Save the Clunkers!

More from Time Magazine:

There’s at least one group of people who are happy Cash for Clunkers is over: demolition-derby drivers. Participants in these events, in which drivers smash into one another until there’s only one engine left running, don’t enjoy the sight of old cars going out of commission without making a pit stop at the county fairground. “Obama is an anti-demo-derby guy,” says Tory Schutte, head of the Demolition Derby Drivers Association. “He’s targeting the cars we’ve been using.”

According to the Cars.gov listing, there were 56 1989 Volvo 240 wagons trashed through the program. As you can see from the info I pulled below, no other year has nearly as many. As a matter of fact, I’d guess that most of the other years were dealer mistakes, because the numbers are so low.

What’s going on in 1989? I went to the government’s site, and found that if you select the 1989 240 wagon, and select the automatic, (EGR) option, rather than auto (FFS), it pulls up an 18 MPG figure. As far as I can tell, no other 240 pulls this number, including the 1990 model with same options.

The EGR that’s mentioned is Exhaust Gas Recirculation, which doesn’t seem to have been available on 240s before 1989. I’m not sure if this is for the DL or the GL. But I doubt any 240s get that bad combined gas mileage.

They get their numbers from fueleconomy.gov, and there they have a model listed at 16 city city/22 highway for a combined 18 MPG. How they got this number for this particular model of this particular year, I have no idea. I think it’s a mistake.

This must be what FFS stands for.

UPDATE: I posted my confusion on the Brickboard and got some clarification within a few hours. Turns out the EGR was implemented to reduce emissions and in 1989 was probably only needed in California. However, adding this exhaust recirculation reduced gas mileage, thereby offsetting the emissions gain! Sounds like a Zero dumb gain.

Please give me a vote of “6″ at the 6 dollar t-shirts site. If I get enough votes you’ll be able to buy the shirt for… $6.

Vote now!

Slate’s finance site “The Big Money” launched in fall of 2008, while I was working at Condé Nast’s competing finance site Portfolio.com. Just because I got laid off in a round of firings at Halloween doesn’t mean I harbor any ill-will towards “The Big Money”. Two separate sites with two different agendas. OK.

Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, WTF is up with “The Big Money”?! They’ve posted a photo album of cars they claim will be junked in C4C. Both the intro and first slide feature a Volvo 240. Sorry, but our precious bricks get better than 18MPG and aren’t eligible for C4C. While Matt DeBord’s copy is cute, it’s obvious he didn’t do his research. They had to pull the BMW 325, diesel Mercedes and Mazda Miata (!) slides after a commenter pointed out they have better fuel economy than the program calls for.

Matt, please visit cars.gov. It’s a horrible site, I know, but somewhere beneath the UI you’ll find eligibility requirements and a list of vehicles.  Dry the tears from your eyes, stand up and rejoice! Four of the ten cars you’ve mourned as dead will still be here to drive another day.

Some of the commenters on a Jalopnik “Cash for Clunkers” thread (C4C) were hoping for “Save the Clunkers” T-Shirts, so I put together a couple of quick images. They would be a 2-color silk screen, one black, one white. If anyone wants to produce these, contact me at boucher002 at yahoo dot com.

UPDATE: I posted a cleaned-up design of the van illustration to sixdollarshirts.com . Vote now!

This video documents the death of an Olds Aurora, which qualified because of the V8 engine. Oil is drained, then a solution of water and silica sand is poured in. The car is turned on and run until the engine seizes. Not for the squeemish.

UPDATE: Prolonged death of a FWD Volvo.

The biggest disaster is the fact that it ran out of money only FOUR DAYS into the four month long program. Original budgeted for $1 billion dollar through November, it now may get another $2 billion dollars to fund the $4500 checks cut to dealers who accept car buyers junk.

I’m surprised it ran out of money considering the misinformation that’s been pumped out by some dealers about the program. Take the funny promotion pictured above by a dealer in Springfield,VA. Since the Fed requires that eligible cars get less than 18mpg average city/highway there’s no way that Toyota Corolla would qualify. I saw a TV commercial last night that showed an econobox POS that the voiceover stated could be turned to gold. Unless the dealer is planning on absorbing the discount when the DOT rejects the rebate application, buyers are being given a bait-and-switch. In addition the EPA adjusted its figures right before the program started, so the mileage listed on the original sticker may not match what the DOT sees as eligible.

Once a car has been accepted, government rules require it be given a lethal injection of sodium silicate to disable and destroy the engine, then be scrapped. See that beautiful black beemer to the left? Scrap metal.