[speeder]

What I'm getting from this thread is that I made the right decision moving to SoCal from MN. all those years ago. I hate rust and corrosion on vehicles more than I can say. I enjoy working on cars and even work part-time in a friend's shop these days, it's an ok job in the dry part of the country and absolutely one of the worst jobs on earth in the rust belt. Just a drag everyday.

I worked in a gas station with full repair service after HS in MN. and let me tell you that you have not lived until you get under a filthy, rusty vehicle with frozen slush from the freeway melting and dripping down on you. It's sort of a soup consisting of road salt, sand and dirt + probably remnants of road-kill all frozen in a slush popsicle under the car. All fasteners are corroded and brittle from the extreme heat-cycling that happens when the high temperature varies by ~130deg. in a 6 month period. Good times....