Hog troughs

[ecoloney]

I've seen photos of hog troughs literally rusted away. Nothing left. If people can continue to drive their cars and not seem to miss the troughs, why are they so important to repair/replace?

[Gunslinger]

The hog troughs are structural...they tie the body to the frame and support the rocker panels under the doors. The roll bar is connected to the hog troughs and frame and without that tie-in, there is no structural integrity to the body and frame as a unit. The hog troughs also provide mounts for the seats and add increased safety in the event of a side collision.

Anyone who knowingly drives their Avanti with rusted out hog troughs (knowingly or otherwise) is taking a huge chance with safety. Bad hog troughs by themselves can turn an otherwise nice car into little more than a parts car simply due to lack of structural integrity. They're not cheap to replace. I would think many Avanti's have been parted out due to the the expense involved to properly repair or replace the troughs.

To pay a shop to replace the hog troughs may cost as much as $5k or even more, depending whether the body is removed (the preferred way). A $5k repair to a car worth about $15k, more or less depending on year, model, equipment, etc., makes for some difficult decisions for owners. You have to really love the car for its own sake, or because of family history with the car, to drop that kind of cash into it.