I recently bought a 72 cutlass from a guy that was trying to restore it but had a medical problem and ran out of money. I'm fairly new at cars, so I do not know exactly waht to look for, specifically rust spots. Most of the car has rust. The quarter panels, the Front panels, and the door panels have rust. Also Part of the roof has rust too. I've heard that if the frame is rusted, you pretty much have a messed up car. The problem is that I do not know exactly what the drame is. I know that part of it are the big steel bars running down under the car that give it the shape. This part has only surface rust, and it can be scarapped off even with your finder. But I donnot know if the frame includes something else other than those bars. Any help would be appreciated.

 

You have identified the two major frame rails. If there is corrosion damage that is bad, it will be where two pieces of dis-similar metals join such as frame to body mounting locations and frame to bumper mounting locations. You might also check for places where water could get trapped and pool although I can't think of any specific places to recommend you check. If you can find a place to put the car up on a hoist that would be the best way to do a good visual inspection, next to that four good quality jack-stands a good shop light and a crawl on your back would do.

 

It is a bit more complicated then that but do a quick search on the web for automotive frame images and you should be able to get an idea of what you should be looking at.

The frame typically has three main parts the front, center, and rear. I think that you only looked at the center parts directly aft of the front wheels and in fromt of the rear wheels.

Good luck and poke around with a strong awl or screwdriver.