My Clunker Pickup Is Too Old For Junk - Energy Bulletin

[hatrack]

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I thought I was the wise guy, see. I should have traded the poor old thing in long ago, but I was sure a financial collapse was coming. No society could live as crazily as ours and not suffer retribution. So I decided I would wait until the second Great Depression hit and then I would drive a real hard bargain on a trade-in and get a new truck at a five or even ten thousand dollar savings. So the collapse finally came. I waited patiently for the car companies to cut prices drastically. Nothing much happened except they moaned and groaned until the government gave them billions of dollars. The price of the pickup that I wanted did not go down one farthing. Oh yeah, a rebate here and there. The old maneuver. Jack up the price several thousand dollars and then give the poor dumb buyer a fifteen hundred dollar rebate and he’s supposed to dance around the showroom in utter bliss.

Then, it happened. The car companies didn’t do it, but good old Uncle came up with the Cash For Clunkers deal and I could get $4500 for a truck that did not have a hundred dollars of trade-in value left in her dear old cylinders. I sped into town and presented myself proudly to Bill, my favorite car dealer. I would not only get my $4500, but because of the hard times, I’d be able to dicker four or five thousand bucks off the sticker price.

“What year is your truck?” Bill asked. “A 1981,” I said proudly. Bill got the strangest look on his face, as if he didn’t quite believe what he had just heard. “Yes, and she’s only got 40,000 miles on her,” I added, to show what a good green American I was, willing to have my beloved old gas-guzzling clunker executed for the good of the environment even though she had plenty of life in her yet.

“I’m sorry, Gene,” Bill said, and I could see he was having a hard time suppressing a smile. “You’re clunker doesn’t qualify. It’s too old.” I’m sure people could hear my teeth grinding half a block away. My clunker was too old. I muttered that sentence over several times trying to come to terms with such strange logic. It only had 40,000 miles on it but MY CLUNKER WAS TOO OLD.

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http://www.energybulletin.net/49856

[Blue For You]

1. An '81 pickup w/40,000 miles would go like hotcakes on Ebay or

Craigslist. It would be a shame for something like that to be destroyed. A straight sale would easily bring over $5,000 and maybe more to the right buyer. My truck would qualify, it's a 1992 Chevy, but it's in extremely nice condition. I wouldn't want to see it destroyed either. Plus, I could sell it for more than $4,500 anyway.

[zbdent]

2. you probably could get at least $4500 out of it in parts ...

or even you might get more out of it from these "old car buyers" who could use a dependable, well-maintained truck!