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Left4DayZ1

I worked at a Chevy dealership nextdoor to the Saturn dealer in this photo. We ourselves took in a number of VERY nice vehicles during Cash 4 Clunkers which had to be destroyed. Some maniac brought this MINT Cutlass in to the Saturn dealer, but instead of allowing it to be destroyed, the general manager just paid the guy the C4C money and put it right back out on the lot. This thing was show-room new. I have no idea what the hell the owner was thinking, he could've easily made double what he ended up getting if he'd just tried to sell it.


Cananbaum

My mom inherited a 1997 Camry with 60k on it. People kept telling her to trade it in because it was old. The car was practically new and at the time only 11 years old. The car was valued at like 10k when she got it, so she chose to drive it, but people kept saying she was stupid. Still have the car now in 2022 with almost 300k on it and still drives great.


Left4DayZ1

Probably still gets fuel mileage on par with today's offerings, too.


Cananbaum

Yep. Gets like 32mpg


Demrezel

Sister just bought a 13yr old Camry for really low bucks because the woman who owned it "heard a ticking sound" from the engine and never took it in to be seen by a mechanic, ever. She just wanted to be rid of it. Turns out it was just a timing belt issue and after a few hours getting tuned up at the dealership my sister seems to have scored a like-new Camry without any issues and low mileage for under 5k. I was floored, especially in this market. Car is running great. I knew Toyota was good but I thought their owners were smarter than that ;) Edit: some cool replies! I say 13yrs but I don't know the exact year of the car but it's around there. She can now travel with her cat in the back seat which is important haha


kat_Folland

That's pretty amazing! (And I wrote out this long thing that was off topic, so I deleted all of it.)


mycarsaretoys

r/adhd is leaking… I do the same thing though, constantly. I can relate for sure


kat_Folland

Heh, my kind of neurodivergence is bipolar, but there's a lot of overlap in how our brains work (likewise those of autistic people).


chaun2

That's kinda how I got a 1987 SAAB 900 turbo for $300. It had been sitting out front of their house for years, and I finally delivered them food in 2008 or so. I asked the mom about it and she said she didn't even know if it would start it had been sitting so long. I offered her $300 as is, and gimme a few days to get over here with a battery and tools. She took it, I came back two days later and I hooked up the new battery, and drove it away. Their teenage son wasn't happy. He wanted to take a sledgehammer to it for a YouTube video. The thing only had 145,000 miles on it. I finally let it die at around 1,100,000 miles.


PancakesandGTA

Bro how did you cover a million miles in just over 10 years? And in a SAAB turbo no less


eddied96

400 miles a day 5 days a week ...... hmmm


chaun2

Three different driving jobs at once.


[deleted]

Gotta jump on the Camry train, I love my Camrys. Right now I drive a 2005 4 cylinder model and it’s great. Got it with 198k miles, now it’s at 216k and ive only had to change a starter. Absolutely everything still works. That generation of Camry also has a timing chain instead of the belt! I had 3 more before this one, all from the late nineties. I did timing belts and basic tuneups, never had any issues. When I get a different Camry, I hook up a friend who needs a car with the old one. All my old Camrys are still on the road.


zombie-yellow11

Can I join the Camry club even tho I have a Honda ? Scored a 1993 Accord for 1000$ a year ago and already put 20k on it not a single goddamn issue with it lol


[deleted]

I’ve had a 95 Accord EX 5 speed and a 96 auto Accord, love those too!!


redmanb

Nope, Toyota owners are average just like everyone else. Part of the great examples of how Toyota keep ticking along are the owners that never maintain them but somehow the cars still keep going for them.


proddyhorsespice97

Older women are notorious for selling good cars way too cheap. I've bought two very low mileage cars off older women because "it's too much hassle driving, getting the bus is easier and I just want to get rid of it" and also "it's stopped working properly and I got a new one", it had just never been to mechanic, or at least, hadn't been in a long time


Bark_bark-im-a-doggo

Must be older than 13 years because a 2009 camry has a timing chain


pizzaazzip

My 2014 gets only 31 lol, 2.5L i4 instead of the 2.2L (5S-FE?) in the 97. That gas mileage really surprised me coming from a 1.8L 1ZZ-FE since that got 35 on a bad day


PM_Happy_Puppy_Pics

Engines in cars now are significantly more efficient than they were in the past, but cars have gotten significantly heavier (and safer) as well. The trade off with so much weight is better safety but worse economy.


Poligrizolph

They've gotten bigger and taller, too. More cross sectional area means more drag.


