Hi Y'all.
I hail from North Texas!
Winters here are sunny and 55-60 degrees F!
But I lived in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota...so I do know a bit about coping with winter weather.
It was hard to find good used vehicles without rust back then, but those were in the days when factory rustproofing technology was non-existent and tar undercoating was the norm.
You could look at a car and tell what was used to treat the roads. Sand and gravel roads would yield rust-free but heavily chipped vehicles, while salted roads got the rusted-through body panels.
After 15 years of winters in Illinois (the sodium chloride state), my Dad's '71 280SE needed a new panel welded in behind the rear driver's side tire. Surface rust was concentrated to the rear fender lips. Other than that, it held up well. My Bug lasted through the same period, but when I started restoring it, I needed all new fenders and rocker panels...and I kept my car meticulous!
Our 72 Fiat was the worst (apparently, Italians don't worry about snow)! One winter was all it took to develop huge gaping holes in the body panels!