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MG MGA - California Car?

A little help needed please.

I often see (mostly in advertising) the term "California Car". The implication is that the car is a step or two above, let's say, a Michigan car or a Washington car. How's that grab you, David DuBois? What makes a California Car different? Perhaps it's because there is not a salt water invironment to cause rust. Hum, the last time I was at any of the beaches there I remembered the Pacific was salt water. Maybe it is because of the "Movie Stars etc.". I wonder. Is it because of the people who drive them? Steve Simmons, maybe this is a question you can answer.

I used to live in south Florida right next to "Palm Beach". Does that make my MGA worth more? And oh by the way, my cars never rusted in the 45+ years I drove them there. I now have moved to the mountains of North Georgia. Does that make my car worth less? My wife and I recently attended an MG show here and not only found the local cars to be in excellant condition (even the everyday drivers) but the owners and enthusiasts a cut above.

Am I missing something? I know I'm going to get some reaction to this question.

Joe Wiley
1960 roadster and several others in the past.
Joe Wiley

California is mostly a very dry environment. There are cars sitting around in the desert areas that have been there for 50 years and still have minimal rust. This is why people are so eager to use the term. Typically a California car will have less rust issues than cars from more humid climates, and especially places where salt is used on the roads (in CA it is not used).

That said, people place a lot of trust in a term which is not what it's cracked up to be. California is a BIG place. A car sitting in the Movaje desert which has seen little rain and extremely dry air will certainly have less rust than one which has been stored in the mountains of Northern California, burried under snow and subject to wet consitions much of the year. As you mentioned, there are also coastal areas which will rust a car out about as fast as many other places in the country.

People also use the term for cars that were originally from California but have been living somewhere else for many years. We all know how quickly an LBC can deteriorate in the wrong environment! In my opinion, an Arizona car can be just as solid as a California car since the climate is also dry. This of course depends on where in Arizona the car has been, just as it matters where in California.

When someone uses the term "California Car", I usually suspect they are trying to present the car as being in better condition than it really is. A car which really is solid doesn't need catch phrases to sell and to me at least, it's very obvious which cars on the market are which.
Steve Simmons

Could it be that we over in the UK are partly responsible for the desirability of Californian cars? Most of us here are not too familiar with the local variations in your climate, but are led to understand through advertising that California is the 'rust free State'.

I for one certainly went out of my way to source my car from California purely for the reason that I knew the body and chassis would be solid - might be a bit dented, left hand drive and sun bleached etc. But no rust!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Don't be so sure, my very own MGB has never left the dry area I live in and has had rust repair to the fenders three times and both floorboards replaced!
Steve Simmons

The first car that I bought was a "Florida Car", coming from the Orlando area. Imagine my surprise when I cleaned out the trunk and found a New York license plate! Take the description for a grain of salt, investigate thoroughly and call it whatever you want.
mike parker

I purchased a 1960 MGA Coupe in 2000 from the origional owner is southern California. It did need total restoration but I was able to get EVERY bolt loose and there was almost no rust. Dry climate does make a big difference!

John
John Progess

I have a California car or a Caalllifforrnniiaa as Arnold would pronounce it, and it is rust free. I have had the car since 1971 and it was in a junk yard or autojumble where I picked it up for $125. I still have it and it run great. It has alway abeen been a Calif. car.
JEFF BECKER

Here's a Peter Egan article:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=26&article_id=2469&page_number=1
Tom

Great article, Tom.

I was living in California when I picked up my current MGA ... from next door in Nevada. Like others have mentioned, there was not a spot of rust on this car. What a joy, compared to my first MGA up in my home state of Minnesota. The worst was my buddy's TR4A. He bought it for $200, basically rust held together by paint and chrome. The frame finally broke in half on a February morning in front of the house I was renting a room in. A couple more snowstorms and it was mercifully hidden from view. I moved out before it melted out, probably still a rust spot on the street before it melted away with the snow in the spring.
Chuck Mosher

It is not just salt in the winter it is also the humidity. Hot humid summers cause it also. Rust is an electrolitic process that requires FE (iron or steel),O (oxygen) + a solution through which the FE and O can combine to form ferous oxide (rust). Water is usually the solution, adding salt makes the solution more effective.
Cars from the midwest and south rust much faster than here and in the southwest even if they never see the snow and salt.
Arizona is the best place to store old equiptment. Visit the Davis Monthan airforce base in Tucson and you'll see what I mean.
Southern Calif. Nevada Arizona Utah Colorado New Mexico and West Texas are the driest and best places to store cars. Central and northern California are not as good.
As the owner of a car repair business for over 20 years I see a difference in the amount of rust on 3 year old cars even from Kansas and Nebraska. The humidity makes a big difference.
I think the California car hype comes from the fact that a lot of the interesting cars were sold in Southern California so even though it isn't the "best" climate for cars it has the most good cars.
R J Brown

OK,
I wasn't even going to comment on this thread but now I think this needs to be said. MG's had NO rust protection. Very little paint on the frames, the inner sills had NO paint, just bare steel. I don't care where you live, they will rust. Just the temperature change that causes dew to form will rust an "original" MG. That includes cars that are in a garage in California or Arizona. Most restored cars have much better rust protection than any original car.

GTF
1958 Coupe, still alive and well in NY the "rust State"
G T Foster

My Dad just bought a 95 Jeep for our son, it is from the Florida Keys.The roof had 2 holes where the salt collected by the roof rack, easily fixxed.The rest of the car is rust free.When I owned from new a same model 95 jeep, I went to change the rear shocks, after 3yrs of driving in the Chicago area, the bolts in the body broke off, not so with the 10 yr Florida one. I also think we need to keep in mind that in the 50's and 60's where was the "Car Culture" located? More than likely in larger population areas. I'm sure more sports cars were sold in California than say Arizona at that time. And I agree with Steve S. for a diffrent reason, how many cars do you think went with their owners who moved west? Suddenly after the 2nd or 3rd owner, it's a western car. In my case I had some minor rust issues,my Illinois car had been stored inside a heated building,since the early 70's, but the biggest problem was accident damage, front and rear surrounds were easier to replace than repair and this can happen to a car from anywhere
gary starr

Almost all cars had no rust preventative in the 50s and 60s. Rocker panels rust out on all of them.
mike parker

This thread was discussed between 16/10/2005 and 19/10/2005

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