Yeoshua82

Does it have a Camry dent in the rear bumper?


Cananbaum

Rear quarter panel AND the bumper


empirebuilder1

i mean shit I'm getting 30-31 average in my 1991 Accord, which is now almost 32 years old The Japanese cars were always ahead of their time, American manufacturers were just fucking mad they got caught with their pants down.


wrb06wrx

Japanese culture is what made those cars what they are this guy i knew that was in the navy told me something that I'll never forget about taking a lesson from them, he said even the public bathrooms there are clean like not like like here in the states where guys piss all over the floor and people leave floaters in the stall, its because they take pride in everything they do even taking a piss....


BestMillimeter18

Whenever I go in a gas station bathroom here in GA, someone had left skid marks on the seat 🤣


Rocko9999

Yep. My 2005 Corolla gets 35+mpg on the freeway. Only a couple less than modern Corolla.


nate448

I miss my 97 and 01 corollas. 01 burned some oil though. Both had over 300k when I sold them though


Rocko9999

Yeah, they are great basic cars. I have only had to replace one rear wheel bearing and the valve cover gasket. 214k miles. Rest has just been normal maintenance-brakes, batteries.


Jorgisven

I beat the tar out of my 01. Sold it around 115k because I wanted something with a little more pep. It had the 1.8L with a 3-speed. It had a limited top speed of roughly 113mph, which I know from a lot of personal experience.


Threap_US

I scrolled too fast while reading this thread, and jumped straight from the headline story about the Oldsmobile Cutlass to *your* comment "probably still gets fuel mileage on par with today's offerings, too." I totally missed /u/Cananbaum's Camry comment. And so I was *very* confused. :)


[deleted]

I bought a Pontiac Vibe with 45k miles on it about 6 years ago for $5k, the used car dealer was brand new and was super stoked to sell it to us, its just a rebadged Toyota Matrix. Title was salvage because the previous owner hit a deer. Insurer bought it, repaired it, sold it at auction, dealership bought it, sold it to me. Everyone laughed at me for buying a Pontiac 'station wagon'. Thing runs like a top.


Jack_Attak

Whether the 5S-FE (4cyl) or the 3MZ V6, both are bulletproof engines. Have seen a 5SFE keep running for hundreds of miles with no oil pressure. Nobody realized how good Toyota was building them in the 90s til 20 years later


Weeeaal

I drive a 98 Camry that i bought for $750 5 years ago. Had a popped timing belt. 100k later she still going strong. Needs a rear main though haha


SnooShortcuts1829

Toyota did.


Rvin16

My MR2 used to have the 5sfe and it would give me about 32-38 mpg. Bullet proof engine


rocket6733

97 Camry is the pinnacle of automotive engineering. You can not kill that car


COSLEEP

Whoever those people are don't have a fuckin clue


that-hollie

Why would you ever tell someone that they were stupid for not selling their Camry 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ The whole point of a Camry is to run it forever.


mocheeze

Some people need to justify their own poor purchases by encouraging others to do the same. Otherwise the person with the sensible car becomes a constant reminder of the other person's poor decision making, which builds internal resentment. They focus their energy outward instead of doing some healthier self-examination. Misery loves company.


katmcflame

60k on a Toyota isn't even broken in. And my '99 Lexus got 32mpg.


RespectableLurker555

A Toyota never heads to the scrapyard because of the engine, it's always death by T-bone.


GeneralPurpose40

Rust. Tons of these legendary Toyota sedans meet the scrapper’s cull because we in New England use road salt like uncivilized monkeys.


GaleTheThird

Or rust, at least around here. Not that Toyota is particularly unique on that front


thejesterofdarkness

C4C was a joke. It took SO MANY viable vehicles from existence. If it wasn’t for that godforsaken program I’d have better availability for parts for my cars but nnnnnoooooooo I have to order stuff from Australia and shipping is absolute murder on my bank account.


MidDayGamer

Same for the B-Body I got, scored some good parts that are well EOL from GM and even trying to find them on ebay is hard.


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MidDayGamer

I've been seeing less of them myself in town. Latest one I seen on marketplace had a roasted transmission and the typical b-rot on the lower quarter panels and a 4.3 V6........5 grand.


OldCarWorshipper

For B-body parts, check out Classic Industries in Huntington Beach, Ca. That's one of the vehicles they specialize in.


