When I lived in Dallas, I went through Houston a bezillion times on the way to Galvaston. As a group, Huston cars are rust buckets compared to Dallas cars. I was floored by the rust buckets I saw in Houston. Heck! I thought I was back up in the rust belt when I saw the rust level on the cars.
The reason Houston has a higher tendancy for rust than lots of the other parts of the south is that it has lot of salt in the air from the endless flow of humid Gulf air that crosses Houston. After all, it's only 30 or so miles from the coast.
