If you don't mind, I'm having a soap box moment, I was going to post this on some of the other forums i'm a member of. I feel at home hear at The H.A.M.B. and I know the hambers here already know what it means to recycle old cars. So everyone who reads this testimonial, please remember to recycle, especially those old cars. You know I see thousands upon thousands of old rusting cars that people on flickr have added to their sites, and it's a shame what we've done to these great relics, the pictures show these great Icons of our past that have been stripped, abandoned, deserted, ditched, forsaken, rejected, scrapped, disposed, dumped, discarded, tossed aside or the owners have just relinquished all control, and why? because it was old, it was new once and if you can remember that far back how it made you as a child or your parents feel and just because it needed some engine work, the paint was faded, had to many squeaks and rattles, you know It's a good thing we can't do to our parents what we do to our old cars, whatever the reasons we come up with that justifies our minds into thinking we need another new car. We'll I guess it works, because you don't see them on the road anymore. OK, so you've made up your mind and convinced yourself you want, need and deserve a new vehicle, so you go down to the local car dealership because you want something new, something different, something that you think no one else has, but in reality the manufacturer has made hundreds of thousands of them, but at this point you don't care you have the fever so you pick out that shiny new red one, and of course you want leather interior, am/fm cd player, mag rims and all the other bells and whistles it comes with and the salesman tallys it all up and he gives you the bottom line and you think to yourself I just want a new car I don't want to buy stock in the company, well you say to yourself maybe I don't really need the mag wheels or leather interior or whatever else that will bring the price down. By the time the salesman has talked you back into all those accountrements due to some creative financing, the price you pay for that new car plus the financing over three, five or even seven years you could have resurrected one of those fine rusting relics that you might have seen on flickr and restored it for not much more than you would have payed for that new one and you would still end up with something new, something different, and truly something that not everyone else has, which is what you wanted in the first place. My latest Resurrection is a '51 all steel Chevrolet wagon which only 23,586 were made and it turned sixty years old this year. I have no Idea how many are left but there can't be that many, mine had been sitting in a field for 40 years all because the engine failed, and I have never seen one on the road only a few at some car shows or in magazine here and there. Look i'm not trying to talk you out of buying a new car, if you feel that you have worked hard for it and you deserve it then by all means buy it, what i'm trying to say is you have other options that you might like to explore, and in this day and age it's important to recycle now more then ever, not just for the economy but most importantly it's good for Mother Earth. I hope I've given some of you a little food for thought about recycling and I hope some decide to rescue those cars or trucks or whatever your fancy is from the wrath of God or at the hands of Mother Nature. Thank You gemnewt
I'd rather drive old iron that's been brought back to life any day. I feel though, the EPA will be clamping down tighter & tighter in the very near future, making it even tougher
Isn't that what most of the guys on the h.a.m.b. are already doing? Maybe not as daily drivers, but are still saving "old tin"!
When I first read the title, I thought differently, after I read your posts I agree totally! It would have a great domino affect. I get pissed everytime I see something old getting scrapped, even if its a 4 door or longbed truck. Wish there was a way I could save them all but that's not possible..
old cars are cool/fun and I have a couple but... there is no way I would go back to having one as my daily especially with young kids I cart around on road trips all the time. what your saying is pretty poetic however
I have driven my 1939 Ford every day for 17 years. all my other cars are older than 1959. I have never bought a new car or owned anything newer than 1966. my kids are just fine.
So much around here has been scraped since the scrap prices went up. It's a shame all the old iron that has been crushed. The car left in peoples back yards are the some ole.......it's not for sale, it's a classic, I'm going to restore it someday. Sad. It wasn't to long ago that you could find cool stuff and for a reasonable price. Now you ask if an old POS is for sale and the owner says something like one of those just went at Barret Jackson for $100,000, so I want $50,000
Well said. I have decided to get rid of my modern daily and replace it with something from the late 50s.. Probably a 58 Caddy or 56-57 Lincoln. Only thing is, I don't want to get road salt all over one in the winter.. looks like a good excuse to move back to Florida
look where you live, then look where I live. I dont imagine you drive in two feet of snow in texas ever
Most people I know don't have a car that's over 5 yrs old let alone 10 yrs old. Hell 80% of the cars on road are not 10 yrs old. I blow peoples minds when I drive my 28' with a 29' banger in it almost everyday! That's 83 yr old vehicle. Recycle; Build a hotrod!