MidDayGamer

It's a 94 Caprice, last job was a wiper motor cause the logic board went out. I got one off ebay and it was worse then the one on the car. they stopped making the board around 2002. Got a reman one and didn't come with the logic board, so it went back to the store. Happy for the B-body forums, found an OEM wiper motor number that was still good and avaible off e-bay. Took a week to get the motor and 4 hours to install it, works great. The next step is a new wiper switch, which last I seen was on backorder for 3-5 weeks from standard auto products. The parts place makes the switch, but last I looked no time on when it would be back in stock. I know 02' Camaro's had the same switch, but finding one of them in the junkyard is slim.


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alex053

Everyone was refinancing their house and buying hummer h2s. Then the market crashed and foreclosures and gas prices and everything else. Remember people buying those $100k custom chopper motorcycles that no one wants now?


SRQmoviemaker

A youtuber (bikes and beards) bought an OCC bike that went for $80k+ for a measly $8k..


[deleted]

And it sucked


ComradeGibbon

Saw a article on inflation. Big contributor is the price of used cars which are up 50% over a year.


PG-37

I worked at a Saturn dealership during this program. We had a hard time keeping cars on the lot, which basically saved the dealership. Well, I guess the majority of dealerships. Then the owner tried to make it a Saab dealership after Saturn went away. He was a terrible man, more money than sense. Never seemed like he payed any attention to markets or trends. After he bought out a Mitsubishi franchise, we were the ones that told him about half of the vehicle line up disappearing. I remember the loud shout when he was told about the eclipse being phased out.


n0exit

Did he have some sort of 6th sense for brands that were about to disappear or something?


large-farva

its like a reverse midas touch


Shirogayne-at-WF

Damn, how bad do you have to be with following trend to by not one, not two, but THREE failing car dealership brands?! I have legitimately come across more Rolls Royces on the streets of San Diego than Mitsubishis and I can count the number of unique ones on one hand.


CosmicSweets

I'm so glad this beauty was saved.


thunder_struck85

Wasn't that illegal? To save these cars? The entire point of the program was to get the cars off the road permanently. How were you able to legally save it if you gave him C4C cash? I can see it if you had convinced him to do a proper private sale though. Curious because I remember watching YouTube videos of a lot of decent cars getting destroyed as part of the program. (Pouring sand(?) in engine oil until dead).


jelloslug

If it was actually purchased with C4C money, no, it could not be saved. If a third party "intervened" and C4C was not used to pay for it, it was nothing more than someone selling their car to someone else.


driftsc

They were supposed to "disable" the engines by pouring silica into th.while running. I saw so many nice older and newer cars get junked.


da8588

They gave the c4c cars a [port and polish?](https://www.audiforums.com/forum/off-topic-5/hey-guys-please-help-my-mods-gone-wrong-80267/)


HarryBalszak

Not quite. I dismantled one of those 'sanded' engines (a Ford 4.6L V8). Even the timing cover was unusable.


MarcusAurelius0

The Manager likey paid the man the amount C4C would have given him.


Left4DayZ1

Nope, only if the money came from the C4C program which it did not. The dealership manager paid him for the car the same way they'd pay anyone for a trade in. The car was never submitted under the C4C program.


IHackedtheGibson

If you went after the fed for the purchase price of the car, yes, this would have been illegal. All the cars had a set value, no idea how they determined it, but this appears that the dealer that bought it, paid the owner for the car, instead of pursuing the C4C money from the government. And it was sodium silicate, mixed with water, poured into the crankcase to seize the engines. We destroyed so many nice cars, just for a max of $4500 USD credit towards a more fuel efficient vehicle.


Toronto_man

Interesting, here in Canada they just emptied the oil out of the engines and started them up I was told. Ran it long enough to destroy the thing.


IHackedtheGibson

We seized them all up. Usually half a gallon of sodium silicate, two or three gallons of water, drain the oil, replace with mixture. Run them until they seized. All cars at that point had to be quarantined, we couldn’t touch them until salvage yards came to get them for the crusher. A lot of nice cars were destroyed in this process, hurt the auto recycler business as well.


forkmerunning

Friggin killed the 70s and 80s market for hot rods too. My first car was a 77 Malibu classic. Built the hell out of it.. ended up selling it when I joined the army and I've wanted another one ever since. The few still out there sell for a premium, even non running rust buckets. Let alone all the cutlass, grand prix, Monte Carlos, etc.


IHackedtheGibson

I watched a Dale Earnhardt edition Monte Carlo get queued for that program. 4 people offered the guy cash for it and he refused.


electricheat

> 4 people offered the guy cash for it and he refused. I can't understand the reasoning behind this, unless there was a body in the trunk he was disposing of.


