I just received a customer car that spent its life on the East Coast, which we like to refer to as the "salt belt." I've never seen a Volvo (this one's an 1800E) with so much rust on its underside. It doesn't seem to have enough metal to still be structurally sound.

As others have said, where you are in the US has a lot to do with how a car ages. Here in the Northwest, we don't get enough snow to merit using salt on the roads, so rusty undersides are pretty rare. We don't get as much sun as the SW, so the interiors don't fade and crack as quickly (but they do fade and crack eventually). I do have 2 splits in the dash pad of my 122, and one of the seams along the top of the rear seat has begun to separate. Other than that, though, the original interior is fine.

We get a lot of rain (300 days/year). It doesn't usually rain all day long on these days, but it's just enough to keep everything wet for days weeks sometimes months on end. Having a garage or a carport is really nice but still not necessary.

The easiest way to identify a NW car is to look at the inside floors - the windshield seals eventually allow water to leak into the car, and the floors rust from the inside out. It's common to see a car that looks fine from below and still has its undercoating intact; and has a body that doesn't show any signs of age, but has rusted through from the inside of the cabin. This can almost always be corrected by a competent welder.

The best thing about this is that as long as your seals are good and you can keep the water out, you can drive a vintage Volvo every day of the year without worrying about decay. Portland is a great city for using cars from the 50s and 60s as daily drivers - and it's great to see them in regular use.

Best,

Cameron
Portlandia