Destruction of Old Cars

[RandalPark@xxxxxxx]

In the United States there is a large group of people who don't think of old 
cars as art objects. To them an old car is just another worn out consumer 
product that needs to be disposed of. Some states have even tried to make laws 
that would force cars of a certain age to automatically be recycled. These laws 
have not been successful, but the reasons for them appearing are scary for us 
hobbyists. They usually site things like air pollution, lack of safety devices, 
fuel consumption, and obsolete technology as reasons for forcing them off of 
the road. I once saw an article that said that if no body drove old cars, there 
would be no need for junk yards. It went on to say that in addition to being an 
eye sore, junk yards pollute the ground, and should be eliminated.

Again, most of these sorts of things have failed and happily so for us, but I 
don't think that we have seen the end of this sort of thing.

Paul

In a message dated 1/16/2004 10:22:04 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
wombatdo@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

> Hello,
>  
> For me it's unbelievable that demolition derbies actually EXISTS in the 
>states. In the Netherlands we drive rally's, but don't destroy cars.....
> The Imperials are of course the rarest of the luxury cars, too bad they 
>perform so well in derbies because of their unibody construction and strong 
>overall body..
> What they should be DERBYING is old cars that are absolutely NOT restorable, 
>costing not more that $1000.. Can't they make a law out of that, for 
>preserving vintage American automobiles. 
>  
> Thanks, Dirk
> 
> 
> >From: Mike Pittinaro 
> >Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> >To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> >Subject: IML: THERES NOT MANY IMPERIALS LEFT.DERBY ONE BEFORE THERE GONE. 
> >Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 06:30:44 -0800 (PST) 
> > 
> >The above statement, taken from the ebay auction for 
> >the 64-- 
> > 
> >http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2454648200 
> > 
> > 
> >has got to be one of the most disrespectful lines I've 
> >seen written about an Imperial.  The grammatical 
> >mistakes of this knuckledraggin' moron 
> >notwithstanding, if there's not many left, why on 
> >earth would you want to destroy another!  That's 
> >absolutely disrespectful. 
> > 
> >A few months ago, I caught an episode of Monster 
> >Garage on the discovery channel where they turned a PT 
> >cruiser into a wood chipper.  This was kinda cool, I 
> >thought, so I decided to try to catch some more 
> >episodes.  Well, on the next two that I saw, they 
> >utterly destroyed a 1972 Caddillac Hearse trying to 
> >make it into a car crusher (they failed, so they 
> >crushed the caddy in one of those car chipper 
> >thingies) and demolished an ultra-rare Delorean after 
> >a failed attempt to make it into a hovercraft.  I will 
> >support the senseless destruction of rare automotive 
> >artifacts no more! 
> > 
> >I can't fathom why people would prize diamonds, a 
> >false commodity that can be artifically reproduced, 
> >and yet trash a car which had a production of only a 
> >few thousand for that year, and of which there are 
> >maybe a few hundred left. 
> > 
> >*Getting down off my soap box, now* 
> > 
> >===== 
> >--Mike Pittinaro 
> > 
> >One point eight litres 
> >Stromberg carburators sing 
> >Loose nut at the wheel 
> > 
> >__________________________________ 
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> > 
> >