Rare XC Van.

[Valencia]

To find cars of this vintage today with no rust at all would be extremely hard to find

[Valencia]

i have had 3 sandmans all had and still have rust ,my current hj has rust in floors, cowl, body only good thing about holden commercials is the chassis when they aren't cracked .

Seems we all have little issues with rust my sandman has the lower rear quarter passenger side and a hole the size of a 50 cent piece in the firewall of all places and Lh door cnr but all fixable

[Robbo]

Finding one without rust would probably be a miracle, but not entirely impossible. Original owner vehicles do turn up, that does happen.
As for one brand rusting out faster than the other's, back in the rusty day's, they all died at the same rate. Most people will have a story, depending on which brand they have allegience to. That never changes, the only variable would be where the vehicle lived.

[SLR_dave]

XA-XD commercials were far worst for rust than HQ-WB. That (and the way the Holden was constructed) is the reason why there is so many more Holden commercials left today. The XA-XD commercials rusted out in the sills/floors very early in life and it was structural hence they were taken off the road and wrecked/scrapped - or they were used in demolition derbies as they are a monocoque construction (and got flattended by HR-HG's). Normal rust in a HQ-WB commercial is superficial and easily repaired ie cowls and floors. Or the cars were easily rebodied in half a day with a few mates - there used to be heaps of tradies utes around local to me even less than 10 years ago with mismatching panels and colours. All that era Fords were gone as trade vehicles by the 90's. I'm not sure what Ford did by the time XF came around as they seemed to have lasted better yet they are identical construction. Maybe zinc coated steel like the 62 series 'cruisers?
I remember my cousin buying an XC ute in the very early 80's, it was only 3-4 years old and had been all its life in Tamworth area. It had bad rust in the sills even then, rest of the car was schmick.

I have always maintained the XA-XC rusted way worse than the HQ-HZ and thats why there were so few on the road by the mid nineties, but that was with my motor mates in the Holden versus Ford days, and its just too harsh to do Holden vesus Ford now! (no lol).

I reckon XY was actually better for rust, they seemed to outlast XA and XB. The XA sedan had really cool taillights, but its so long since I've seen one on the road, and that XC dash with the deep inset guages was shark like alluring, matched the body style well. But I agree with HK, in my opinion the XA-XC Fords rusted quicker, and it seemed to spring up all over... Maybe it was even just the topcoat paint they used, and not the design shape? Had Ford changed its paint factory by XF? True, the Falcon coupes are staunch as, I'd have gone deep grey with a heap of clear over the top, or even the purple, or the yellow and black if I was gonna ever own one, but for me it was always Holden.... the Tory was lighter to push than an XC coupe.

[Taily]

In 1987 I owned an 302 XC GXL sedan in which there were already serious corrosion issues in a 10 year old car. Both front guards were rusted out around the 4.9 badge - wierd, but there was no paint (or minimal) behind the guard in that area, just below the rear window and around the boot rubber were all shagged and as a consequence the lower rear guards also. The 5.8 XD and the injected XF (both Fairmont Ghias) I owned after that ended-up having the worst body rust I'd ever seen in the C pillars behind those plastic covers and around the front door frames where there was a body join in the door apeture. They all just seemed to have cronic areas they all went in.

Any Ford of that era that is still around today has obviously had a serious amount of TLC at some stage or another. For this XC to survive this long in that nick it has more than likely spent most of its life in a shed. I was really lucky with my HJ for the same reason that it has spent its entire life in a shed, the only rust was a 5 cent sized hole in the outer skin of the RH lower rear guard and some minor pitting on the inner skin which we cut out. The rest of it has been closely inspected and cleaned and re-rustproofed including the internal cavity area above and behind the top door hinges. Should last another 38 years if I've done it properly.

[Frosty]

In the Ford Museum in Geelong there is a XB sedan that has cut aways so you can see the construction. This car was cut up when it was brand new, never driven and has spent its life on display in a air conditioned building and it still has a lot of rust in usuall places.

[SLR_dave]

After my last comment I'm gonna have to eat my hat!
Its the way the world works sometimes but I actually saw an XC sedan on the road just this evening. The first time in eons. Must be the Ford god stirring me! It had obiously been well cared for (as suggested above). All panels dead straight, clean paint job, all trim present and straight as farr as I could see, as good as or better than factory condition, all standard on the body except for the bonnet, which was GS, with the scoops, no bonnet blackouts I think. It was white, that dove white? they had and recently polished. P plates on it. I tailed it for a few minutes, but it was going in a different direction.
Went past me round a broad curve on an arterial road, seemed to sit straight too, (in that heavy wallowing XC sedan fashion), so there are some still getting around out there. Had to post this, it would have been wrong not to acknowldge it.

[HK1837]

I saw an XB van recently too, first one i've seen driving for a long time, and an XA ute a while back too. Where I live I reckon i'd see 25 x HQ-WB (or more) to every one XA-XD.