair. Photos should provide more info to better advise you.
Agree, MANY Corvettes have rusted windshield frames to some degree. Even some from as far south as Texas.

 

What goes around, comes around! Glad to see Mrs corvtt1969 brought up her boy with scruples and a good sense of ethics. Good luck with the frame, I'm betting the rust problem will be a minor one-Pete

 

Well just got back from the shop, and (thank jeebus) its not as bad as i feared. Ill post pictures as soon as i figure out how.

 

There is a difference between staying silent on something you know and telling someone that it has final stage cancer. Just tell potential sellers that when you replaced the windshield, that the shop told you that there was rust in the windshield frame and it will eventually need addressed.

as stated above, it could be bad cancer, or just a shop covering their butts not wanting a warrantee claim on some low margin work. if the windshield cracked due to your accident, then the frame did it's job well up until then.

yes you need to disclose, but you have no level of expertise of exactly how bad it is.
you are not required to know this in order to sell the car.. it is still buyer beware out there.

one person's final stage cancer is another person's surface rust.
Cars are sold AS IS. make sure your sale contracts states this..

 

heres some pictures:

 

the worst is the drivers side bottom and top corners. from the inside (where the weather stripping is) there is no visible rust so its (i assume) contained to the outside area. The panel that goes across the bottom is 100% no problems there (phew). i also peered up in the kick panels from inside and the jambs and no problems are visible on either sides(phew x2). Definitely not the severe cancer i was having nightmares about last night lol.

 

On a rust scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the frame nearly ready to fall off, I'd give it a 4. I've seen much worse..

It's hard to say how deep the rust goes without cleaning and wirebrushing the frame. Definitely needs work on the top corners and possibly the header. You'll need to clean the surfaces completely and give the metal a tap with a body hammer to look for thin spots.

The lowers are of more concern to me since they can't be fixed, not easily anyway, without doing some work to gain access to that area. Some people cut the tops of the fenders away, in severe cases some have removed the front clip and firewall. I've heard of someone who managed to repair this area without removing and fiberglass, working from inside. Depends on what you have once the crust and scale have been removed.

A quick fix may be to patch the holes as best you can, weld in metal or grind away the rust and patch with fiberglass (yeah a bit bubba but cheap). Repairs to the lowers may be tricky if the rust extends much below the bottom of the windshield. You'll need to dig the caulk out from between the top of the fenders and lower windshield frame to know how far down the rust goes. (maybe you don't want to know...)

If all you need is a good surface to set the windshield on, you may get away with patching the frame as needed. Leave any further rust below the windshield for the next owner to fix at a later date. At least the car would be driveable..

It needs more cleaning up before you'll know exactly what you have. Maybe try to sell it was is if you don't want to deal with the repair?

I'm sure others will have opinions..

 

Thanks for the informative thread.

 

You need to clean out all the old adhesives and caulk. None of that is original. Prior owner was likely lazy while making it water tight. Does not look bad at all. I now understand why the installer rejected installing your windshield. It is not about rust. Most of that mess is caulk not rust. It is a 10 hour job to prep your windshield before installing the glass. Installers don't do that type of clean-up and prep work. Clean it up, remove surface rust, paint it black then return you car to the installer.

 

I agree with the posts about more damage is almost certain. For sure the water got down to the body mount if the windshield frame is swiss cheese. Had the same issue. Not fun.

 

The owner really needs to clean it all out before he will know exactly what he has. I had a similar problem, PO stuffed the channels full of RTV. Fortunately mine wasn't too bad, damage to the header, pillars and #2 mounts were fine.

He has at least one hole on the top corner to deal with. See how the rest of it comes out. Wishing best of luck..