an urban truth -> Scheme to Fund Crushing of Over 15 Year Old Cars

[Ron Horowitz <RonHorowitz@domain.elided>]

>Subject: re: urban myth -> Scheme to Fund Crushing of Over 15 Year Old
Cars
>
>This is going around again?

Because it's still happenening....

>  It is not designed (and never has been
>designed) to remove operating automobiles from the road.  Your "classic"
is
>not at risk.

I have to say wrong on all counts, for various reasons, but the long and
short of it is that cars aren't simply being "removed from the road,"
they're being removed from existence, along with any common parts shared by
their more fortunate sisters.

Here are some of the cars I've seen at the wrecker yards in the last 4 or 5
years or so: Alfa spiders, Alfettas, GTV6's, Milanos, Fiat 124 spiders,
coupes, & sedans, X1/9's, 850's, 1200 & 1500 cabriolets,  Mercedes fintails
& coupes, MGB's, Jaguar "church window" XJ6's & XJS's, BMW 1600's, 2000's,
2002's, 2002Tii's, & 3.0's, VW Karmann Ghias, Volvo P1800's, Triumph TR4's,
TR6's, GT6's, Spitfires, Porsche 914's, Opel GT's, Datsun 240/260/280's,
and Mazda RX7's by the score. I've also seen at least one each of the
following: Sunbeam Alpine, Saab Sonnet, Triumph Herald, Jensen Healey,
Citroen DS23, Peugeot 404 PF sedan, Simca 1000, Renault Dauphine, Gordini
(less engine,) Hillman Manx, Humber Super Snipe (or whatever the hell it
was,) MG Magnette.....  I forget what else.

I should point out that many of these cars have been in pretty good shape,
some surprisingly good, and most if not all without any of the sort of rust
headaches restorers in other parts of the world have to contend with. Also,
these cars generally aren't available for sale outright, only part by part,
and the cars only stay in the rows for about a month or so before they get
crushed (whether any parts have been sold or not.)

>Federal funds are allocated to allow states to cars out of circulation
>voluntarily:

The economic reality is that if you can get more money for your old car as
a write off to a charity, and if the charity can get more money by selling
the car off to a scrap yard than by selling it to a collector, your old car
is going to get crushed. Smog credits and government programs are added
incentives. In my experience, most of the aforementioned cars have had
charity or government information painted on their windshields or fenders.

It's all voluntary, but what if you're only six years old? What happens to
all the neat old classic cars by the time you've turned 18, much less by
the time you've turned 30 or so when you'll finally be able to afford the
old car hobby? The old cars will either be restored garage queens & too
expensive for you to afford, or they'll be very few and far between. By
that time there won't be much left to restore or much left to say except
"Isn't it a shame?"

Let's face it. At best, the odds are stacked against older cars making it
far into the 21st century. Further, our government has actively been
subsidizing the destruction of as many old cars as possible. If you don't
think this is a general threat to the old car hobby, you haven't been
paying attention.

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