My barber is about 4 blocks from me, so I finally broke down and walked over. On my way, I noticed that a few small car lots popped up over the summer, flogging the old iron/tupperware cars. They have to be safety-checked here, prior to sale (i.e. the brakes, glass, muffler and seatbelts are ok, no oil leaks... Whether the engine runs or not, isn't critical. Anyway, I wouldn't know what year or brand these rolling rubbermaid bubble cars are. I lost interest after I got my new 1981 Fairmont (should've kept it). What struck me as weird, was a nice 1986 Mustang hardtop, with a missing rear quarter window was twice the price as the newer 2008 rice rockets. 4-banger Mustang - no turbo. Just decent paint. The 2006 to 2008s were being priced at just under $3,000! 4 car lots! All similar wierdness! Like their way past their Due Date!!! I paid about $300 for a local safety-check in 1999, when I brought my Mexican Fairmont wagon into the Province. Gotta figure that it costs more today, and the dealers have to include that in their price, so what are they really worth? Throw-away cars?
Four car lots in four blocks ? Danged, we don't have four between here and the south end of town and we live about 10 miles north of town. But I do like your description of those cars for sale. Probably pretty true for most areas. I actually think the old Tupperware contaners had better plastic.
I haven't had my summertime Junkyard Run, so far, but some of the yards have posted price lists for taillights and bumpers, except for the newer plastic covers. $15 for a steel bumper, $90 for plastic. $10 for a normal taillight, $145 for an LED and UP!!! Crazy! And you look at our older wagons in pristine shape, going for $1000 to $4000. Still roadworthy with 30 to 50 years under their belt, and REPAIRABLE!!! :banghead3::banghead3::banghead3:
I miss those junkyard runs. Hell there are no junkyards anymore. Some kind of salvage yard things. Not even sure if they have a junkyard dog! Another bad thing is so much of this plastic crap is "ONE OFF," and 25 years from now when those decals fall off or fade, who's gonna know what that little square box is sitting there melting in the mud? Scrap prices on cars are only around $1.95 each now because plastic is light! Old junk yards, real service stations, soda fountains, wooden wall phones that go ringy dingy, all gone. What's this world comin too? :banghead3: Only old guys like Silverfox to remind us kids of the good ole days.
Luckily for us, there's at least 10 of the old yards, in town, and almost every one of the 200 smaller towns in the Province have at least one. Some great old towns around here. Some still have nose-in parking, and around the Hutterite and Mennonite towns, there's still hitching posts for their horses. And the food! Oh man! We're only the two of us, but we have a freezer full of range-fed chickens, farmer made butter goat and other cheeses, pork and beef cuts... And those old phones are still around. The Prairie provinces and the two Dakotas are similar. Very rural and trqaditional. North Dakota and Montana are like watching an old western flick on your widescreen windshield. Pretty country.
That sounds great up there. But at this time I don't know if I'd rather be junk yard roamin or eating! Years ago wife packed a lunch and we did both. Nuthin like eatin dead fried chicken with rust, grease, and dirt on your hands.
I haven't had any need to roam a junkyard for a while, but the old-school types are rapidly disappearing in CA. It's due, I believe, to liability reasons and ever-tightening environmental regulations.
My wife loves getting into flour and sauces. She's just not mechanical. She can't master the manual can opener....
Interesting..... Here's a 'Mustang' search for Craig's List Los Angeles http://losangeles.craigslist.org/search/cta?query=+Mustang&srchType=T&minAsk=&maxAsk= Surprisingly, I see quite a few vintage Mustangs ('65-'71 or so..) for sale, but very few from the 80's... -- I think they're all in a teenagers' back yard up on jackstands.....
Exactly right and the high prices of scrap metal and property now. So much more profit in subdivisions. Even many campgrounds here in Florida are falling by the way of subdivisions and condos. They need more of these for young couples with no money to start their American dreams..........which soon turn into nitemares. I'd rather be walking thru a junkyard than a half empty bunch of look alike homes.Altho there are often SUV's, mini vans, boats, and fourwheelers there for the pickin.
Used car prices are nuts. Take the local Ford House versus a new version of the same car. used 2010 Ford Fusion Sport, V6, red, 35K miles, $22986 new 2012 Ford Fusion Sport, V6, red, 0 miles, $28080 Seriously? Two years old, three years worth of miles, only $5000 off new sticker? I don't think so. When that 2010 was new they had $3000 rebates and such. It's ridiculous. This is why I like cars that are WAY beyond normal depreciation. Then you get to pay what it's worth. A rust-cheesed 1992 Cavalier sedan is thusly a $250 car. A 1989 Buick Electra Estate Wagon in fine shape is a $2,500 car. And a cherry '70 Cutlass 4-4-2 fastback with 455, 4-speed, and all the right options is a $25,000 car. Not the two year old midsize sedan with 35K miles on it. Given the choice of two cars, a 2009 Chevy Impala with 46K miles that looks and drives nice for $16,000 cash, or the same car but older and worn, an ex-taxi 2006 Chevy Impala with 210K miles that looks OK and seems to drive OK for $3,000 cash, I'm taking the high mileage one. Why? Because by the time I'm done with the 2009 it'll be that $3,000 beater. Might as well take the beater and run it into the ground and save thirteen grand. I'll probably have to make the same repairs on each car. The 2009 for the first time each. The 2006 for the umpteenth time each.
When I retired in 1994 I said I wouldn't drive anything newer than our 57 Chevy after we got moved with the 87 Chevy van I picked up just to move with. I lied. Ended up buying a 2004 Dodge quad cab at end of 04. Again I said it will be my last new vehicle. So far it's been very dependable and looks like new. One battery and four tires. Rest just maintenence stuff and fuel. Still wished I'd bought another 57 Chevy. No matter what I'd payed for it it would be worth more than the truck is now. And I wouldn't meet a dozen red ones every trip to town like we do in the Dodge. Why I bought the new truck? Because two or more year old ones of any brand cost nearly as much.