I think a lot of environmentalist have forgotten the "re-use" of the three R's. The way I see it dragging out some old hulk out of the field and converting it to run on CNG, electric, or french-fry grease is much more environmentally friendly than buying a new Prius every couple years.
wired mag: As Matt Power notes in this month’s issue of Wired, hybrids get great gas mileage but it takes 113 million BTUs of energy to make a Toyota Prius. Because there are about 113,000 BTUs of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prius has consumed the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gasoline before it reaches the showroom. Think of it as a carbon debt — one you won’t pay off until the Prius has turned over 46,000 miles or so. There’s an easy way to avoid that debt — buy a used car. The debt has already been paid. But not just any used car will do. It has to be something fuel efficient. Like, say, a 1998 Toyota Tercel that gets 27 mpg city / 35 mpg highway miles. The Prius will have to go 100,000 miles to achieve the same carbon savings as the 10-year-old Tercel. Get behind the wheel of a 1994 Geo Metro XFi, which matches the Prius’ 46 mpg, and the Prius would never close the carbon gap, Power writes. The whole story. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/the-ultimate-pr/
A new car takes as much fuel to make as it burns in its lifetime, which is about ten years. So new cars arnt really good for the environment. Also all the plastics and rubber on them is harmful to recycle. Then 10 times the amount of copper. Oh and americas two biggest exports are scrap metal and trash. Im in the junk yard buisness, which should be recession proof, but everyone tells me people arnt buying parts to fix their cars. Its a throw away culture.
Florida would be a great place to be cruising around in either one of those fine cars as long as you don't get stuck in one of those twisters and end up in Georgia. But even if you could afford to keep the newer one and still be able to purchase an older one, then you could drive the economical one during the week and have the land boat to drive on the weekend or when the weather is beautiful you would still be recycling. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. gene
And you are very right so there's no time like the present because once you have that vehicle and it's registered and on the road they won't touch you I pitty the poor bastards that waited to long. What's that saying? Oh yeah "You snooze you lose" And I thank you for reading my blog. Gene
There is a guy in west Texas that plants them. I guess in his mind he is recycling them. You're preaching to the quire friend, but I may add that not all old ragged out heaps need to be recycled in the way that we do some old ragged out vehicles. Some are better off being put out of their misery.
And that Stude is still worth $2125.60 + a helluva lot more. If the old cars or trucks we buy at the right price then we will be able to sell at the right price but that is our choice, i'm not talking about those baby boomers (I am one) that have more money then brains that pay these astronomical prices thinking they will be able to double their investment and in a few years that particular make or model goes south and they loose their shorts well they bought poorly. Your doing the right thing and when your done your going to have a damn fine car!
My daily driver is a '61 Suburban, my wife's is a '61 Corvair wagon. We drive them everywhere, all the time. The only new vehicle we have is a '01 Dakota, and it's been parked for three years. There's a very real chance Boy Wonder will be getting a '60-'62 Chevy 4x4 for his first vehicle. -Brad
Haha. You must be speaking of the one and only Stanley Marsh the 3rd. I have no idea what he was thinking when he planted them. Shame all the good parts have been taken off. He also has a bug buried the same way over at his house. Perhaps he's trying to prove a theory? iPhone - TJJ App
And I agree with you 100% I don't see how some cars are able to remain on the road, if you were in Germany and you were pulled over because you had a crumpled fender and a broken headlight you wouldn't be aloud to drive your vehicle until it was repaired. When you drive at the speeds they do on the autobahn and your driving a car that has body damage it changes the areodynamics of the vehicle and the government does not want you out on the road causing accidents.
Your right RustyDusty that's why I included this line, I feel at home hear at The H.A.M.B. and I know the hambers here already know what it means to recycle old cars. This was mainly directed to people that purchase new vehicles and might not be aware of recycling cars just aluminum, paper, glass that sort of things.
I'm thinking of going back to Orlando... inland means no salt air to speak of Modern stuff pisses me off, and even as spoiled as I am with all the toys in my modern cars, when I had a 58 Pontiac it had air and I hid a modern stereo in the glove box. If i need Nav that bad I can buy a Garmin. The problem with up here is the snow, my daily is an AWD car.. I'm not gonna put a classic car through driving in a foot or more of snow. Worst case I'll keep the modern car for winter use for now.
I have a '61 Willys pickup for dailey and bad weather use. In your neck of the woods you may not find one in repairable/drivable shape. But if you ever did you would throw rocks at your later AWD. They are truley a go anywhere any time vehicle. Granted they don't get the mileage and cruise at the same speed as the later AWDs but they are fun.
My modern AWD is a pile of shit Lexus GS, a hateful unreliable car. Plan is to keep it till I move to Florida, failing that ditch it and maybe pick up a Classic Range Rover, that'd be good for towing too.
Hey Kid We have something called planned obsolescence built into industries designs which are deliberately planned or designed into a products that have a limited useful life, it will become non-functional after a certain period.<sup id="cite_ref-CIWeb_0-1" class="reference"></sup> The potential benefits for a manufacturer because of continued use of a product by a consumer has no choice but to purchase again whether they want to or not. Did you know that in Thomas Edison's Florida home his original design of the light bulb are still working, If manufacturers or companies built things that last forever they would go out of business. <sup id="cite_ref-CIWeb_0-2" class="reference"></sup>
Wasn't really "directed" at anybody. Just making the statement that I drive my 50 year old truck daily, and drive it everywhere (it's been in 16 states under my ass, with a 2408 mile round trip to Austin a couple weeks ago), my wife's Corvair is her daily driver, and my son might have a 50 year old truck, too, for his first car. -Brad
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