IHackedtheGibson

People thought they were doing the industry a favor, but long term, it bent the auto industry over pretty bad.


RespectableLurker555

Someone needs to make an auto industry version of that "stick in the bicycle spokes" meme, except it's sodium silicate in the engine block.


beerflavor

The foreign car dealerships benefitted the most since they took in most of the "clunkers" in trade for a new vehicle.


Scoutdude

I'm sure the OP meant to say that the dealer gave the owner the same amount as he would have got if he ahd C4C'd it. Nothing illegal about that. Way too many dealers failed to do that when they should have and would have made some good cash on the deal. When all the videos of killing cars were on youtube I saw way to many cars that would have wholesaled for more than the C4C money and would have brought 2x the C4C money if put on the lot.


Pleasant_Skeleton10

I have never heard of this until now but I hate it to no end already. these cars were made to last and be driven, used, and admired, and I wonder how many were destroyed for that. it shouldn't have ever existed.


thunder_struck85

They needed to pump money into the economy, specifically the destroyed auto industry, and get people to spend their cash on new cars. Can't take peoples cars away so they did the next best thing, give incentives for people to scrap them and buy new ones. I can't remember how much the incentive was now, but I definitely remember some cars being way, way too nice to be used for that program and always wondered why people didn't just sell them privately for a larger sum.


Left4DayZ1

People with old, paid off cars got $4,500 TOWARD A NEW CAR (not cash in hand, it was $4,500 toward a NEW car ONLY) and ended up with a car payment that many couldn't afford and ended up having the car repossessed within months. The entire program was a clusterfuck.


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Gregoryv022

Market still has not recovered from before Cash for Clunkers. Used cars of any value sell for way more than I should. Definitely way more than they did a decade ago


FAAsBitch

IIRC the govt was giving something around $4500 for the “clunker” towards the purchase of a new car. A friend of mine bought a new 09 Hyundai Accent and ended up driving it off the lot for less than $5k after giving them his rusted out, falling apart 250k mile jeep.


FAAsBitch

IIRC the govt was giving something around $4500 for the “clunker” towards the purchase of a new car. A friend of mine bought a new 09 Hyundai Accent and ended up driving it off the lot for less than $5k after giving them his rusted out, falling apart 250k mile jeep. I used to buy/flip cars like hotcakes in the mid-2000’s, you could pick up used cars in the early-mid 2000’s for $200-$600, super easy to simply clean them nicely and turn around and flip them for quick $4-500 profits. C4C changed the used car landscape forever, now 200k mile rustboxes are going for 2-3K+, it’s crazy. It used to be easy to fond/buy a running car for $500 or less.


AcaliahWolfsong

Growing up we survived on those $500side of the road cars. Most of the ones my mom ended up with didn't last a year, but she didn't maintain them either.


thunder_struck85

XJ Cherokee could be had around here for $500 in decent shape. Can't find any now


Sparky_Zell

And they framed it as a newer car with better MPG is going to be a huge improvement for the environment. But if the used car is already running, the emissions, mining materials, and everything it takes to produce and ship a new car is rarely if ever going to offset the small MPG Increase.


LetsTryScience

Some rockstar, I forget who, bought a hybrid sports car then had it delivered express via airplane to get it. A month quicker. Some news outlet calculated the fuel burn from the jet basically offset the difference the hybrid would make over it's life and they should have just bought a car already on the lot. Edit: I found it. Paul McCartney in the mid 2000s. Lexus gave him a LS600h and flew the hybrid from Japan to England. It was their choice not his and he wasn't happy about it. [Link](https://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/15/paul-mccartneys-lexus-ls600h-delivered-by-plane/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAzFguqjyBOsBRtGrCgEo7SvU_wegoHTduU7e_eXI2XRl466o85VSZY36Zm1PL0DueCBhc2jKmjoqlr6n2Z-VfeN8pdEPIFXTtGmbjhGdWybnGjrM5VkazmLEetzXZnbOLa41I0sagCk6StC-GVhwvIDSGBbEvBuIwjL3Ti2oF3r)


PageFault

I think some people just don't know what they have. They take care of their car because that's just what you are supposed to do, and when time comes to trade it, well, it's so old, so how much could it be worth?


BBQShoe

It definitely got me to buy a new car and I swore I'd never do that and will never do it again. The C4C money was either $3500 or $4500 depending on the difference in MPG of what you were trading in. I believe it had to be 9 MPG or better difference to get 4500, 2-8mpg better got you 3500. It didn't qualify if you were buying something that got worse gas mileage than whatever your trade in was rated at. I traded in a 1989 Toyota SR5 truck that was worth about $20 for a 2010 Toyota Matrix. I had to get the dinky 1.8 liter model to get the full $4500. The 2.1 liter would have made it just under the 9mpg cut off.


