Topic: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

We had an 87 Celica Surpa, 165k mile, 5 spd car traded in on this program at my work and there is NOTHING I can do to get this car... SAD TIMES!

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Yeah I was thinking the same thing myself. I'm against the program on principle because I'm sure there'll be a lot of interesting cars taken off the road, whether LeMons-worthy or not.

The Homer: Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Not only that, just killing large amounts of spare parts, and cars that someone may be dumb enough to want to restore, or even just cheap cars for folks a that are broke or need a POS to just get to the train station!

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
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Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

I don't understand the program....why not just assign a "junk" pink slip and register the VIN so it can't be titled....then it's off to the Pick-A-Part and the whole world is happy....you don't need to crush to keep it off the road

Jim "Endo" Anderton
30 years of racing and still not Brambilla.....

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

From what I understand, the cars engine is seized (blown up) and then its shipped off to an auto recycling center (aka junk yard) were everything can be resold except for the engine.

6 (edited by bongle 2009-07-28 11:53 AM)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

There will still be $500 cars: salvage titles, flood victims, safety failures, efficient when manufactured, etc.  There are enough restrictions on C4C that should allow some cars to slip through the $4500 cracks and hit $500.

Car to Pit telemetry (OBD2, GPS, and analog inputs) with little more than a phone, router, and laptop.  It's not MacGuyver, it's WifiLapper (forum | facebook)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

stopngosteve wrote:

From what I understand, the cars engine is seized (blown up) and then its shipped off to an auto recycling center (aka junk yard) were everything can be resold except for the engine.

I heard the cars were to be crushed, I hope your version is right....

Still terrible to see a perfectly good engine cooked.

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
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Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

I heard the same thing about dealers seizing the engines.  It sounds dangerous to me.  Too much risk of flying debris or fire as a result of engine failure. 

All in all, the CfC program will not even make a dent in the population of clunkers.

BRE Datsun (Broke Racing Effluence) formerly Dawn of the Zed Racing
'74 260Z
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/editpicture.php … 2559430584

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Yeah, CFC won't affect the pool of potential Lemons cars. The number of Lemons candidates owned by people who have kept the car running and registered for the prior year, are willing/able to buy a new car, AND have their shit together enough to fill out all the paperwork is probably quite small. CFC is going to get all the clapped-out mid-90s Explorers and the like.

Financial incentives don't have much effect on the folks who have a bunch of crappy old cars clogging up the yard, anyway- it's more about the inertia. When we were building the Black Metal V8olvo and wanted a parts car, I put an ad on Craigslist: "DEAD VOLVOS WANTED. WILL TOW FREE." This was at the height of the scrap-metal boom, when any car would get you $200 from a scrap dealer, and I had three guys trying to give me their dead Volvos within an hour and another half-dozen over the next few days (we got a very straight 242 Turbo, missing only the cylinder head and turbo gear, and a strong-running 244, both free).

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

We were talking about this on another board this morning...  To qualify for the rebate the car has to be licensed, registered and insured for the past year and "driveable"

That means *this* car qualifies:

http://www.porcubimmer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/drag.jpg

We've kept it insured and licensed so it can be legally flat towed to events and well, it's pretty *driveable*...

I wouldn't wish such a fate on our good friend Porky - but damn, that would be some funny sh!t driving this into the dealership...

"I'd like my $4500 credit please!"

hahahahaha

Proudly pissing off Pick 'n Pull employees since 1991
Team The Homer

1981 Ford Fairmont Durango

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

<--- Farfrumwinnin Fox was licensed, registered, and insured up till the Friday before the race and was my daily driver up till 3 weeks before... hehehehe

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
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Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

RogueLeader wrote:

<--- Farfrumwinnin Fox was licensed, registered, and insured up till the Friday before the race and was my daily driver up till 3 weeks before... hehehehe

I think it would be great to trade it in and document it to show how ridiculous the program as currently configured actually is.

It would make a great news story.

Proudly pissing off Pick 'n Pull employees since 1991
Team The Homer

1981 Ford Fairmont Durango

13 (edited by RogueLeader 2009-07-29 10:48 AM)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Rob Stercraw wrote:
RogueLeader wrote:

<--- Farfrumwinnin Fox was licensed, registered, and insured up till the Friday before the race and was my daily driver up till 3 weeks before... hehehehe

I think it would be great to trade it in and document it to show how ridiculous the program as currently configured actually is.

It would make a great news story.

Unfortunately it doesnt qualify for the program as per http://www.fueleconomy.gov it has 25 combined MPG.

However my 1993 Vector W8 does.  Damn gotta go fly my helicopter to storage and go get it to trade in on a Prius

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
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Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

RogueLeader wrote:
Rob Stercraw wrote:
RogueLeader wrote:

<--- Farfrumwinnin Fox was licensed, registered, and insured up till the Friday before the race and was my daily driver up till 3 weeks before... hehehehe

I think it would be great to trade it in and document it to show how ridiculous the program as currently configured actually is.

It would make a great news story.

Unfortunately it doesnt qualify for the program as per http://www.fueleconomy.gov it has 25 combined MPG.

