PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - 1987 300D for TheDon

Depends on where in FL.

Two of my '87s came from Gainsville area, good clean cars. I've spent much time on the coast, grandparents lived in Boca Raton and Del Ray Beach, you'd have rusty rotors every morning and have to wipe the salt from your windshield. Parents on both sides live in Fort Myers Beach, not nearly as bad as the Atlantic coast.

I've also bought three BlueBird Wanderlodges from coastal areas: One wintered in Melbourne Beach, rusty as hell. Another one from north of Tampa, lived across the road from the gulf, rust in stupid areas (like inside of air conditioners), places where the rain couldn't get it clean, even seat slides and electrical connections under the dash were corroded. The third from NewOrleans area, the generator slide, 1/4" steel, was rusted through, the salt air gets in but no rain to clean it out. A neighbor of my Grandmother died, her car was left under the carport (in Del Ray Beach on the ocean) as the estate was being settled, a hole rusted through the roof along the seam, apparently there was a breach in the paint and under the carport the rain couldn't rinse the rust away.

Anywhere coastal will have salt air, you can pretty much taste the stuff if you're not used to it, it eats patio furniture and sliding-door hardware for an appetizer. You can always tell a snow-bird's house, the windows are open, natives know that it'll ruin everything in the house and seldom (if ever) open the windows except to clean the salt off. Just a myth, so is the mildew.

Inland FL, fine. Coastal? Forget it IMO. At least the salt up here is outside of the car. Besides that, there is a huge difference in the rubber and plastic parts of a southern car compared to a northern car. I bought a parts car that was a native MI car because the insulation and rubber stuff was still soft and useable, my FL cars you can't even bend the wire sheaths or plastic vacuum lines, my MI parts car you can tie the vacuum lines in a knot and they'll whiten without breaking.

Every location comes with good and bad, but there's a reason that salt-water boats are harder to maintain, even the 316 rails will stain in time.

<edit> btw, I have about half a truckload of NOS Broward parts circa: 1980s, if you need any hard-to-find parts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MTUpower (Post 1764058)

Most of my current and past cars are "salt air environment"- I assume you mean they have rust. While they don't have less rust than Arizona, they have very very little if any. Florida "salt air" is a myth if you ask me.