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John----
I agree with your comments about California cars(and it has nothing to do with any bias that I might have towards California since I live here). I've made exactly the same observation myself over the 43 years that I've lived here, but travelled to virtually every other part of the country(every state except Alaska). For whatever reason, California cars seem to suffer very little from rust. That isn't to say that NO California cars suffer from rust. Very often, cars which live in IMMEDIATE coastal areas, particularly along the north and central coasts, do suffer from some corrosion problems. But, the vast majority of cars seem to be virtually rust free.
This may be due to a lot of reasons. First and formost, I believe, is the fact that California does not use salt on highways, even in the mountains. Salt is the real "killer". Often times, folks in the notheast (or southeast that drive their cars to the northeast during the summer) think that because they don't drive them in wintry conditions that they avoid the salt. Well, the salt that is applied to the roads in the winter remains there, in large measure, during the rest of the year. It doesn't "evaporate". Then, when you drive your car during a summer thunderstorm, you get the salt left there from the previous winter. Once the salt-induced corrosion begins, it proceeds inexorably. California cars do not experience this fate since, as a result of California being such a large state, few are ever driven to states where salt is used.
Another factor, I believe, is the relatively dry climate which California is blessed with. Air heavily laden with moisture(high humidity)is another corrosion factor which California cars largely escape.
In any event, I've always been amazed at how few rusty cars that you see in California. The contrast is a stark one when you have the opportunity to visit other states and see how many rusty cars you see. Even when you do see a rusty car in California, often it has out-of-state plates or it has a California license plate which is obviously not the car's original plate.
This is not to say that other states don't benefit from similar climactic and road maintenence conditions. I'm sure that Arizona cars are at least as good as California cars with respect to these factors(i.e. most military and commercial aircraft are "mothballed" in Arizona for a reason). However, Arizona is not nearly as populous a state as California, so there are far fewer cars available.
I've often thought about it in these terms: in California, the bodies and chassis of cars last a very long time, but the drivetrains do not due to the large number of miles that California cars typically are driven(i.e. it's a big state). In the east coast, the drivetrains of cars can last a long time due to the relatively fewer numbers of miles that many of the cars are driven, but the bodies and chassis rot out and spell the death of the car. Someone should take good, high mileage, rust-free California cars to the east coast and mate them with the low mileage drivetrains from low mileage, rusted out hulks. Or vice-versa.
I agree with your comments about California cars(and it has nothing to do with any bias that I might have towards California since I live here). I've made exactly the same observation myself over the 43 years that I've lived here, but travelled to virtually every other part of the country(every state except Alaska). For whatever reason, California cars seem to suffer very little from rust. That isn't to say that NO California cars suffer from rust. Very often, cars which live in IMMEDIATE coastal areas, particularly along the north and central coasts, do suffer from some corrosion problems. But, the vast majority of cars seem to be virtually rust free.
This may be due to a lot of reasons. First and formost, I believe, is the fact that California does not use salt on highways, even in the mountains. Salt is the real "killer". Often times, folks in the notheast (or southeast that drive their cars to the northeast during the summer) think that because they don't drive them in wintry conditions that they avoid the salt. Well, the salt that is applied to the roads in the winter remains there, in large measure, during the rest of the year. It doesn't "evaporate". Then, when you drive your car during a summer thunderstorm, you get the salt left there from the previous winter. Once the salt-induced corrosion begins, it proceeds inexorably. California cars do not experience this fate since, as a result of California being such a large state, few are ever driven to states where salt is used.
Another factor, I believe, is the relatively dry climate which California is blessed with. Air heavily laden with moisture(high humidity)is another corrosion factor which California cars largely escape.
In any event, I've always been amazed at how few rusty cars that you see in California. The contrast is a stark one when you have the opportunity to visit other states and see how many rusty cars you see. Even when you do see a rusty car in California, often it has out-of-state plates or it has a California license plate which is obviously not the car's original plate.
This is not to say that other states don't benefit from similar climactic and road maintenence conditions. I'm sure that Arizona cars are at least as good as California cars with respect to these factors(i.e. most military and commercial aircraft are "mothballed" in Arizona for a reason). However, Arizona is not nearly as populous a state as California, so there are far fewer cars available.
I've often thought about it in these terms: in California, the bodies and chassis of cars last a very long time, but the drivetrains do not due to the large number of miles that California cars typically are driven(i.e. it's a big state). In the east coast, the drivetrains of cars can last a long time due to the relatively fewer numbers of miles that many of the cars are driven, but the bodies and chassis rot out and spell the death of the car. Someone should take good, high mileage, rust-free California cars to the east coast and mate them with the low mileage drivetrains from low mileage, rusted out hulks. Or vice-versa.
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