Another one bites the dust

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:17 pm

In the course of my job as a news photographer at a local TV station, I did a story on the 'success' of the CARS program. The dealer we were at had 60 or so cars that they had taken in under the program. I was told that I could go and shoot the lot were they were storing them till they could be picked up by the salvage company. Imagine my surprise when on the back row I spied this...

Of course, if belongs to this...

Very definitely doomed this car is...

Don't worry, I am trying to work to save it the best I can. Unfortunately, the only way to save it before the salvage man comes for it is to hand the dealer 4500$ As much as I like cressies, the car after careful examination, is not worth anywhere near 4500$ So there are other plans in the works to try and save it.
Sorry for the quality of the pics, they are freeze frames from the video I shot as I did not have my camera with me at the time.

shane_lxi · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:41 pm

I knew these posts would start

. My little heart can't take reading another one of these horror stories, lol. Alot of good cars got sacrificed to this program

.

john · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:48 pm

I'm a little surprised the stock MPG of that car is low enough to qualify...

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:28 pm

That is what I thought. The dealer that we spoke with said that the government had changed the rules 3 times on them. He didn't say how or what they changed. I am thinking that the MPG rule must have been changed some how. I thought that the cressida got like 18/25 or something like that new. There were a couple of cars that I saw... Lexus GS 300 with the 2JZ. Best part of that car is the engine and it has to go. Scary part is this was just one dealer in a large metro area. How many more cars like this are going to be crushed away? I am gonna start stalking the dealer's back lots and see if I can't save a few more from the salvage yards...

NSR_s30 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:08 pm

Thats sad.

john · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:44 pm

OkieRA29 wrote:

That is what I thought. The dealer that we spoke with said that the government had changed the rules 3 times on them. He didn't say how or what they changed.

Well, it started at 18mpg, but right before they put a hold on the program they bumped it up to 22mpg. I think if they were telling the truth about this program they would lower it to get the gross polluters off the road, which was the lie they told us about the need for the program in the first place.

Quote:

How many more cars like this are going to be crushed away? I am gonna start stalking the dealer's back lots and see if I can't save a few more from the salvage yards...

According to all the information on the government website, they can't be saved. They have to be crushed or dismantled.

EHonda · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:10 pm

One man's trash is another man's treasure.. no better an example than this!

kingtoy · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:57 am

I want to cry now. I just pulled my Cressida out to work on it some more. I also see there is a T100 next to it, so very sad.

Since it is doomed, I wish I could get the grille off of it for my Cressy.

Stationwagonguy · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:49 am

Ugh. I somehoe figured a Cressida was going to end up in this.

I did find that (at least one local dealer)'s cars are all going to a junkyard that is parting them rather than outright scrapping, but it's still a waste. That dealer is also just draining the oil out of the cars and (thus far at least) not seizing the motors. I watched my friend's 60,000 mile '96 Crown Vic be driven onto a flatbed and hauled to the junkyard. :shake: It had been drained of oil but still ran well, though I doubt anyone would pay for that motor at this point anyhow.

I had gotten permission from said dealer to take a few parts off an Econoline that was being towed away that day, and I managed to get the front bumper, turn signals, and a door panel off of it. I had removed the entire passenger door (it was the same color as mine, which is rotted through), but then some managers came out screaming at me and basically made me put the door right back onto the van so it could be hauled off on a flatbed. :rolleyes: All hell broke loose when I took off that door. I would have just ran off with it, but it's heavy, and at that point I had 5 managers basically surrounding me and screaming, plus the salesman who gave me permission to take some parts was called out and started bitching too (Quite frankly, I still think he owes me, when my mother traded in my grandfather's '95 LeSabre 5 years ago on a new Five Hundred, which ended up being a slow, gas-guzzling pile of shit and was nowhere near as good a car as the LeSabre was, this assclown was supposed to help me buy the Buick back and basically lied to me, still pissed about that, it was a fantastic car I'd spent a couple hundred dollars fixing interior trim and replacing broken parts on two weeks before it got traded in).

