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[blur2040]

Thanks for all the input.  I find the differing opinions of everyone here to be more than interesting.  Reading this thread has varied from making me super depressed to super optimistic.

I haven't had much time to look at the car this week, but I'm actively thinking about what I'm going to do.  Chrispoe, I think I fall into your category in that I really don't like the idea of letting it rot away and will figure out something to do. 

It's odd--I don't notice any rust in the empty center of the rail.  Smooth, flake-free metal.  All the rust is pretty much contained between the outside cover (with the undercoating on it) and the innermost layer.  That would be why I thought there was just a rail and a cover, as drawn in my diagram above.  There's just, practically no evidence of the several layers of sheet there (at least on this damaged part of the rail). 

[WashiestSnake]

You can see the layers in your rot. They are not very thick so every flake is about a single layer. What you could do is just the whole cut out the effected section, and weld in a piece of steel, so you wont have to deal with the layers. I hope you can find a solution for the problem, because a Capri with that many miles needs to be kept on the road, at all costs.

[chrispoe]

It’s not odd at all, the rubber undercoating is a barrier to keep the elements out. Unfortunately this barrier will also keep water trapped inside too when it gets underneath.

What most likely happened to your car is that it bottomed out and scrapped the undercoating or the edges of the rail’s drain hole let some water seep through. From your pic, I would say it probably was the second one.
The water then became trapped between the rail and the undercoating which then greatly accelerates the rust growth. 

This is why I went through so much trouble to remove that rubber undercoat crap from my car.