Cahs 4 Clunkers List - Some Amazing Vehicles Destroyed!

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by speeder

So how many 928 parts cars do you own, Sniper? You must be buying every one you can find, right? To save them from the crusher and all. And the OP must buy every MB 500E w/ high miles that he sees. Otherwise, you're just crying to hear yourself wimper.

There are several guys that buy and part 928s out for resale to the community. We just lost 6 cars worth of parts. Yeah, i think that sucks.

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by svandamme

are they supposed to be runners?
or can you just let one roll off a trailer for trade in?

No, they had to be an operating vehicle with license and registration shown for the prior year.

I spend a fair amount of time in U-pull wrecking yards. The Cash for Clunkers cars are all marked C4C in spray paint. The engines are tagged and often spray painted as well to make it REALLY obvious.

It is an absolute travesty what wound up scrapped. One example that really pops out in my mind was a very nice Northstar equipped Cadillac two-door that had been for sale in our neighborbood. Very nice car, glossy paint, good interior, etc. It had been for sale for $5,500. You guessed it, the ownerdumped it for a C4C...

The number of Jeep Cherokees, Ford Explorers (good riddance) and assorted asian SUV's taken off the road under this program was phenomenal. A real mecca for us U-pullers if that's a vehicle you needed parts from. Most of them are cycling the inventory through every 2 or 3 weeks, so it pays to go back. They don't stick around long. Go to the crusher real quick after that. The bad part is that I don't think I've seen a single C4C that was more of a whoop-dee than the Pathfinder I drive every day. Sad that mine is on the road and that much nicer examples were sacrificed under this program.

angela

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by Laneco

No, they had to be an operating vehicle with license and registration shown for the prior year.

I spend a fair amount of time in U-pull wrecking yards. The Cash for Clunkers cars are all marked C4C in spray paint. The engines are tagged and often spray painted as well to make it REALLY obvious.

It is an absolute travesty what wound up scrapped. One example that really pops out in my mind was a very nice Northstar equipped Cadillac two-door that had been for sale in our neighborbood. Very nice car, glossy paint, good interior, etc. It had been for sale for $5,500. You guessed it, the ownerdumped it for a C4C...

The number of Jeep Cherokees, Ford Explorers (good riddance) and assorted asian SUV's taken off the road under this program was phenomenal. A real mecca for us U-pullers if that's a vehicle you needed parts from. Most of them are cycling the inventory through every 2 or 3 weeks, so it pays to go back. They don't stick around long. Go to the crusher real quick after that. The bad part is that I don't think I've seen a single C4C that was more of a whoop-dee than the Pathfinder I drive every day. Sad that mine is on the road and that much nicer examples were sacrificed under this program.

angela

I'm also pulling a lot of parts off C4C cars, and putting people BACK into clunkers when their loans come due and they can't pay. If this keeps up through the end of the year I can probably retire early (seriously).

Amazing that people that couldn't afford a new car decided to "clunk" their paid off cars for a high interest loan on a Suzuki or a Prius. If I follow this cycle, which I am, I'm starting to buy C4C repos to sell back. It's astounding what people will do to "fell" better about things. Jeep Grand Cherokees, LR Discoverys, Ford Expodtions, all selling now.

In the end it's all money to me.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

My post was to highlight that some very rare and desirable cars have been sadly discarded and crushed as part of the C4C program. You are obviously out of the automotive loop, as the W124 500E is a sought after car, no different than the //M cars which were also C4C victims.

Yasin

To be more accurate, you could say that "maybe 20, at most 50 somewhat uncommon and sort of desirable - if in they were excellent condition which they very likely were not - cars have been sadly discarded and crushed as part of the C4C program".

I'd agree with that. And then I'd yawn widely.

Sorry, a 1992-ish Mercedes 500E is not "very rare and desirable", not when I can go online and find them advertised in "excellent" condition for as little as $9K. What's the value of the most clapped-out 1992 500E still registered? I just don't see why anyone is supposed to be "crying" over that.

[jyl]

It obviously wasn't worth $5,500. It probably wasn't worth $4,000. It could probably have been sitting in your driveway for $3,500.

One lesson in all this is: at the depths of a severe recession, most of our cars aren't worth squat. 99% of all cars are not investments, don't hold value, barely deserve being called "assets". That Cadillac owner probably thought his car was worth something, and got a rude awakening. Of course, I think the era when Cadillacs were anything special ended quite a long time ago.

Originally Posted by Laneco

It is an absolute travesty what wound up scrapped. One example that really pops out in my mind was a very nice Northstar equipped Cadillac two-door that had been for sale in our neighborbood. Very nice car, glossy paint, good interior, etc. It had been for sale for $5,500. You guessed it, the ownerdumped it for a C4C...

[speeder]

Exactly. POS/high miles/salvaged/etc. 1992 500Es were being scrapped before c4c, or had gone down the used car food chain to the point where they were owned in the ghettos of America and treated as such. Same w/ most 928s, hell, most 911s are past the point where any serious car person would want to own them. As for the parts supply, the ratio of 928 parts cars to driven cars remains at an all-time high.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by jyl

It obviously wasn't worth $5,500. It probably wasn't worth $4,000. It could probably have been sitting in your driveway for $3,500.