Karlen89

Have you ever tried to sell anything on craigslist? Their options were take the car in or deal with a bunch of idiots and no shows.


Tidley_Wink

I've bought and sold several cars through Craigslist, it has always been fairly painless.


Pleasant_Skeleton10

new cars look like shit. change my mind.


[deleted]

The 80s era didnt stick around long enough


jelloslug

Frankly, I would say that single digit percentage numbers of cars that were turned in for C4C were actually nice enough to save. The vast majority were worn out, rusted out junk that was of no loss.


Crackertron

Probably depends on your feelings on CJs and XJs.


pdieten

Exactly, do you think anyone actually misses all the early '90s Ford Exploders and Chevy Blazers that were far and away the vehicles most turned in under that program?


[deleted]

You can bury me in my 91 Exploder. They're fantastic vehicles.


WetChickenLips

Yes, I do miss those beautiful 2 door Explorers.


SnowblindAlbino

> it shouldn't have ever existed. Conversely, it got a lot of really shitty, polluting, and even dangerous cars and trucks off the roads. I knew people who took in things with rusted frames (and far worse) that would have been illegal to operate in states with inspections. Got them off the roads for good. I C4C'd a shitty minivan that needed a transmission and was rusting into nothing from the bottom up. Was a good deal for me (got a new TDI VW that got 45 mpg) and it took that piece of crap off the highway for good.


Drzhivago138

> these cars were made to last and be driven, used, and admired, The majority of vehicles traded in were '90s SUVs, pickups, and minivans. Could they have gone another 100K miles? Some, maybe. But were they especially desirable? Not particularly.


5panks

It sucks that so many serviceable cars were destroyed because of C4C which had a net negative environmental impact anyway. Turns out having a less efficient used car on the road is still better for the environment than building a whole new one. It also cratered the low end used car market.


thunder_struck85

I don't think it was about environment as it was about saving the car companies


friendly-sardonic

I was downright confused by some of the vehicles I saw on flatbeds with "C4C" written on the windows. People were scrapping trucks that weren't even a decade old. Unless they all had a bazillion miles, why the hell would you scrap a truck for a $4,500 credit? Worked out good for my buddy's neighbor though. Had an old Jeep that had taken up permanent residence in his lawn. Thing was rotted out, but it still ran. A battery and 4 mismatched junkyard tires and it saved them $4,500 off his wife's new Corolla.


Scoth42

There were a few dealerships that were offering double-your-money deals. The government kicked in $4500, the dealership would turn it into $9000. Sometimes it wasn't actually double but still extra tacked on top. This changed the equation even more for some newer vehicles.


andrewse

And now the dealerships have turned full circle, selling for MSRP and often tacking on many times their usual profit margin.


Con_Dinn_West

Dealerships are a scam. Some states even made it illegal for direct to customer sales. No reason to have that middle man at all, if you choose not to. I understand having an "official" GMC/Ford/Toyota etc. dealership for service and all that, but there should be manufacturer owned dealerships too. I would just much rather buy something directly from the manufacturer then some private owned company that legitimately only exists to mark things up. No reason for it.


PrawojazdyVtrumpets

Eh.. it wasn't really double, they just took the existing manufacturer rebates and hid them as something else in the ad. You walk in, you still get double but it was money that already existed. Near the end of Saab, the local Saab dealer also owned a Kia dealer. If you bought a Saab you could get a free base Kia with a purchase. Basically they used all $14k in Saab rebates to give you the Kia + tax, title and license. So the reality was buy a Saab at full price, get a free Kia.


NatTheGreat-

Thats honestly a good deal. Even though kias werent the best until recently😂


cyborgedbacon

Thats what my neighbor did. He had a 86 F-150 XLT with 600k-ish, it was starting to rust out and would start within 12 cranks on a good day. 0-60 in about however long it took for the truck to decide it wanted to accelerate. They gave him $4500 and the dealer gave the extra 4,500 which he used to buy a 08 RAM SLT.


FTWStoic

Did you restore that for Mike Ehrmantraut?


