“Hello Rusty Jones, Goodbye Rusty Cars.” Background- Well, for those that have never heard of it before, Rusty Jones was a car rust proofing company in the late 70's early 80’s. They worked with dealers to provide an aftermarket rust proofing/ undercoating option on new cars. They drilled holes in the doors, pillars, and rockers and sprayed a tar-like substance inside all of the panels to prevent rust, and then covered the holes with plastic plugs. They also undercoated the whole underside of the car. They gained a bad reputation for causing the cars to rust more because the undercoating would clog the drain holes causing the panels to hold water. They went bankrupt in 1988. Anyway, I am looking for a new Rusty Jones sticker that they used to place in the window, featuring a cartoon character named Rusty Jones and showing that the car had the Rusty Jones “Car Saver System” applied. My Parisienne was treated with the Rusty Jones system when new, and 25 years later it is still wearing most of the original undercoating/ rust proofing, and the body has next to no rust on it. The sticker is still displayed in my back window, but it is pretty faded. I would like to replace it with a new one, as I think it adds to the overall look of the car. I know it is a long shot, but if anyone has got one of these stickers still lying around let me know.
I don't know who nor where in your area but you can get your sticker reproduced, I know it can/has been done I just don't know where to look
Take a good close-up digital picture of it, scan it, then start photoshoping.....fixing the faded colors. Print it out on sticky-back paper.
When I had my car lot I would buy cars from the auction that had those stickers on them. I have to say....I would spot a good clean car here in WI and walk up to it and many of them had those stickers. Rusty Jones did a good job. Bankruptcy for most of these companies was because Detroit began using rust proofed metal and galvanized metal in their cars. I can't remember how many of the well preserved cars had those stickers on them but it was a LOT. Since I got my wagon I looked for a Rusty Jones and then found they were out of business. Too bad...they were better than Ziebart who is still around.
Yea, I thought about photoshopping it and printing it but the ink needs to be on the sticky side since it sticks on the window from the inside. Not sure it would work printing it over the sticky side. Maybe the local vinyl decal shop could do something like that? There has to be someone that still has a NOS one laying around somewhere though. Silverfox, I agree, Rusty Jones did do a good job. They are the reason my wagon is as well preserved as it is today. Most of the old cars that are still roaming the roads around here all have a Rusty Jones sticker in the window, and are still remarkably pretty rust free. Ziebart however is not bad. I had the undercoating on my wagon touched up at Ziebart a couple of years ago, and they did a great job. The quality and durability all depends on the guy spraying it.
Yeah...you're right, Pari. Depends on who does it. But...I still have to say....here in salt country it's amazing to see old cars around in great shape that lived here all their lives. Most of them have that RJ sticker. Might have been the product itself that was superior or their method....who knows? I know it worked on a lot of cars. I don't get around the car circuit much anymore but if I spot a good sticker I will see what I can do to get it.
Rustproofing used to be a huge profit center at any dealership I worked at back in the 80's and 90's. The only problem with most of them is that if the car ever started rusting, they wouldn't repair it like they had promised. Apparently, most of the companies had a warranty which required annual inspections. If you didn't get your car inspected by them once a year, you'd void out your warranty and they wouldn't be liable for any rust damage. I sold an '84 Mustang to a pal of mine brand new and sure enough; he'd go to all the trouble of having it inspected when he had to and it turns out the company did make good on it. They repaired some rust damage three times because they had no out. I love it when a big bad company has no choice but to stay true to its word!
Make sure whoever/however you get it made they use UV resistant ink. Yellow and red! I don't think computer type printers use UV inks. As a Lithographer I recall printing up thousands of bumper stickers for a radio station on the West coast. I told the boss we needed UV ink. NAWWW! He was the boss! This yellow and black bumble bee came back not to very much later and the bumble bee's yellow striped ass had dissapeard. Of course I caught the ass chewing because "I" used the wrong ink. I LOVE being retired!
I found one, took a picture, digitally repaired it and I sell them here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/cha...-rust-prevention-hifi-sticker-print?p=sticker I get like 10c a sale so this is not a moneymaker for me.
I went to a car dealership auction a bunch of years ago, and purchased the Rusty Jones machine. I also got a bunch of plugs and stickers. I know that they are in the garage somewhere, but not exactly where. If I come across them anytime soon, I will post on this thread. ........ and for the rest of the story.. now, you know why my name is "junk"...
Not too long ago there was another post like this about Rusty Jones and other undercoating companies. Living in Illinois myself, many of us had our cars undercoated in hopes they'd last a few years. I never kept mine long enough to know if it worked. I was spending my money so someone else had a rust free car later.
Don't forget Ziebart, still in business I think, but hasn't done rustproofing since the OEMS said it would void the warranty. You are right about improperly applied material plugging drain holes. I can imagine the "training" that they gave some 19 year old kid who couldn't spell rustproof. I have a 1991 Ford F-250 that was Ziebarted 60 minutes after delivered to the Ford dealer. It has done as advertised, can't complain.
Some of that stuff works quite well. I forget who did it, but my 89 Grand Marquis had the aftermarket rustproofing done by the dealer. 13 years and almost 200,000 miles later, and the only rust was where body work had not been repaired correctly, and on the passenger floor where the coating had melted from a broken air tube on the cat. Too bad the car got totalled. Ma's Arthur still looks like new, no rust, and it gets "Krown Rustproofing" done every year. This stuff must be doing something. 23 years old, and the brake and fuel lines are still as new.