However my 1993 Vector W8 does.  Damn gotta go fly my helicopter to storage and go get it to trade in on a Prius

Hmmm - according to Ford's calculator a 1987 BMW 3 Series with a 2.5 and manual trans is 18mpg and qualifies.

Jalopnik has a list of newly eligible vehicles and the '88 3-series is on the eligible list.

Proudly pissing off Pick 'n Pull employees since 1991
Team The Homer

1981 Ford Fairmont Durango

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Sadly, the Porcubimmer does not qualify. Combined MPG is 21mpg according to fueleconomy.gov

The Homer: Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Rob Stercraw wrote:

Hmmm - according to Ford's calculator a 1987 BMW 3 Series with a 2.5 and manual trans is 18mpg and qualifies.

Jalopnik has a list of newly eligible vehicles and the '88 3-series is on the eligible list.

Oops I meant our Fox.  As well though my 1992 Lamborghini Diablo does qualify, because thats gonna get exchanged for a new Aveo!

Tom Lomino - Proud to be a 23x Lemons Loser, 3x Class B, and 1x IOE Winner!
Craptain, Team Farfrumwinnin - 1995 Volkswagen Golf #14
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Lifetime Achievement (of hopelessness) Award Winners

17 (edited by bongle 2009-07-30 05:06 PM)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Even if it is killing Lemons, apparently it might not be for much longer:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32228179/ns/business-autos

The Transportation Department called lawmakers’ offices to alert them to the decision to suspend the program at midnight Friday. The program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle.

...

A survey of 2,000 dealers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found about 25,000 deals had not yet approved by NHTSA, or nearly 13 trades per store. It raised concerns that with about 23,000 dealers taking part in the program, auto dealers may already have surpassed the 250,000 vehicle sales funded by the $1 billion program.

Well, I guess it did what it was designed to do.

Car to Pit telemetry (OBD2, GPS, and analog inputs) with little more than a phone, router, and laptop.  It's not MacGuyver, it's WifiLapper (forum | facebook)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Get ready for an onslaught of cheap (non-drivetrain) late-model junkyard parts!

19 (edited by cpmskinny 2009-08-03 03:54 AM)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Yeah, they have already ran out of money once, it is only a matter of time before they do again.  Nothing like having to pay extra tax to save about 5-10 mpg per person.  If you print it, they will surely spend it... What a load of crap...

"Sharp as Bear Claws and Slicker Than Goose Shit"
Lab Rats Motorsports
1990 VW Jetta
Charlotte, NC

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

guys. WE, the auto enthusiast is getting screwed by this program, not just with regard to Lemons either. By the way, they're rushing another $2 BILLION into the program to fund it further:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090731/ap_ … r_clunkers

If you still think this is a good think, take a look at what some unscrupulous people are trading in/abusing the system with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0IcIxhd8ks
(a piece of me died when i saw this video. i cried. )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waj2KrKYTZo
(I want to squarely kick in the balls whoever traded this in on the program)

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

We have an Aurora with over 300,000 miles, maybe over 350,000 by now.

I just traded in my 94 F150 in the program.  I hated to do it.  It had 255,000 miles on the old 4.9 and still didn't use oil.  I was going to sell the truck for around $1750 and some guy would have a high mileage but very reliable truck.

My uncle is planning on trading in 3 trucks.

Watching the videos almost brings a tear to my eye.  It' like watching a lethal injection. 

I'd rather see a cat die than most of these cars.  Maybe they could stuff a cat into the motors and rev them till they're both gone.

Troy

#35 LRE
1973 Datsun 240Z

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Troy wrote:

I'd rather see a cat die than most of these cars.  Maybe they could stuff a cat into the motors and rev them till they're both gone.

I'm sure the cats are clogged after running the death mix through the engine. Oh wait, different cat.

The Homer: Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

cat-car suicide pact? I like cats though, i grew up with them. can we stuff the fan housing with Seagulls?

the Aurora video hit me particularly hard because a) the engine sounded GREAT, nothing wrong imo despite them saying there was tons of problems, and b) i know there's heritage behind that motor. the 4.0L Aurora motor was used in indycar racing and saw some time in the Shelby Series I. Olds is already dead you'd think there would be some sort of grassroots movement to preserve GOOD, non-classic-status ones. It made me start looking for one, that's for sure.

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

Serj wrote:

the Aurora video hit me particularly hard because a) the engine sounded GREAT, nothing wrong imo despite them saying there was tons of problems, and b) i know there's heritage behind that motor. the 4.0L Aurora motor was used in indycar racing and saw some time in the Shelby Series I. Olds is already dead you'd think there would be some sort of grassroots movement to preserve GOOD, non-classic-status ones. It made me start looking for one, that's for sure.

A friend of mine works at a shop near Shelby's factory in Vegas, and earlier last year Shelby liquidated a lot of stock including a bunch of new Aurora V8s. I can't remember the exact price, but they were dirt cheap and soon after Craigslist got flooded with people selling them for sand rails, etc.

The Homer: Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.

Re: Cash for Clunkers killing Lemons?

I think the program is awesome. It's like a giant people's curse award against hundreds of thousands of cars. I heard Obama got the idea from Lemons.