No need to apologize Chris,as this is just different views on the same subject,and you have chosen to respond in a gentlemanly and respectful manner so no offence taken in any way shape or form
Just a final point on the salting topic,and after a little more investigation i have revised my initial synopsis about the effects of sodium chloride (salt ) i stated in error that for example such areas as the Isle of wight or any coastal town that is in proximity to the influence sea water that salt deposits could be washed off quite easier thus helping maintain the vehicles longevity,this statement relied on the fact that vehicles were in contact with direct sea water.
Sea water contains on average 3.5 units of sodium chloride per every 100 units of water (3.5% salt [sodium chloride] to 96.5% water) the assumption i made was that salt is present and this is deposited simply by proximity to the sea,this would on be accurate if sea water was blown on to the car and leaving a deposit,in the case of high winds blowing sea water onto the land,but in reality this is an infrequent happening.Natural evaporation does not remove sodium chloride to facilitate this occurrence,remember your basic physics at school,to extract fresh water from a saline solution if the solution is distilled and the vapor removed once cooled this is fresh water,so presuming that salt is present in the atmosphere by proximity to a source is incorrect,no mater how much water is evaporated by the sun it will not reappear via rain fall or by aerobic deposit,another examples of this my be seen as Malta a relatively small island that has many older vehicles that are almost devoid of rust,simply because the sodium chloride in the sea stays there's no mater how much of the sea evaporates.
The salt (as sea water) that is blown directly off the sea is in far lower amounts than road applied as we have already mentioned only 3.5% of sea water is sodium chloride to deposit the 400 tons of salt that was used in one night by Sheffield City Council,to obtain the 400 tons of salt in one application over 11000 tons of sea water would have to be deposited at one go and remain on the road surface and not cover any other area whatsoever,until the entire water content had evaporated leaving the salt only.
Different county councils have different policies for their winter gritting schemes,southern councils my only grit when the weather forecasts are more definite about the prospect of adverse weather conditions,northern councils often applied grit salt as (A) precautionary measure (B) and for longer periods of time,the amount of salt added to the grit/salt mixture my very also from a southern mix of 30% salt 70% course sand to a northern councils mix of 50% salt 50% course sand,so as you progress more northerly the amount of salt you my encounter is often stronger and over a longer period of time (between 60 and 70 times on average the roads are treated in the Sheffield and Derbyshire area over the winter period).The application of salt on the road is often limited the properties of salt as a thawing agent starts to loose it's effectiveness at minus-4C and is completely ineffective at minus-10C.The cost of a full nights gritting in Derbyshire is around £30,000 to treat 1,555 miles of the counties roads (source Derbyshire County Council
http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport_ ... /gritting/
On a final footing when Marinas were still plentiful often of a weekend myself and other the other lads who would travel from the North East all the way down south to buy cars,why when they were so many cars available you might ask? simply because the southern cars were in a better condition,Bournemouth was a prime destination.
Russ
Beckett Bros "only more if needed" :roll:
, as for the southern cars survival rate thing as opposed to northern cars, that argument doesn`t stand for me coming from a coastal town next to the english channel surrounded by the sea all year round!, if mk1 cars survive here better than the later models i still think it is because they were built to a higher standard and possibly of decent welsh steel as opposed to imported lower grade stuff.
) as my first car I would be paying someone £1000s to restore that. But, no it's a Mk1 Morris Marina 1.3 SDL and proud of it. 
