I was at the junk yards today looking for parts on the 2001 Ram I just bought. I ended up with a gasser as I got a screaming deal. I was noticing they had a lot of older Dodges with the 1993 and earlier body style. I saw one with a Cummins emblem on the remaining door. The truck was pretty well stripped and was getting ready to go in the crusher. I popped the hood and there was a Cummins block, sprayed orange and clunker was on the windshield. The speedometer was still in it and it showed 143K. The paint was mostly gone but the old truck looked to be pretty solid. Someone traded it in during the Cash For Clunkers time. If the whole truck was as good as what was left, I would have paid $4500 in a heartbeat. Very little rust and none of it was through the metal. Just surface rust where the paint flaked off.

 

How is that possible ?
My other half was looking to get rid of her once beloved (by her only cause I was the one constantly working on it) oldsmobile Alero.
I used to make fun of her because my truck got better mileage and yet that car did not qualify as a clunker. Heck when you looked up clunker in the dictionary there was a picture of her car in there!

 

If I remember correctly, you had to own the vehicle for at least a year and the vehicle you were buying had to have better fuel economy than the one you traded in. This was an automatic and I guess either they got a manual or they got a smaller truck or car. Some dealers were more energetic getting people into new cars than others.

This was just something that's gone on for decades. Henry Ford did something similar. In the 20's, every Model T traded in got crushed to reduce the number of used units on the road. Lot's of good equipment was destroyed to keep profits up.

 

And it only helps the people that can afford new vehicles, and really hurts the guy who can't afford new vehicles. I want a winter vehicle like an S-10 or something, but I can't compete with this cash for clunkers BS! I would never trade my first gen in on another truck either, even if it was worth less than $4500.

 

Randy, i saw/used an old diesel SCHRAMM though of u because of your names being soo similar... maybe it would cheer u up... idk http://blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/...36_resized.jpg