Rust investigation.

I, like a lot of us around here have been dealing with alot of rust on our abodies.

In cutting out some old sheet metal I found that the quarter panels on my duster have been patched twice before at the rocker and once before behind the rear wheel.

In my mind it's not enough just to patch and move on, I've gotta know why because if I'm going through all of this trouble to get rid of all the rust I don't want it coming back!
So why did the rockers rust out 3 times in 34 years. Research shows this car spent a number of years in NJ so salty roads might have been a factor, but the underside of the car wasn't rusted at all but the more I cut into the car the more rust I found. Why would the car be MORE rusty on the inside?

Well after replcing the driver front floor, and realizing that the water that caused that rust came from the vinyl roof, I started the journey of finding where the water came from.
anyway to make a long story short, I found that the wing window seals were not touching the car! thus letting water run down the inside of the quarter panel and collect in the rocker. I guess it's just frustrating that for $100 they could have prevented the problem, TWICE!

So check those gaskets. you might save yourself or the next guy some work years down the road