Cash for Clunkers: A Small Victory for Our Side

[Mike]

01-24-2009 09:13 AM

We’re still catching up from last week’s SEMA MPMC conference, but one of the important things we learned there was that the recent threat of a national “Cash for Clunkers” program has been defeated. Yay! Thanks to everyone that wrote in protesting this vintage car destroyer of a bill.

However, a new bill is being introduced, which seeks to do the same to cars getting 18mpg or less of any model year. Most of our beloved nostalgics will be safe from this, but we’re reporting it as a service just in case you have some classic Detroit iron in your collection too.

When we told conference goers who we were, we often heard responses like, “Oh, I saw a mint Mazda RX-4 Wagon at the junkyard a few months back!” likely due to these types of laws. Heartbreaking! Some yards take an impact hammer to the engine block to every car that comes in under this program (or some other measure to ensure that the vehicle can never be driven again).

And lastly, we are reminded that even though the national program is defeated (for now), nostalgic-rich states like California and Texas still have active programs going on right now! So please, tell as many people as you can about these laws. But as we all know that money talks, so help us spread the word that an old Datsun or Toyota is something worth saving, something a collector would pay good money for, and not to be tossed aside.

More...

[Zs-ondabrain]

Guess we can finally say goodbye to all the Hummers that get 8 MPG. Yeah.

[doradox]

Now is the time to stock up on all those old rusted out PU trucks that you can buy for a hundred bucks and nobody is driving. Sell 'em to the government or oil company for $1000-$3500. All this bill will do is clean out all the junk cars from peoples yards and be a big "success". A success for the oil company's bottom line that is.

Steve

[Walter Moore]

Guess we can finally say goodbye to all the Hummers that get 8 MPG. Yeah.

I suspect that it will be a long time before anyone who currently owns a Hummer would be willing to trade it for $3000.

Personally, I think these programs are a terrible waste of tax revenue, and actually hurt low income and lower middle class families. The primary effect of "Cash for Clunker" programs is to inflate the value of used cars, which just makes it that much harder for people to afford basic transportation.

Then there is the issue that this thread focuses on, which is that a LOT of older collectible cars get swept up in these programs and destroyed when they could have been restored and cherished for years to come.

They remind me a lot of the ridiculous gun buy-back programs that certain cities insist on holding every so often. Where some well intentioned, but foolish group (either government or a private charity) hands out a token cash payment or gift card for any gun that is turned in "no questions asked". Usually the majority of guns turned in are either broken, or worse, stolen specifically for the purpose of turning them in. The only criminals who ever turn their guns in to a buy-back program are people trying to ditch a murder weapon...

Anyway, if there is a specific bill introduced to implement a national program like this, please post the information so that those who care can do some true grass-roots lobbying.

I will get off of my soap box now. Thanks for listening.

:paranoid: