Did Chrysler have rust problems with the 76' Darts, Dusters, Scamps?

Abodywantedinmi said

Lets see...my '76 Dart Sport in 1986 had the following issues:
Rusted inner fenders on both sides to the point they were came within 3-5 inches of the firewall.
No floor boards in the back, they were rusted out.
Two big holes in the driver's floor, one by the brights, the other next to the transmission hump
Both rear quarters were beginning to fall apart.
The spare tire wheel was filled with 3-4 half dollar size holes
Yes, it was in the "rust belt"...

Click to expand...

You forgot the Torsion Bar Anchors rusting to the point where the front end would go BANG! while driving and one side of the car would drop down in the front because the metal was rusted paper-thin. I think a lot of times it would even take out the fuel line that passed through the cross member.

A LOT of A-bodies got carted off to the boneyard because of this.

[quote all the 70's cars had rust issues but nothing compares to new cars as far as rust goes, I've recently seen a 2011 dodge ram with holes in the quarters so big you could put your fist through [/quote]

Things have not changed. In my experience, modern Mopars have not improved very much. Door bottoms, hood edges, underside components like brake lines, etc. I like the fact that the exhaust is stainless, why can't they spend a few more bucks and use stainless brake lines? The rockers on our Stratus rusted completely away after 6-7 years and I rolled some nice replacement metal and welded them into both sides. And this is not a fluke, the Rams and Minivans are bad too.

It's gotten to the point where I think I'd have to be crazy to buy any more modern Mopar iron. That's my number one objection.