kaz1961

I was checking out some vettes at the local cruise night and none of them had any visible rust around the windshield or t-tops. A couple of these cars were not in the best of shape and being Northeast cars I am sure there was rust there but I did not see it. The question is: when I look at cars for sale how should I go about checking these areas for hidden rust? :confused:

Corvette ED

Stick you fingers up along the windshield and the trim panel along the top of the winshield. If it is rusty flakes will come off. Also if it is getting bad when you close the door flakes will fall off.

Also look just below the vin plate on the post they rot out there.

Smokehouse69

If the owner will allow it, pull the kick panels sill plates. If there is birdcage rust you can see evidence of it by looking up into the area behind the kick panels. If the rocker areas are rusted out you might be able to tell by looking at the screw holes that hold the sill plates down.
Windshield and t-top rot is bad, but a rotted lower birdcage is much worse, requiring a lot more work, pain and expense. Another place that has a tendency to rot out is the body mounts. There are inspection ports inside the front of the rear wheel wells.
Getting the car on a rack is a must to thoroughly check out all aspects of the frame and body mounts for rot. In my opinion if an owner objects to a thorough inspection, then they might be trying to hide something.
Good Luck,