One lesson in all this is: at the depths of a severe recession, most of our cars aren't worth squat. 99% of all cars are not investments, don't hold value, barely deserve being called "assets". That Cadillac owner probably thought his car was worth something, and got a rude awakening. Of course, I think the era when Cadillacs were anything special ended quite a long time ago.

Just to give people an idea of the market for 20 year old German cars, here's a car that I looked at a couple hours ago that I might buy tomorrow. 1988 MB 300E, 160k miles. Fair cosmetic condition, (clearcoat failing on top surfaces), interior nice except for small dash cracks. A/C blows cold, nice aftermarket Alpine stereo w/ ipod adaptor. Good tires. All original books including maintenance book stamped up to ~100k miles @ dealer, most service receipts from new. Drives well but stalls when warm, probably a CIS-related issue that I can DIY.

No evidence of over-heating in past. Clean oil history per view inside VC thru oil cap. If car passes compression test w/ perfect score, (or damn close), I'll pick it up and fix/drive it.

Price? Drum roll........








$200 USD.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by speeder

hell, most 911s are past the point where any serious car person would want to own them

Now wait just a minute, now you're getting too close to home :-)

[onewhippedpuppy]

Do you understand the significance of the 500E? I very seriously doubt that you will find many in the ghetto. It's also very difficult to find a decent one for under $10k. There's one in Denver that's a steal right now that's very tempting. Who likes the idea of a rare 326 HP sedan that was hand-built by Porsche being scrapped?

It's sad with the rare and interesting cars because those parts could have been used to keep the nice cars running. There aren't exactly a lot of DB7, 500E, 928 S4, etc out there. Obviously for the owners they felt that it was the best financial decision, but my guess is it was largely due to laziness.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by jyl

...I just don't see why anyone is supposed to be "crying" over that.

Just from looking at the parts side of it, I could see how CFC would annoy a 928 owner when they see that model on the list probably because they've paid enough for small parts before that were probably good on the CFC cars, which were wasted. The little stuff was what I've spent the most time and effort tracking down anyway.

[GothingNC]

500E for $8,500

1992 Mercedes 500e

[Scuba Steve]

One of 500 imported to U.S., made by Porsche

I had no idea they were that rare.

[slow&rusty]

Did not realize that this post was going to veer off the road with JYL and Speeder's replies, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Matt gets it

Yasin

[speeder]

I understand exactly what a 500E was in 1992 but disagree about their significance in car history. MB now offers a much better V-8 in the regular E-class plus the AMG variants of every body style. New E550s are a dime a dozen in my neighborhood. Better engine, better chassis and still 100% disposable 15 years from now.

Still, to trade one in for c4c would be stupid unless it was a real POS. Either a salvage/flood/300k mile car or one that was hit so hard that it goes down the road sideways after being "fixed".

[Noah930]

Well, count me as another fan of the 500E. That was the factory Hammer, IMO. For the record, if anyone wants to give one of those away (or a 300 SEL 6.3 or an E30 M3), I'll be happy to take it. I realize modern variants are invariably "better," but that's not entirely the point for some of us. At the same time, one does have to wonder in how bad condition were those cars in the OP that they were worth terminating in the C4C program?

[Shaun @ Tru6]

The focus shouldn't be on the cars, rather the owners. Maybe there should have been 2 kinds of counseling booths stationed at each dealership:

Financial: can you really afford the new car you are buying?

Car Guy: dude, you can't trade in that XYZ, I don't care if it needs $6000 worth of work, it's a cool car and a piece of automotive history.

Clearly, we need more people telling other people how to live.

oh the humanity.

[Scuba Steve]

I'd take any of the cars mentioned, if only because they're better (and in some cases better and newer) than my other half's daily driver. Guess that's a byproduct of both of us going to school :\

[fintstone]

The problem is not so much that the folks were able to turn them in as "cash for clunkers"...but rather the rules requiring their destruction. They could have just as easily required salvage titles and sold them for a few more bucks to the parts yards with intact engines.

I was tempted to turn in my '98 F-100 as it would have very painlessly brought me about $1000 more than I could sell it for...but 1) did not want to spend the money on any new car...and 2) thought it was stupid to destroy a good vehicle to appease the liberal "Gods" intent upon deciding what type of vehicles Americans own.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Well, count me as another fan of the 500E. That was the factory Hammer, IMO. For the record, if anyone wants to give one of those away (or a 300 SEL 6.3 or an E30 M3), I'll be happy to take it. I realize modern variants are invariably "better," but that's not entirely the point for some of us. At the same time, one does have to wonder in how bad condition were those cars in the OP that they were worth terminating in the C4C program?

Yup. A 996 is by all objective measures a better car than a '72 911S. But how many Porsche guys agree with that? It's much easier to find a cheap 996 than a cheap '72 S. Sometimes the numbers don't tell the entire story.

[m21sniper]

Originally Posted by Scott R

I'm also pulling a lot of parts off C4C cars, and putting people BACK into clunkers when their loans come due and they can't pay. If this keeps up through the end of the year I can probably retire early (seriously).

Amazing that people that couldn't afford a new car decided to "clunk" their paid off cars for a high interest loan on a Suzuki or a Prius. If I follow this cycle, which I am, I'm starting to buy C4C repos to sell back. It's astounding what people will do to "fell" better about things. Jeep Grand Cherokees, LR Discoverys, Ford Expodtions, all selling now.

In the end it's all money to me.

C4C new cars are getting repoe'd like crazy. The entire program was one big sick, pathetic, socialist joke.