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I have some small rust holes in the drip rail of my Deluxe. Obviously this makes the area above the headliner get rusty on the sides and I'm trying to get the car reasonably weatherproof.

What's a reasonable way to patch these? I am considering just filling the rail with glazing compound. I would appreciate better ideas...

The proper repair is to cut out and replace the bad metal. But not always practical.

I would wirebrush to remove as much rust as possible, and possibly chemically treat the rust. Prime it with something that is DTM, and then you can use something like Metal 2 Metal or Lab Metal, which are body fillers that have an aluminum particle base. Depending on the area, you may need to dimple the area around the pinhole slightly to give it more surface area to adhere to.

I would also try to remove/treat the inside rust, if possible, and prime.

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Unfortunately this is not possible as I don't want to remove the headliner. The Deluxe is way rougher in terms of rust than just this one area, it's just that the other parts don't leak water into the car so I am ignoring them. 🙈

What is that "bead" of stuff that goes parallel to the drip rail, but on the roof side? My assumption is that it's old glazing compound that sealed between the roof and drip rail seam. I could pop it off and smear some more compound in that area.

I will consider using a wire brush if I can find one small enough to fit in the rail itself and not tear up the paint.

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That filler is probably the old style body seam filler Packard used which was an asphalt based material sort of like modern caulk or glazing putty when it went on and then hardened after a bit. They often used a lot of it in the trunk areas which after time and temperature can crack and check or flake to look like something a lot of people say resenbles large areas of painted over rust.

For the repair, is there any chance of cleaning the trough throughly enough you could lay in a thin layer of fiberglass putty or even a narrow strip of fiberglass cloth which would harden to stop the leak but still leave the channel open to direct the water? You might be able to make a tool which could fit inside the cannel and use that to "run" the fiberglass to press it into place and also get an even and smooth finish layer.