I know that this is a well discussed topic. I have been reading many of the posts and looking at a bunch of pictures. This is my first post and hope that I am doing this in the right place and the correct way.

I recently purchased a 1970 C3 Convertible after many many years of waiting to get one. I feel like I looked over the car as much as I could. I looked at the areas that I have researched and been coached to check and they all looked great. I looked in the corners of the windshield at the birdcage and it looked great. I thried to look at the door area but some of it was covered with new rubber seals. I could see a little bit of what looked like an old rust area and I poked at it really hard with a screwdriver and it seemed really solid. I was trying to clean up some interior areas and taking rust preventative measures. I was cleaning around the door hinges and finally decided to remove the rubber seal. I found some rust. I took a wire brush to it. and then tried to blow out the area with light air pressure.

So, on to my question....Did I make a big mistake buying this car after waiting for so many years or is this not that bad since everywhere else looks good? Here are some pictures of the area in question. Any advice or guidance is greatly appreciated.

Added kick panel pic as requested. Sorry, was actually in middle of painting with rust converter after sanding.

 

Well. That doesn't look very good. Show us some pictures of the area behind the kickpanels. If you have speakers there see if you can snake one of those endoscope up up that area..... I haven't done the camera thing but it's on my list of projects.

 

I believe the rust under the fender is also where the windshield wiper cavity drains and debris can build up there. The rust may be isolated to that area.

There is some apparent pitting on the body mount bolt and washer (that appears to be coated with something), but it's not anywhere near horrible. Is this the driver's side mount?

A few more Qs:

• Have you looked at the passenger side for the fender rust and at that mount?
• If you stab at the body mount areas with your screwdriver does the metal seem solid?
• What does the frame structure look like around the VIN tag and through the glass all along the top of the windshield?
• Another problem area is viewed from underneath, at the frame corner and "kick up" right in front of the rear wheels. Stab at this area as well. Of course, surface rust is no concern but if it's soft to the screwdriver or has rust holes, that's a problem

 

To answer the questions:

The picture is on the drivers side. The passenger side looks the same.
The area inside the kick panel is very solid.
The frame underneath is very clean as well as the kick up area in front of rear tires.
The window frame area looks good. It is only the areas in the pictures and those are solid when poked with screwdriver.

 

The lower section looks okay. Appears that someone applied a coat of por15 or something to stop further rust. As long as your screwdriver doesn't poke through anything I'd say run it.

 

Given the above, I don't think you have anything to fret over and it sounds like a good car. You said it's a '70 but the photos do not show the typical '70 "short" fender panel and wiper door. I wonder if whoever put the '73+ replacement fenders/front clip on just did extra grinding and demolition in this area to remove the old body panels and you're seeing thin metal and drill holes.

 

Would like to more photos of the car, does it have a '73 front clip? The area you're talking about isn't the prettiest part of a C3. You could repair the rust hole, re-attach the rubber rain gutter....then enjoy the car for what it is.
Good luck.

Photo from the Alan 71 collection:

 

What needs to be done there is to get the rust out as well as possible then apply an epoxy primer to the bare metal then after it is dry apply a flexible catalyzed seam sealer.

 

Here are a few other pictures of the outside of the car. Hope this helps.

Thank you for all of the replies!!

 

Beautiful '70 Convertible! You can't beat Red on Black....stunning.

 

Nice looking car! I was wrong when I suggested someone had put on a front clip, but they certainly worked on the area you are concerned about to fiberglass in the fender extensions to the windshield so as to blend with the long-style hood. Following Peterbuilt's advice to clean, seal, (and paint) is good. It appears you can get to the back of this area through the windshield trough area, so clean and paint that side too.