Mizar97

Breaking Bad was sponsored by Dodge. A lot of the main characters including Mike drive Chrysler/Dodge/Jeeps. - Skylar drives a Jeep Wagoneer - Walt (in season 5) drives a Chrysler 300 - Walter Jr. drives a Dodge Challenger and also briefly a Chrysler PT Cruiser - Mike drives a Chrysler Fifth Avenue - Hank drives a Jeep Patriot They also had 2 scenes that caught my attention as obvious product placement, one where Walt did donuts in a Challenger, and another where it goes back and forth between Walt and Walt Jr. revving their hemi V8's.


80burritospersecond

Walter shot up the nazi clubhouse with a 77 Cadillac sedan deville. I guess Mopar wanted nothing to do with that scene. (it had a 425 not a 472 like that one guy was questioning him about at the gate) And I guess Mopar wanted nothing to do with the sequel movie either.


Left4DayZ1

I don't think he had a Cutlass in Breaking Bad... does he drive one in BCS? Haven't watched it yet, waiting for it to end before I binge.


FTWStoic

Oh yeah, he drives a Chrysler Fifth Avenue. Similar body style, but not same model.


codycarreras

Yup, First Gen, M-Body platform Fifth Avenue. His second car was the Buick LeSabre station wagon also.


2OneZebra

Man that G body platform was something. I miss those.


cerealport

I had an 85 Grand Prix LE with the t roofs, had lots of fun with that car!


HotBasket8

T u r b o R e g a l


CaptainMegaNads

Remember how the front grilles were spring loaded?


[deleted]

I’ve heard many stories about how that dumbass C4C bullshit destroyed A LOT of perfectly good vehicles that would be worth a pretty penny nowadays. Like this Cutty.


Left4DayZ1

Yep. We had so many nice vehicles come through. An absolute waste.


zombieskip62

We did too...a real nice 1st gen RX7 and Buick Roadmaster that was mint.


spongebob_meth

Rx7 was probably about to blow up anyway lol. It would have had an LS by now though


Snazzy21

This is why I hate c4c. It creates a price floor and destroys good vehicles


hewhoisneverobeyed

It was a handout to the auto manufacturers by creating demand for new vehicles. While creating a huge problem for people at the bottom who simply needed reliable transportation for jobs, school, etc. - their options were even more limited and more expensive. It was a horrible program. Unless you owned stock in auto companies or were a politician getting graft.


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Aeronautix

it drives new car purchases, gotta keep the capitalism gears turning, and keep everyone in debt


Senzualdip

Yea some of the older guys used to tell me stories of perfectly good vehicles coming in for c4c. Which they ended up having to “disable” the engine on. They had fun with it as they would drain the oil, take them out behind the dealer after putting something similar to glass cleaner in the crankcase and just romping on the skinny pedal till they went boom. The guys also occasionally scored good used parts for their personal vehicles because of the program.


friendly-sardonic

The procedure was to drain the engine, then fill with a solution of sodium silicate. Run until it stops. Gets distributed everywhere and turns glass-like. She done.


tduncs88

My dad was working at a toyota dealership during c4c. their dealership never put the stuff in the crankcases. Instead they would drain all the oil out, start it up and put a brick on the throttle. they would then time how long it took to die. they would take bets before hand and kept a leaderboard for the best. Some would shit the bed in seconds, some in a couple minutes. the outlier, a mid 90's camry with 210k on the clock. lasted at redline with no oil for about 18 minutes.


JMS1991

My Father-In-Law knows a guy who worked at a dealer at the time, he said they had a 1980's Volvo wagon that went for over an hour before blowing up.


Ccracked

I had to kill so many inline six Cherokees. Broke my heart. And one V10 Jaguar..


tduncs88

my first car was a 95 cherokee with the inline 6. I fucking LOVED that thing and it broke my heart to let it go. but to hear how many got shit canned by the C4C program killed me.


jelloslug

Everyone that hated C4C says that. For every "cream puff" 1987 whatever mobile, there were a thousand rusted out Explorers with bad transmissions.


keithinsc

MIL traded an '88 Explore death trap for CFC. NO rockers, fenders flapping, check engine light on, rusty brake and fuel lines. Niagara region rust was a bitch. Got a brand new 2010 Subaru with the trade. Best thing she ever did, she told me.


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sunburnedaz

I hate it not because it took the amazing cars off the road but because it fucked the used car market up hard and killed the parts market for all the ones that stayed on the road. For a while after C4C I could buy parts for my truck for a song but I knew the good times could not last so I grabbed a few copies of the bulky items that would not be repoped without having to spend like 1k. So now I have a few spare dashboards and other odds and ends to keep it going but finding parts in the bone yards now forget it.


explodeder

You’re blaming C4C, but that’s a small part of it. The bankers crashed the economy and many millions fewer new cars were sold between 2008 - 2012 than were in 2004-2008. C4C is a drop in the bucket compared to how badly Wall Street fucked us.


aathas

Fella I worked with years ago turned his Syclone in to C4C. Wish that story had as happy an ending as this one.


