After digging through 40+ years of paint, undercoating, tar, etc under the front I am down to the steel on the rails and extensions. They are made out of pregalvanized steel and are in beautiful shape except for that stupid place where Ford made a nice water trap at the shock tower/rail joint.
I was not aware there was any galvanized steel on these cars. Was this normal?

 

yep. thats why its hard to weld in new floor pans along the rocker panel cause its galvy. at least it wont rust though

but yesterday my dad drilled a hole in the outside of his rocker panel! i was like

but he drilled it behind the chrome moulding so he could get a socket on the inside to tighten his seatbelt bolts. and he just found a grommet to stick in the hole and put the moulding back over it and you can never tell .