As someone who has spent his life in two states that measure their annual yearly rainfall in fathoms, I am always fascinated with cars from arid regions.  While we deal with rust holes that a Peterbilt can do a three point turn in, folks in these areas can count on almost perfect sheet metal.  The tradeoff is that the ever-benevolent sun just flat cauterizes paint and cloth in ways that make rides from these regions obvious to even the novice eye.  Take for example this 1964 Chrysler Newport four door for sale on craigslist in, you guessed it, scorching Phoenix, Arizona.  Can this sun baked but solid Newport provide lasting joy to a new owner for a mere $5,000?  Or would you quickly be underwater trying to bring this Titanic sized Mopar back to factory fresh shape?  Thanks again go to T.J. for this faded find!

My grandfather, who was the one that passed on the car nut infection to me, strongly advised me to never, ever purchase a project car with rust issues.  The collectible cars he had during the time that I was around were both completely rust free examples of open cars.  I have two of them today along with a closed sports car that cannot rust, so you could say I took that advice to heart.  You also have to factor in that this advice was passed along in the seventies.  This was the decade where car dealers sometimes had to fix rust issues on new cars, so his viewpoint may have been influenced by those experiences.

Many of the project cars we perused together suffered from catastrophic rust in one way or another.  As his trade was auto glass, he saw plenty of cars with destroyed floors due to leaks that found their way through windshield gaskets and door weatherstripping.  A little leak was often just an annoyance to a new car buyer.  That same leak ten or twenty years later adds up to a piece of roofing tin riveted haphazardly to what was left of the floor pan.  Magnify the size of the leak or the frequency of rain in your area, and that Flintstones floorboard moment would arrive much quicker.

In areas where rainfall is infrequent, they really don’t have to worry about rust so much.  Arid climates are excellent places to purchase, own and use a collector car.  The problem is when that arid area is overwhelmingly hot for many months out of the year.  Paint, interior materials, and any rubber around the glass and doors is subject to a baking process that soon ages the vehicle tremendously.  You win some, you lose some I guess.

Which takes us to this 1964 Chrysler Newport.  In some ways, this car is spectacularly well preserved for a vehicle of its age.  The body panels are perfectly rust free except for the thin layer of surface rust where the sun did a spectacular job of baking the paint off.  Inside, it appears that a lot of the upholstery has survived the ravages of time and ultraviolet rays well enough to be reused in a lot of areas.  The headliner is completely gone though.  Add something to your budget to get that replaced.

The peek given to us under the expansive hood reveals a fairly rare option for the mid 1960s: air conditioning.  While we are not aware if it runs or not, it appears that al of the parts and pieces are there and likely could be restored to operation.  The question is whether or not this is a factory system or an aftermarket add-on that was installed at the dealership or later in the car’s life.  Can a reader help us out with this?

In all, this looks like a very solid car that would be fun to own.  The pictures lead us to believe that the current owner has gotten it back on the road and has made some simple modifications.  Considering that this is a four door and will likely never offer a large return on your investment, why should the new owner deviate from this path?  Put a headliner in it, fix the air conditioning, install a monster sized electric fan to help with cooling the radiator off in the summer, and cruise in this big old Chrysler.  Its what cars like this are made for.

Have any of you owned and/or restored a car from a dry climate?  What were the pros and cons?