[slow&rusty]

Guys - I am so frustrated, so this is more of a vent than anything else.

I own a 1988 Mazda 323 that is my daily driver, great little car and I am the 2nd owner since new runs like a top with 211,000 miles on it.

Anyhoo..recently the windshield water resevoir developed a leak and no longer holds fluid. So I called 30+ scrap yards all around Houston with zero luck. The same windshield water resevoir is used in the '87-'89 Mercury Tracer and also in the '91-'94 Mercury Capri. I even went to the Ford \ Mercury and Mazda dealerships and the part has been discontinued for quite some time.

When I spoke to the owner of one of the scrap yards, he could tell I was *REALLY* frustrated and he said that guys like me that have a pre 1995 (and definitely pre 1990) vehicles are 5hit out of luck after Cash for Clunkers. He said that with the price of scrap metal going up, combined with the C4C program incentives and more of a demand for later model cars, they literally crushed thousands of pre 1990 vehicles regardless if it was a S-Class Benz or a Mazda 323like mine. Subsequently, as demand for these cars are now significantly less, manufacturers are discontinuing making parts for these every day (this was confirmed when I went to the dealerships last week).

I spoke to the owner of large mechanic shop and he said that he knows several customers of his who have bought complete cars (running or not) just to strip them for the hard to find \ obsolete \ unobtanium parts needed to keep their cars running and then disposing of the shell of the car.

This sucks!
Yasin