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In This Issue
Cash for Clunkers
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Calendar Girl Contest!
$1000 Grand Prize! |
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Classic Car Community is looking for the next Classic Car Calendar Girl. This contest is open to all members. Submit your poses with your favorite classic and you could be chosen to represent your community on the first of many calendars to come.
More Here! |
2009
Best Ride Contest!
Win $500 in Gas! |
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Think you have the best wheels on the road? Well put your classic car up to the test in the Community's
Best Ride Contest. Submit a story stating why you think your ride rules the rest and you'll be entered to win a $500 gas card.
Sign up here.
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Cash for Clunkers
So here I am, reading all these articles in the news about the government initiative to get those gas guzzlers off the road. They are calling it the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, where the government will credit you up to $4500 if you trade in your current vehicle that gets less than 18mpg for a new car that gets at least 22mpg. I can go on and on about what is all involved, but instead I will point you to their site to read about the specifics www.cars.gov. After you read that, let’s start dissecting it.
Where do I start? Let me first address all the people that were up in arms and concerned about removing all the “classics” from the road and deleting our history. First, it’s your choice to trade in your cars…in other words, you don’t have to do it. I mean, these people sound like the same people complaining about questionable programming on cable TV. Turn it off, change the channel, use parental blocks, go outside and play. If you think you have a classic and it will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future, then keep it in the garage. Shish! Second, your car must be 1984 or newer to qualify for the program. So, unless you have no clue what your ’86 GNX is worth and you trade it in for $4500, or you own an original Dodge Viper, you have nothing to worry about. My point is this, if you have a “modern” classic, it is still worth way more than $4500 and you will not trade it in. I want to challenge all of you…send me an email about a car that you think will be a classic and is currently less than $4500. Wait…how much is a Vector W12 right now? Or an Aston Martin Lagonda? Never mind.
Now I want to address the real concern about this program. Who is paying for this? I’m not the smartest man in the world, but let’s say a CEO of a large company sends an email to all his employees stating that he is willing to pay $4500 for 100 cars that are only worth $1500 each and then make up the difference with the company’s profits? Not only would he be chased out of town by the locals with pitchforks, but his name will live in infamy as a metaphor to being an idiot. “Dude, I bought $4500 worth of Washington Mutual…what? They’re bankrupt. Awe man, I just pulled a Munson!”
So, the government approved $1 billion to start this program and they were surprised on how successful the program was. Pardon my French, but no sh..…kidding it’s going to be successful! Did anyone up there on the hill run the numbers before they passed this program? Did they calculate how many cars are on the road that get less than 18mpg and are eligible to be turned in? Wait, forget that, how about we just divide the $1,000,000,000 by $4500 and you get 222,222 vehicles can be traded in before you reach the max. And, if the most recent article that I read about car sales reaching a 25 year low (not seen since 1983 at about 12 million for the year) is correct, then a conservative guess for 1984 alone would be 10% of those cars got less than 18mpg. Right there you have 1.2 million cars that might qualify…if they are still on the road. Then add 1985 and all the way up to today. The numbers add up quick…and they were “surprised.” Give me a break.
Let me get back to my original statement, who pays for it all? In one word…WE DO! OK that was two, but it sounds more dramatic if I proclaimed the answer to be one word. WE DO, the taxpayers. All these programs that cost money are going to have to be paid somehow and that’s when our taxes go up. Then we cry the blues.
I’m going to open a new business and make bumper stickers. Have you heard of the one “Honk, if you are paying my mortgage?” I am going to start selling “Honk, if you bought me this car!” It should cost me $2 each to make and I will sell them for a cool 99 cents!
I should make millions!
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