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Comment by _yb2s | Hacker News Reader

Why not just take a weekend to fly to where used cars are unrusted, and drive one back?

Also, there are quite a few well made older cars that are fully galvanized and don’t rust. I know a few people in the Northeast still driving 1980s Volvo 740s, still unrusted after nearly 40 years of salty roads. 1987 and later had the best rustproofing. I believe many older Audis also are galvanized.

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The best galvanization was in the 80s when the OEMs were scrambling in the "surprise, lead just got banned" era (lead acts like an anode, think of it like a lesser version of a high zinc primer).

That said, it's not the thick hot dip you see on I beams or on bolts at the hardware store and a modern car with modern coatings and attention to corrosion is still better.

Of the three continents that produce a lot of cars the Europeans still take corrosion more seriously than anyone else.

Since Volvo was mentioned in the parent comment, did you know that if you buy a new Volvo you can get two free plane tickets to Gothenburg + one night's hotel stay to go pick it up at the Volvo factory? You can drive it around Europe for a while and then they will ship it back to the US for you. AFAIK it doesn't cost extra, it just adds some lead time as well as time waiting for your car to get to you after you fly home: https://www.volvocars.com/us/l/osd-tourist/

Our family did nearly exactly this when I was a child in the 80s, just subbing in Volkswagen and Dusseldorf IIRC. It was some months later when the car actually arrived on the west coast of the US, but my parents seemed to think it worthwhile.

Just as a warning- one needs to be willing to dish out the cash for one of these high end 80s European cars: they can sometimes cost hundreds of dollars. Really nice examples can cost more than their value by weight as scrap steel. And, although most are still going strong, it's possible some only have another 30-40 years of usable life left before needing major repairs, possibly even sooner if they have over a million miles already. A good running used engine or transmission for one can easily cost over $100- so one should also budget for that down the road as well.

I just didn't want to get anyones hopes up on here, thinking they could easily afford one on a software engineer salary.

Yes exactly. Facebook, Craigslist (yes people still use it) allows searching in any area. Ideally if you have a willing friend living in a salt-free state, search for cars for sale in that area and have your friend take it for an inspection. If it seems good, fly in, buy it, drive home. Rust-free is a given so there's not really a premium to pay for it, unlike buying cars in the northern states.

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