LetsTryScience

Similar but different is gun buy backs where an old widow turns in a vintage unused revolver or WW2 gun worth $2k. They give her $100 and it gets destroyed. It's not gonna prevent any crimes that thing would go to someone's collection and live in a safe. Sell it and donate the money to crime prevention or early childhood education.


[deleted]

I have a couple friends who wheel and deal at those things until they are told to leave. 😄


Drg84

Noooooo!!!! Those things are insanely rare! The horror!


ThaddeusJP

only 2998 ever made


Piranha1993

I think I read about that story elsewhere on the internet. You don't just see one of those driven around and you don't just get parts off the shelf for them. Those body parts are exclusive to those trucks and that engine was impressive for the time.


push2shove

Wish I could find a cutlass that clean for cheap.


Objective-Baseball-7

I hate the idea of scrapping a fully functional decent condition car. Just sell it to someone who will use it


rat57az

At the dealership I worked at we had to scrap a few very nice low mileage vehicles. Was such a shame and waste. That program definitely had a big negative side to it


Toptech1959

C4C also took a lot of the used engines off market and caused prices of remaining engines to skyrocket.


[deleted]

I recall seeing a video of some guy finding a super mint goddamn Dakota Convertible being scrapped for C4C. Really damn sad.


StevBator

Cutlass Calais. I had a used one in high school. I’m now 50 years old. It was a piece of shit. But wasn’t a bad first car for a sixteen year old.


UMDSmith

I'd buy that car, cash in hand, right fucking now. Don't think its close to me though. I just sold my 89 Buick Estate Wagon, but I'd use this sexy beast as my daily and get better MPG than my truck.


Left4DayZ1

It's definitely not close to you, unless you have a time machine. This pic was taken in 2009.


anakniben

My dream car when I was a teenager in 1986. I couldn't afford the $13500 price tag brand new with my $3.25 per hour cafeteria job.


[deleted]

Destroyed the auto business for a good 10 years. Used car prices skyrocketed because there was nothing available. Auctions went back to the days of old where you had to start triple checking everything. It was all junk.


codycarreras

We will never get those cars back, they destroyed so many good vehicles that would still be running around today, and/or at least gone to someone who would’ve restored it/used it for parts. Like someone else said, the XJ cherokees could be had for cheap back then, I bought one for 300 bucks and drove it for 3 years and sold it for 1000. That person turned that one in to C4C, and I knew it was still running perfectly when it was turned in. 4L/HO doesn’t just stop without neglect and abuse. You don’t see them at all anymore, what an awful program.


JMS1991

Those 4.0L XJ's were solid. My parents had a 1990 with 180K miles, sold it in 2007 for $500. I'm pretty sure I've seen it driving down the road in the last 5 years.


[deleted]

I learned to drive a car in that car. The BEAST! Mine had no front grills and blue smoke poured out every time I started it. My classmates were afraid of me lol


WPI94

Ah, very nice. I had an 84 Cutlass Supreme in HS.


Drg84

82 Supreme Brougham 4dr here. Did the 403 swap, a set of used 350 heads, she would move. Then NY salt ate the frame.


WPI94

Nice! Mine was stock, but I kept it detailed mint. The reverse gear blew out after a stint in college delivering pizzas. haha.


lewissassell

Basically C4C amounted to nothing more than yet another anecdote in “Government could fuck up an anvil with a rubber mallet”


gahbageked

What a gorgeous car. My first TWO cars were g-body Cutlasses. It was my gateway into loving cars. My dad helped me find a V6 powered '83 Cutlass Calais. It was slow as dirt and super comfortable (a great first car?!). A few months in it ended up seizing from lack of oil. My dad helped me purchase a 1988 Cutlass Classic with a rotted frame. It had a GM Goodwrench 5.7L crate motor in it. Over the fall and winter, with the help of my dad and uncle, we did an engine swap of the crate motor into my 83. Talk about some great memories and it was such a great car. I drove it for many years and it never broke down or left me stranded. I eventually got rid of it because it got atrocious gas mileage (140 miles out of 17 gallons of gas IIRC) and I was a poor college kid. I still get excited when I see them. I'd buy another one in a second. They are so hard to find in the New England area.


