No issues with a BL on a auto, actually easier than a manual.
As for your humorous rust advise, it works for surfase rust, but if you don't put something on before painting, it will come right back. Also, when our frames go, it isn't surface rust and it is usually from the inside out. You are lucky to have an older model, they had better steel in the frames than newer ones. My 88 still has a solid original frame even after years of it being in Cleveland (tons of salt on the road in winter), my 93 is swiss cheese that has been patched in multiple places, but it was here in Columbus (stil salted, but a lot less). Most people who have rust issues are far beyond any wire wheel help.
BTW, what part of Nor Cal? I spent a few years in the Eureka area.