As supporting evidence of this, I've kind of kept notice when I go through a
junkyard when a car was last inspected or registered. In NY you'd go by the
plate through 1964, they used a window sticker 65-66, then I believe a
sticker on the plate through '70 (I can't think of seeing a sticker between
66 and 70).
I've come across cars that were not wrecked that were driven as little as in
one case, a '60 New Yorker wagon (I think I still own that car) that was
only on the road for six years. Average last inspections are at around 10
years old. My '57 Dodge wagon and most everything around it had 1965
stickers on (57, 58, 59 Buicks, '58 Ford, '55 Chevy truck) and I think the
'58 Dodge convertible I sold that was two spots over from it, also did.
Another place turned up a '58 Chrysler with a '71 sticker; I owned a '59
Olds about 15 years ago that had a '71 in it too, although I don't think it
ever was in a salvage yard.
A good solid '64 Ford 4dr had '75 VA plates on it; a '41 Pontiac coupe had
1951 plates on it; the '30-'31 Model A sedan turned pickup I bought had a
'51 plate laying in the trash in the bed. A '46-8 DeSoto coupe with a 1958
plate on the back. Just some random examples that I remember from the last
place I was in. One yard there was a '61 Chrysler 4dr way in the back with
a 1969 Florida plate on it and 69-70 sticker still in the window. Some
yards you can almost tell when the section was filled by the plates on the
cars.
Even for newer cars it's not all that much different, when I go for parts
for my beater truck even the u-pull-it places are getting 1996-2001 cars
pretty regularly. I have to wonder what's going to happen as the 10,000 or
so Hyundais that Billy Fucillo has sold in upstate NY the last 5 or 6 years,
turn 10 and their warranties expire. Hopefully Roth Steel will install an
express lane right into the shredder -
I would think that you might find cars lasting longer outside the salt belt,
but my own findings don't seem to support that. The road salt really ate up
the cars, to the point that sometimes you can tell which ones were single
exhaust and which were duals, by wether or not both frame rails are left.
I've seen some good solid cars that had plates or stickers all falling in
that 10 year range, right next to cars that were obviously rotty when they
showed up with similar stickers on them.
Odometers I've glanced at seem to support milages in the 80,000-120,000
range, but I haven't paid nearly as much attention to them.
Bill K.
----- Original Message -----
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2007 16:26:07 -0500
From: Richard Whelan <rwhelansr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Transmission Colors and MORE
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We need to remember that "planned obsolence" was a fact of life of the =
American auto industry in the 50's and 60's. The average new car buyer =
kept his car for 3 years and perhaps put 30,000 to 50,000 miles on it =
before trading it on Detroits latest. The next buyer, either a lower =
income individual or more frugal person then purchased it for less than =
half the original price and drove it another 30,000 to 50,000 miles =
before trading it on another 3 year old car. At that point it generally =
ended up on a "beater lot" for $50.00-$300.00 for a 16 year old kid to =
pick up . I know because of the 3 58 Plymouths I owned in the 1963-64 =
time period the most expensive was my 58 Fury purchased for $295.00 at a =
corner Gas Station.My point is they were built to look and perform well =
for 3 years, provide reasonably reliable transportation for 6 or 7 years =
and hit the boneyard before their 10th birthday and they were designed =
and built accordingly. Dick
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Dave=20
To: L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx=20
Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2007 12:46 PM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] Transmission Colors and MORE
All:
It seems to me that after the US rebuilding countries after WWII they =
had the shiny new plants and we had the same old stuff that won the war. =
In some cases, there have been accusations of these same governments =
subsidizing industries that were competeing with our products, namely =
automobiles.
I remember the rust buckets of the mid-sixties and I am sure that it =
was a direct result of the bean counters dictating how cars were =
designed and built. Of course, I will admit our execs didn't want to =
bend with changing forces in the industry.
Just my thoughts, maybe not too PC for some...
Dave Moore
Wallingford, CT
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