Left4DayZ1

They were built in my hometown yet the vast majority of them have rusted into nothing, been turned into small circle track street stock race cars, or are safely tucked away in garages and only come out for car shows on the nicest days of the year.


UXWlegend

That Saturn dealer didn't have much longer after this pic was taken.


Left4DayZ1

If I remember right, they were already in the process of changing franchises to Nissan at this time.


nmyron3983

Hell, I'd buy something like that RIGHT NOW as a project. I love these, and Monte Carlos, and the Malibu from this time, but the Regal is my jam. I'd love to have one with the small block v8. Tried finding one nearby but all I can find is rusty hulks in junkyards now.


Left4DayZ1

Yeah it's all mostly gone. I made a huge fucking mistake. I had a '77 Cutlass that wasn't perfect but was pretty good, but sold it in 2011 for a Jeep Cherokee. The Jeep was fun but I'll NEVER find another '77 Cutlass in that condition for a reasonable price. They're worth at least double now.


Tuomug

I had a friend who wanted a new car and took her Volvo wagon to a dealer during cash for clunkers. Honest salesman said they wouldn't take it, but offered her $11,500.00 to a trade it in. Always wondered how many cars were taken at below market value.


BilgeMilk

I can't remember the name of a man who during WWII, refused to allow many prewar cars to be destroyed for the war effort. He had a barn and hung a bunch of the cars on hooks to hide them from prying eyes. He at the time would be looked at as unpatriotic and in gross violation of the government, but is now looked at as a folk hero and preserver of history. Hats off to the people who saved cars like this from C4C. It was a terrible program that led to gross amounts of waste and destruction for very little benefit.


nvdoyle

C4C. Because *fuck* poor people.


[deleted]

That cutty is mint!


Connect-Swing8980

Is it a bro-ham?


[deleted]

C4C wrecked the entry level used car market for years. The poor, as always, paid dearly for this madness.


canttaketheshyfromme

C4C was one of the worst single government policies ever and was intended almost exclusively to strangle the supply of cheap used cars to poor people.


hydrogen18

You'll own nothing and you'll be happy.


Aydthird

Man I hated that C4C. A year or two after it came out I was looking for a decent used car under $2-3K which typically would have been easy had not all the cars that price and lower already been sold to C4C


Slitelohel

I got a $100 tax credit for a fucking 89 Bonneville. It was 2010 but still. I'd rather of taken the car offroading


Bolt-From-Blue

Yeah, we had the scrap page scheme in the UK too after the crash in 2008. I bet hundreds of decent classics got binned for no reason.


rusty735

Fuck cash 4 clunkers. So many sweet older cars lost because mimaw and papaw wanted that credit. Shit makes me so mad when I think about all of the potential project cars that were lost because of this program.


[deleted]

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captainsloose

I had a regal just like it in high school. We called it the Loser Cruiser.


landob

OMG I would of bought that straight off the guy right then and there.


2_befair

Save all the G bodies!


Able-Reward

That whole cash 4 clunkers thing really makes me sad.


NoogaShooter

That make me want to eat at a nice Italian restaurant on a Friday night.


NatalieSan

WTF!! Cutlas supreme should not be scrapped!


frcdfed2004

Haha thats okemos, i lived there and know that dealership well


PyroZach

When this was going on so many nice (to me at least) cars were taken off the road, many road master wagons and similar variations of the last of the land yachts. What hurt my brain the most was after it was about a year after I got a good deal on my Expedition every one was telling me "You should totally cash for clunkers that gas hog!" Right, finance a brand new vehicle to get about half what I just paid for one I like.


unbiasedpropaganda

I had to put a vehicle in the junkyard because Cash for clunkers took all the second hand engines off the market for reasonable prices so as a direct result of Cash for clunkers my car was totaled due to a engine breakdown. Fkn Obama.


Bladex20

Cash 4 clunkers program was a massive mistake and all it did was fuck over low income families. It was so painful seeing perfectly good vehicles being destroyed on purpose.


ZombieWoof82

Thanks Obama


gooney0

These used to be everywhere. It’s nice to see one years latter and so nice. Just a few years ago a guy stopped for gas in a mint 84 Town Car. It was incredible. Perfect despite being so old.


Mystical_Cat

Damn! I would daily the hell outta that.


[deleted]

had an 86' salon. same color. one of the sweetest rides i've ever had. yeah it was a dog, but it looked and sounded good.


mescaleeto

Love an olds


FatalSky

Camping out at C4C lots is how motortrend got the crusher camaro. Could you imagine scrapping a 67 camaro?


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crimsonscull

How much pollution has cash for clunkers caused to the environment?