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- Apr 14, 2014
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- 3,132
The paint and rust issues weren't just on American built cars. The first Japanese imports were just as bad. I remember recalls on Hondas and Toyotas because of rust. One of the earlier Honda models had to have the entire front clip (including the suspension) replaced due to rust. There were several instances where the suspension parts broke through the sheet metal and the body literally fell to the ground.
At the time the automotive press was so enamored with the quality of the imports there was little or no coverage of the problem. There were as many or more Hondas involved with rust issues as there were American cars, but little or no mention of it in the automotive circles. They also had their problems with paint. I can remember seeing Hondas of the early 1980's that looked like the paint had peeled off in sheets. A neighbor down the street had a yellow Civic that was repainted twice in the time he owned it. He finally gave up on it and sold it when the paint started peeling off a 3rd time.
About the worst for rust were the Fiats. I had one come into the garage with the initial complaint that the doors were hard to open and close. I opened the doors one at a time and could see there were problems beyond rusty hinges or latches. When all 4 doors were opened at the same time the car literally sagged in the middle and none of the doors would close. The unibody was rusted so bad it had to be taken off the road. The customer contacted Fiat and they sent out a rep to inspect the car. The company quietly bought back the car for $1,000.00.
I later found out that this wasn't an isolated incident. The reps were looking to see if the vehicles were registered and licensed. If they were the company would buy them back. If not they just walked away leaving a notice with the owner that the vehicle wasn't road worthy and the fact that it wasn't licensed or titled. If the owner sold it to an unsuspecting customer the factory had already done a CYA and would wash it's hands of the problem noting that it had been declared only good for salvage.
As a side note I worked as a painter at the now defunct GM plant in Janesville for several years while going to school at the UW in Madison. At the time the cars were undercoated and sent through the roof top ovens to dry the paint. The trip through the 400* oven lasted about an hour. After going through the cooling tunnel they went straight to the finish coat paint booth. The major straight panels were painted by robots (keep in mind this was the late 1960's through the early 1970's) and the remaining parts were done by hand with traditional pipeline fed, hand held spray guns. The cars then went through a second set of 400* ovens for about 2 hours before thy came back down to have the interiors and trim installed.
My "painting" career only lasted 2 years. The company reorganized the plant from separate Fisher Body and Chevrolet divisions to a single GM Assembly Division (GMAD). Since I was a kid and had low seniority I was bumped out of a rather cushy job over to some real nasty ones on the truck assembly line. I learned quickly this wasn't where I wanted to spend the next 40 years. I stayed until I finished school and left when the plant shut down for the annual model changeover. It was a great experience, but not my cup of tea.
