Herman,
Thanks for the comment. I'd give anything to know more of the history of this car. The previous owner only bought it to scrounge a few parts from. And the previous previous owner apparently bought it with plans to turn it into a race car or something. I talked to one of his employees but haven't talked to the man himself. I don't get the impression he cared much anyway. So I've only been able to find the vaguest details. But it does appear to have been delivered originally in Europe (judging mainly from the km/h speedometer). So this might be authentic German rust. I have no idea when the car came to the States, but I can assure you that California isn't responsible for this rust!
Mike