I assume it's a "Super Surge" model with plastisol interior? These were introduced in 1964 as 1965 models. What's the model number? Dishwashers that have Plastisol interiors often have rust issues. They aren't easy to fix. If the door is the only place showing rust (look around the pump and where the lower rack rollers are in contact with the Plastisol). If everything else is fine, you might want to remove the whole door and the accessories (timer or pushbuttons and every switch and wire) and then remove all the rust. Then, maybe some epoxy paint that could match the color of the Plastisol.
I haven't seen anyone deal with extensive Plastisol repairs on old threads here. Maybe it has been done by some but I haven't seen pictures. I have tried with stuff to repair racks but it turned out to be expensive and not too good looking fix! Wouldn't do it again.
Plastisol repair kits used to be sold in tubes that looked like toothpaste tubes but I don't think they're available anymore. GE, Frigidaire, Whirlpool and Maytag (probably other brands too) did make dishwashers with Plastisol-coated interiors and they all suffered from rust issues. Frigidaire used Plastisol in most of it's dishwashers from 1965 to 1979. The mid-seventies models switched to a white coating and these machines had a molded plastic door so they had less rust issues than those with the blue coating.
If the rust is bad to the point that you need to patch some holes, be sure to remove it completely and use some high quality stuff to fill it... I'm don't think I'd try to cover it with a stainless plate. If it's really bad and you want to preserve it, you might want to weld it or to have it welded... But that's another thing I have never seen here. If you go that route, please document your experiment and send some pics here! It might help others and make me want to make nicer repairs to my 1969 Frigidaire dishwasher!
