Just an article I found about cash for clunkers I thought some might find interesting… or in Toronto240sx’s case… infuriating. (see the comment about the GNX… gRRRRRR)
Enjoy
[FONT=Times New Roman]At its creation, a 1997 Bentley Continental R was one of the most powerful and exclusive cars in the world, with every hand-built copy from the English countryside valued at $300,000 and beyond. [/FONT]
A few weeks back, the owner of one such Continental R decided it wasn’t worth more than $4,500, had its engine destroyed and shipped it to a junkyard with the rest of America’s clunkers.
It’s one of several rare or surprisingly new vehicles destroyed under the Obama administration’s cash for clunkers program designed to sweep old gas guzzlers off U.S. roads. According to new government data, the rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 were enough to doom the Continental and a ’97 Aston Martin DB7 Volante that once had a sticker price of $135,000 to the crusher.
And 37 people decided to clunk models that were less than a year old.
Beyond car lovers’ grief over why anyone would destroy sweet rides like a 1999 Mercedes C43 AMG, the value of the junked jalopies plays a major role in deciding whether the $3 billion program helped the economy. Two economists at the University of Delaware said Tuesday that assuming the average clunker was worth just $1,000, the costs outweighed all benefits by $1.4 billion.
While the data provided by the federal government doesn’t give any indication of the clunkers’ mileage or condition when they were turned in, the vehicles had to be in running condition and insured for at least the past year.
Some enthusiasts would have paid many thousands of dollars for the rare 1987 Buick GNX destroyed under the program; only 547 were built. The nation’s supply of used Chevrolet Corvettes was thinned by 131, including 34 convertibles, and the program also liberated 22 Americans from the burden of owning a Peugeot.
The 2008 model year vehicles deemed clunkers ranged from a Scion xD to 10 Mercury Grand Marquis sedans to two copies of special edition F-150 pickups, sporting 450-hp V8s and Chip Foose-designed paint jobs.
The most popular clunker was the Ford Explorer, with 69,887 copies turned in, accounting for roughly 10% of the trade-ins under the program. Under federal law, only vehicles built after 1984 were eligible for the program, and the trade-in rules favored trucks over cars to spur the removal of less efficient models.
Cost analysis
Backers of the program have credited it with snapping the U.S. auto industry out of its worst slump in decades and bringing factory workers back on the job as automakers ramp production and spurring sales of fuel-efficient models.
President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors estimated last month that the program saved or created 21,000 jobs and boosted the national economy in the third quarter.
But several economists have questioned those claims, contending that the clunkers had a value to society that has to be added into the program’s costs. Burton Abrams and George R. Parsons, professors at the University of Delaware, said in a study published Tuesday that the clunker program likely cost the country $2,600 per vehicle while producing benefits worth only $596 per trade – leaving a gap of about $2,000 on every clunker.
Abrams and Parsons said all of the program’s benefits derived from burning less fuel, and any increase in auto production or employment were a transfer of wealth rather than real economic growth.
Clunkers “gives participants a substantial gift,” they said. “Meanwhile the burden of the program is dispersed over a large group of taxpayers. Concentrated benefits create vocal advocates while diffused costs produce silent apathetic opponents.”
Additional Facts
Among the list of unusual clunkers under the federal cash-for-clunkers program:
1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante:
1988 Aurora Cars Ltd. (Shelby cobra replica)
1992 BMW 850i
1987 Buick GNX 1987
1987 Excalibur Autos Phaeton
1990 Laforza
1985 Maserati Quattroporte
1999 Mercedes C43 AMG
1992 GMC Typhoon
1997 Rolls-Royce Continental R
2006 Roush Stage 3 F-150