I have an inside on a 71' chevelle 6 cyl. 4 speed in my area for sale for $500. The guy tells my dad its a Florida car and it is rust free besides a little bit under the rear window. I do know that where theres smoke, theres usually fire!! So im asking what secret areas too look at on these body style Chevelles so i dont potentially spend $500 bucks on a rust hog. Any tips before i go check it out this weekend? Also lets say this thing is a rust free shell. Whats it worth? Im going to guess the interior is shot, the motor is going in the garbage, the 4 speed will go up for sale if its any good. Assuming its just a rolling rust free shell that needs some serious loving what kind of $$ is this worth?

Obviously im going to be checking out the floors, firewall, rockers, fenders, hood, quarters, rear valence, wheelwells and trunk. Is there anywhere that i should REALLY be watching for that is a "red flag dont buy it" area?

Any help here would be great thanks!!

500 bucks but it.. rust or no rust..

Got two myself.... Under back seat, around front and back windows- Mainly top of windshield and lower corners of rear window- both equally painful to fix, Below Battery tray, floorboards ( look from beneath car on both sides ), maybe rocker panels, and lower rear corners of front fenders right in font of door.


Both of mine had rust in these areas, I gave 1000 for one, and inherited the other form original owner who drove it about 1 mile per day the better part of its life. It was fairly well babied, but still had rust.

also look in the trunk around the wheel wells (Left side and right side). lower fenders. where the differential connects to the frame. usually the rear of the car goes first. and also check bottom of the cars. check the lower quarters very well. and the wheel well where the tire is in the quarters. hope it helps :)

Look under the cowl molding on the bottom of the front windshield. This area almost always has a lot of rust. It is very hard to see with the molding still on.The window channel and inner dash are a pita to repair!

Im going to guess the interior is shot, the motor is going in the garbage,

If it is I know where you can get a good running 350!

Some strange science going on there. The 6cyl/4spd combo is weird. Either it's a 4spd car somebody put a 6cyl in (why?) or a 6cyl car somebody put a 4spd in (again why) You never know what you're going to find in these deals. That 4spd may be worth a lot of money. Sounds like it might just be a 3spd and the car may be a Heavy Chevy. There a plenty of Chevelles out there with rear window/windshield rust and very little other rust. Usually a little in the trunk from the rear window leak. I'd venture to say that if it is a Florida car, unless it was used as a beach buggy, it will be in pretty good shape. Easily worth 500.00. You didn't say but I'm presuming it is a 2dr coupe. A l ot of 6cyls were 4 dr.

The bottom of the front fenders behind the wheels, rocker panels, the frame under the battery, the bottom of the windshield and rear window. Don't look too closely though, the 4 speed alone is worth $500.

Tom

Agree with Tom aka figbash. These are classic areas where rust usually occurs...especially the bottoms of the two front fenders behind the wheels...there are two pieces of sheetmetal that join together to form this part of the fender and it forms a cup which can hold onto water long. The rust is always from the inside out so you may not see it from the outside...look for "bubbling" of the paint or sheet metal in this area at the bottom of the front fenders indicating rust under the paint.
Sam

I understand there's a spot on the frame where the steering box mounts that rusts out. I had a guy call me when I had an ad in a local paper and that's why he was looking for a good frame. Sounds like a rare occurrance to me, but mine had some pretty significant pitting on it, especially at the back, but that looked like a normal 35 year old car look to me. Just check that steering box area to be sure.