question about wood in hat channels

Sure it would have still be able to rust. If steel didn't rust, my business name would be different I deal with rust all the time. How about 65/66 Mustangs being built with the cowl area having no coating at all?? Bare steel. Think that caused some problems?? It's at least a $2500 repair and the car doesn't look any different. Steel is going to rust. However, there are things you can do to hold it back if you will. Look at cars built from the 80s through today, totally different in regards to rust compared to car built before. I bought a '65 Mustang in '74. The quarter panels were rusted 6" around the wheel opening, the rear floor was gone. That car was 9 years old. You don't see that today, so coatings make a BIG difference. Also, realize bare steel left outside will rust, but you won't find holes in it . . . for many, many, many years. If the steel can dry, the iron oxide acts as a protector, it's Mother Nature's protectant. But the key is the metal has to be able to dry. So anywhere the metal can stay wet from having two or more panels sandwiched together or such, you are more likely to have a problem. Place wood inside a channel, yep . . going to have a problem. However, I found this interesting many years ago when I ran across this comment. One of the Mustang engineers is quoted saying . ."we didn't expect them to last this long". Meaning . . when the cars were designed and built, they had no idea that would be so popular and people would be trying to save them so many years later. So a bare steel cowl . . we new they would last for as many years as they were planned to last. Jeeps are no different. They didn't build them to be around in 2012, way past their goal and scope as a design team. So we do what we can now to bring them up in technology and try to keep them going . . and it's damn fun too