Rust is pretty prevalent in most old cars over here too, if you live away from the coast you have a good chance of protecting it a little better but there will be very little chance of finding an old car in australia that didn't have rust and those that don't generally have been in museums all their life or been restored and had rust cut out.
My grandfather had an austin tasman that when they got rid of it i don't think it had any rust and my neighbours early ke rolla doesn't have any but these cars have sat in garages for the past 15+ years without moving.