Looking to buy a camaro, and was just wondering if the rust spots are fine or too rusty. I live in the Midwest

 

Its not terrible but that depends on why you want it.

A v6 car with no front end, I hope its really cheap.

 

im trading my old square body. Just wasn’t sure if the rust is fine or not.

 

seriously bad decision
you ever seen a pic of a girl and she looks fine as hell in the picture, only to be miss nanny mcphee in person?

thats what these photos are.
until the car is in your face and your getting pretty intimate with it, you cant tell what the picture hides.

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pictures of the square body?

 

 

Structural rust is never "OK." Past that, and based only on the photos, both vehicles appear to be in equally bad condition.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

 

this would be my first unibody car, would you say the rust is not terrible and can be good for a fixer upper. Or the rust is bad.

 

The rot by the drivers side wheel well is a structural area/issue. Has the intake been open on that v6 and exposed to the elements? If so, that engine is probably shot. IDK your plan w it. I'd pay more for that square body than the Camaro though. Both are rough though.

 

No rust is a good thing.

 

yeah the motor runs and idles, with starter fluid sprayed in it.

 

You can get an example of either vehicle with no structural rust. Generally closer to the southern border than the northern border, as far as the U S. is concerned.

When you do, you'll probably find the non-rusty sq. body to be worth morr than the non-rusty V6 third gen.

 

The rust in the pics doesn;t look too bad aside where the fender should be...


With that... id probably do more investigation / check over in that area and the whole floor / rockers for more structural rot...what you can see in the pic is probably just part of a potentially larger rotted area...

 

Making such a judgment based only on photos isn't a good idea.. An in-person inspection with the car on a lift and a sharp screwdriver / punch in hand is the correct way to evaluate rust damage.

Additionally, as has already been mentioned, if you can see rust, there is going to be more rust that you can't see.

 

As others have said, it's really tough to make a judgement call based on these photos. Most of the photos show what looks to be surface rust, but the photo of the missing fender shows significant structural rot down at the rocker corner and up at the cowl/rain tray. This is a clue as to what is likely the case for the rest of the car, and it's not good. Once the rocker corners start to go, the other common spots are also going too.

Being around enough of these cars here in Connecticut when they were older daily drivers (10-15 years old) and seeing many of them die due to rust, they all pretty much rot in the same locations. I also went through repairing all of these rot areas on mine during the restoration. I got to mine early enough that it could be saved, but it still was a ton of work and through the process I kept finding more and more hidden rot.

Here are the common rot areas:
-Front rocker corners
-Front wheel houses/shock towers (check for holes or thin metal under the coolant and washer tanks)
-Floorpan/rocker/toeboard corners (both sides)
-Firewall/cowl/wheelwell connection point under the heater box
-Passenger floorboard above catalytic converter heat shield
-Rear inner wheelhouses (may not be apparent under the thick rubber chipguard. Use an awl to poke around)
-Body where the rear energy absorber attaches
-Lower quarter panels behind ground effects

Most of these locations are pretty well hidden. So a car that generally looks pretty good and may look like it only has some surface rust very well could have a lot more major rot hiding. If you know to look in these spots, you can find it and evaluate. But, like I mentioned, if the rocker corners are rotted, many/most of these other spots are going to be rotted as well.