Clunker Numbers

[TheNailman]

Just read an interesting article in this months car and driver. seems more than a few desirable automobiles were put to an untimely death in the recent "cash for clunkers program. here are a few notable examples, and the number killed.

1984-1995 Chevy Corvette: 123

1990-1992 Mercedes-Benz 500SL: 9

1986-1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL: 67

1993 Mazda RX-7: 1

1985 TVR 280i: 1

1989-1990 Laforza: 3

1991 BMW M3: 1

1991 BMW M5: 1

1992 GMC Typhoon: 1

2005 Mazda RX-8: 1

1997-1998 Mitsubishi 3000GT Spyder: 3

1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante: 1

Ford Taurus SHO: 2

Total Porsche's: 11

Le Sigh

~Car & Driver, Feb 2010 p.26

 

[2point5RS_Dan]

I was sad to see the Typhoon and Syclones in the list. Crazy moon cars that pooped on tons of things performance wise for their time.

 

[Mighty Subie]

wtf? I was looking at a truck and the guy said he was going to trade it in on cash or clunkers so he wouldn't take less than 4k for it (it only needed a power steering pump but otherwise was worth 10!) and it's hard for me to understand what people are thinking by not just trading this stuff in, but dooming it to an untimely death like that.

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

s'all about the money. do you imagine that the M5 turned in might have had some, ummm, "mechanical or cosmetic issues" ??? ditto Porsche, Aston, Vette, Syclone etc etc

if the motor was toast already, the CfC program would have destroyed the engine (run with abrasive lubricant until it croaks) and parted out the rest.

most likely it was a good deal for all involved

('cept maybe the US taxpayer, but hey that's a whole nother thread)

 

[boxer3main]

in daily life, I am sure there is something annoying in all of them.

Even the porsches had a very bad generation (the same time a lot of cars did).. engines attempted to be crushed by emission standards..in cars that burn too strong to play those games. Even my old sube was there...lucky maine does not go psychotic with testing. I still see a few of the porsches crusher bound, there is even some owners in maine. Cheaper than the rest of them, needing a true mechanic.

I see porsche is stepping up to the standards, trying to create a class for thier own design, in the rules. Cannot blame them.

the mercedes pretends extincting stuff is a great idea (also a bad subaru trait)..sure..those cars are nice..what to do with it when they no longer supply the rare engine?

I wonder how many went and got a prius...

and the car and driver mag..beware of integrity. Jalopnik got first hand info on this stuff, realtime and it does not match the car and driver article.

 

[jimiii51]

My dad handled 400+ CFC's. Many decent vehicles went before their time, including a 1981 RX-7 with Calif. paperwork. Plenty of Jeep XJ's. I still don't know if it accomplished what it was supposed to.

 

[2point5RS_Dan]

The XJ's made me sad. Plenty of 4.0 motors of the apocalypse ruined

 

[Ty Ty]

The XJ's made me sad. Plenty of 4.0 motors of the apocalypse ruined

They sure went out in style though. Watching vids of them trying to sieze them up was pretty amusing.

 

[jimiii51]

8 minutes at WOT w/ no oil. The funny thing is we got one running after it was supposedly dead. New bearings, fresh oil, the lifters are ticking. It actually sounds like a Subaru.

 

[02 WRX Chris]

you know whats funny about this cash for clunkers? they had to claim the 4k on there taxes!

 

[krazykarpenter]

sad to see all those cars go, especially for me the corvettes and like mentioned above the xj's. Miss my 1987 Cherokee limited with 2250k on it......

 

[Ray]

4.0s are bulletproof engines!

 

[krazykarpenter]

yes sir, my jeep ran without a radiator fan for months with no problems. The thing that made me get rid of it was the wiring was starting to go and I did not want to re-wire the thing

 

[Ray]

jeeps wiring SUCKS, mine had a few small "smoke shows" and my friends wrangler had a massive in dash fire that melted the throttle cable!

 

[i-wagon]

my 87 would do a smoke show wide open in first till it either ran out of tire to burn or once i caught the wiring by the intake manifold on fire. not bad for wayyyy dirty oil and 235k on it. poor poor jeeps

 

[hunterlord]

hmm the government offered its fisrt nipple to the masses. then the masses wanted more.....