Anyhow, that was my Cash For Clunkers story. The reasoning behind me being screamed at was that the van "still belonged to the owner" and they hadn't been paid for it.... but the oil had been drained out of the engine and it was being hauled to a junkyard that day, which I called and ended up buying the door from anyways. So basically, that dude still owns the van, the motor is screwed, and a junkyard has it in their possession and is already parting it out. :rolleyes:

Is this a dumb program or what?

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:56 am

Right next to it was a fully loaded 4 Runner V6. There were mostly mini vans and pickups/SUVs that had been traded in. There was a 2002 Nissan Xterra that had been traded in. I couldn't believe that it was considered a clunker. There were a few 'clunkers' turned in. A first gen Acura Legend 2 door, that had seen better days. A mid 90s Chevy Blazer. Several early to mid 90s Jeeps, Dodge Caravans, Ford Exploders... I mean Explorers. It read like a whos who of best sellers from the last 20 years. That was the story really, the top ten cars being traded in were American cars and the top ten cars being bought were imports. The number 1 car traded in was the Explorer, which, at the start of the SUV craze, was the number one SUV sold. Around here, it seemed like everybody had an Explorer in the 90s. The Camry topped the list of cars bought, but of course, it has been the number one selling car in America for a couple of years now.
As far as the saving of the cars go, the engine must be disabled, but the rest of the car can be stripped of parts. I was planning on contacting the wrecking yard that is picking up the cars and asking about making a trade. They are just looking at the scrap cost on the car and not the salvage money. I figure, that I can offer them some money, to let me strip the car of all the parts I and others might need. Afterwards, they can keep the hulk to get the scrap money out of it. I believe that the cars must be crushed within 6 months of being traded in.

ben · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:19 am

Originally the clunker had to have an mpg of 18 or lower. But then when it looked like hordes of new car buyers would be cashing in, the rating on a lot of cars "mysteriously" jumped up from 18 to 19. Here's a list.
But now they say these cars will be re-qualified.

I'm surprised the Cressida qualified too. Some dealers were making wild claims about which cars could be accepted just to sell some new ones. I'm not sure if they told buyers they'd see a rebate check in the mail or what, but there may be a lot of disappointed ppl out there who just paid full price for a new car.

As much as it sucks for the Cressida, I have to say I'm not that sad about it. In any given junkyard in SoCal you can see at least 4-5 Cressies. I love 'em but they've been going to the crusher in droves for years...

Capital15 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:26 pm

Sad....just sad. :td:

littlejason · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:32 pm

I don't always take this route home from work, but the other day I drove down what what you might call.. oh I don't know, 99% dealerships, half of which are now closed. But everybody is displaying a container/dumpster/whatever with a car sticking out of it! And it's totally fake! Nobody paid anybody $4500 for that wrecked up old Taurus! Really?

OK, there's my rant. I don't care because this doesn't affect me at all. Although, I've been sharing a parking space with an annoyingly long-ass 80's Mercedes, then suddenly he has an XB?? Makes you wonder... haha

TSiSS350 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:02 pm

Now I am sad to see a nice Cressida end up in the Cash for clunkers program, but I drive a pretty clapped out one that I tried to go this route with and was told by multiple dealers I could NOT. Given the gas mileage speach every time. Maybe I should try again? 4500 off of a new base model Mitsu Lancer is very enticing.

roosterfella46 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:40 am

i thought cressy would exceed 18mpg..
friend gor one..and its comsume about 1liter of gas for every 7km..
dont know how much r those in MPG.. not that good with math..

a good cressy is valued about US$2000 to $3000 here..

shane_lxi · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:10 am

I think the mx73 would apply, mine only get's about 15mpg in town, I can almost get 20mpg if I drive around in 4th @30mph. That's with a meticulously maintained previously dealer serviced 5m mind you, lol.

OkieRA29 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:06 pm

The MPG that decides it is what the EPA claims your car got when it was new. It is funny, that for some of the years, the automatic would qualify, but the 5 speed doesn't. For some years both cars qualify. Just seems weird!

baron von chickenpants · **Posted:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:43 pm

OkieRA29, there's one just like that a block east of the fairgrounds in Chickasha on Grand, just south of 62 Highway. It's at a repair shop but hasn't been moved or touched in two months - slick car.

Another one bites the dust

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