So, I was looking at cars for sale on the interweb just for fun and saw many rusty ones being described as solid. Things like door bottoms, floors, rockers & lower 1/4's completely rutsted through. Kinda seems to me that being able to see light through sheet metal means something other than solid. Am I missing something? wtf
I had a buddy once that sent me to look at a '47 Chevy Fleetline that was "mint" in his words. Got there & the damn radio had rusted out of the dash & fell through the floor. He was a dumb***. I shoulda expected that. JH
Its all a matter of perspective I gues. Solid to a New Yorker or a Mid-Westerner is going to be way different than solid to a South Westerner. If you can see pics and see that it is not what you consider solid than its way different from one that is billed as solid and when you just drove 6 hours to see it it is solid rust. I have a Stude on my garage for instance that I consider to be solid. it has a couple of weak spots in the floors, but it doesn't need floor pans just a couple of very small patches. The reason I consider it to be solid is because I normally see this same model of car and the floors are completely gone or you can see where thay are supposed to be.
Growing up in PA the term "solid" was used to describe a vehicle that still has a profile of a body. Under the body for the most part, has been repaired with bondo, tiger hair or galvanized sheetmetal. This is a term that I stay mighty far from. I think it's a term that is vague and describes nothing. If you are looking at a "solid" car do your homework and ask all the appropriate questions so that you are satisfied. ******Knuckles
I am a simple person with a simple mind, so solid to me mean's simply rot free. Meaning, no major metal work to repair or patches to install. I stopped putting any weight on people's description of solid years ago after looking at a 57 Chevy that was said to be "solid", but had NO floors in it at all. Like, cut out to have new ones installed. Tony
Haha, 28 definitions of solid in the dictionary; and the only one that fits a rusty old pile is "matter that is not liquid or gaseous"...so there you go.
It's like the "Solid" Deuce 3W my dad and I looked at. No rust he says. Well, it didn't, because he cut it all out!! the floors, wheel wells, all the structure.... the quarters and doors bowed under the weight of the roof.
That's a good one too! And never forget that replacement motors or transmissions always only have 30.000 miles......
Solid to me (at least when I put it in my ads) means the car is solid the metal isn't flimsy, and it doesn't have excess rust or cancer. A few pin holes are ok though.
When calling on the phone on a car ad, I have learned to ask this qhestion after hearing, "It has a little hole in the floor." How big, can you put your hand through it, can a small bull dog run through it, can a small child walk through it? Thinks usually get real clear after these questions....... At least you know weather or not you want to drive out to 'see' it.
The other one is "surface rust" and "original". I went to see a car that had only surface rust. the surface was rusted away! I went to Philly to get a Cadillac Conv once. An all original 47 with 38,000 miles on it. Well, the paint, top, upholstery, and bumpers were all redone. Not bad, just a cosmetically restored car and not original. He was asking $47,500 at the time and while a tad high was cheap for an original in the condition it showed in pics. I was very clear over the phone "...you're sure it's not restored to stock?" "It's all original..." By my showing the man the error of it being refered to as original and the difference in costs of such examples he lowered his price by $9K! We took it...
That's like the Chrysler Windsor we drove 5 hours out to western Kansas to see. It was a no rust driver, but a neighborhood kid had knocked the back gl*** out. Guy thought it was a hemi. Just needed some TLC No rust because someone had cut it out. It had a brake stuck so I pulled the drum and freed up the brake cam then adjusted all the brakes while I was at it. It did start and run after I drained the quart of whatever out of the tank and threw some fresh gas in it. it was a poly mill but that really didn't matter to me, I didn't think they put Hemis in Windsors anyway. The tires were so thin you could see the air in 'em. But we went careening around town anyway because after all that I was going to have some fun with it. It did have the back gl*** knocked out. I'm sure someone must have bought it after I fixed it for the dude. Then we drove away and went antiquing on the way back. Such is life. And the wife did find a really cool plate.
A friend once told me about an old man he knew with a "solid deuce coupe" for sale. Turned out to be a rusty Model A tudor. Bought it anyway. Got the body, a botched frame, good rear end, a very nice dropped front axle with disc brakes, a 350/350 Chev combo, a pickup full of neat parts, another pickup full of junk, and a clear ***le for $1,500.
Some people define oatmeal as solid food. In a car ad, solid is something to say when the seller can't dream up anything good to say. 'Rust free', tells me, even without meeting the guy, that he's a ****in' liar.
Yup, too true. The above truck is what us in the rust belt consider a decent builder, hehehehe. Well not quite. I consider solid to be a car that might have some pin holes here and there with no scaling. A couple of golfclub sized holes in the floor are okay too.
"Wisconsin solid" and "Arizona solid" are two way different things. In Oklahoma, rust is imported from other states by people driving their rusty junk here!
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