Another case for aluminium

Sir,

I feel that I cannot let Mr. B. S. Kern’s letter on corrosion pass without some comment. I have experienced similar corrosion on my Gazelle, affecting, not the headlamps, but the stainless steel trim strips.

Unlike Mr. Kern I was relieved that Rootes had had the foresight to fit aluminium rivets, for replacement was the matter of a few pence and a few minutes. Had Rootes followed the practice of many other manufacturers and used rivets of other material the failure would have been not of the rivet but of the metalwork of the body surrounding the rivets in which case repair would have been difficult and costly.

The electrochemical principles underlying this fact are surely known to all sixth form scientists, but alas are all too rarely employed by the major motor manufacturers. The result of this is the well known line of perforations behind the headlamps on many cars, and of course the more or less permanent loss of decorative metalwork.

Far be it from me to claim that Rootes cars are perfect in respect of corrosion resistance, but they are at least as good as any other comparably priced cars on the market, and their use of aluminium rivets shows, to me at any rate, that they are fully aware of the methods of minirnising the more serious results of corrosion.

J.A. Noble, B.A., A.R.I.C.
Salford.