Posted on 05/17/2014 7:49:15 AM PDT by dynachrome
They haven’t – yet – succeeded in “controlling” guns. Taking them out of our control, that is. One reason for this is the ferocious pushback from gun owners, who are numerous and take the threat posed by even innocuous-seeming schemes such as “background checks” and bans of “high capacity” magazines (and so on) very seriously.dodge ad
It’s been the same – so far – with regard to their so-far-unsuccessful efforts to outlaw old cars. Or to enact legislation that would amount to the same thing via various end-runs.
It is still “legal” to own and operate a vehicle built without a catalytic converter, a computer, air bags, ABS and traction control - notwithstanding that according to current government regulatory standards such a car is “unsafe” (and also “emits excessive pollution”). But only because – historically speaking – there has been a large and very politically active old car hobbyist cohort. There is also SEMA – the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association - which is the old car/aftermarket car parts equivalent of the NRA. Whenever a Diane Feinstein type has reared its leathery neck to eruct a new law threatening old cars, SEMA – and the legions of old car hobbyists – have stomped it into the mud.
But, that rough equilibrium may be shifting. Because the old car hobby is graying. Check out who’s pictured in Hemmings Motor News articles, in magazines like Hot Rod and Car Craft. It’s the easy-fit jeans crowd. The young ones are in their 40s. The majority of them are Boomers – so, guys (and it’s almost always guys) deep into their 60s. Same demographic at car shows.
Viagra should look into the advertising/marketing opportunities.
(Excerpt) Read more at ericpetersautos.com ...
They’d really like another cash for clunkers. Enforced this time around. This may be why:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-16/where-worlds-unsold-cars-go-die
These may be the only cars that will continue to function after an EMP.
The push to raise tax revenue through ‘miles driven’ is the way the Tyrants will do it. Just like the truck drivers are forced to have GPS to track these miles, so it will go for passenger cars. Those who don’t comply due to having an older car will have to get a new one or ride the bus. And why is this happening? The corruption is rampant with waste, misuse and misappropriation. Michigan collects millions and millions of gas taxes each year, but none of it is earmarked to be spent on the roads by law & design. So, where do you think it goes? The roads were in better shape when we spent 50 cents a gallon.
Where does it go?
Like Marion Barry. Crack and hookers. Lots of crack and hookers.
Oops. Beat me to it.
GMTA.
They will do what they have done for years in Japan. The older the car gets the higher the taxes to operate it get. That influences people to constantly buy new cars and keep the car manufacturers happy.
I lived in Japan for a few years. There, your car is subject to inspection for safety and appearance (no dents, broken glass, etc) and the inspection is quite expensive. For cars under 10 years of age, it is once every two years. For cars older than 10 years, the inspection is required annually. The inspection costs drive buyers into newer cars and keeps older and unsafe vehicles off the highways. Not saying it is a good idea, but watch for it in the US... A sneaky way to support the auto industry...
Cash for clunkers happened about the time we needed to buy another USED van. I had to look for over a month in four different counties to find one.
My newest vehicle is a 98 Dodge 2500 High Top Conversion van. Now is it my first choice of a vehicle? No. But necessity dictates we have to have one. It can accommodate a 350 lb hydraulic wheelchair lift and haul a motorized wheelchair. The high top gives needed clearance so my wife doesn't hit her head on the ceiling. The only other options are very expensive. Either a used transport bus used by agencies or a mini van with the floorboard lowered. The mini van will not make it up our driveway so that would mean having to sell our home and move. No thanks, it's paid for.
Our government overlord Idiots believe We The People are too stupid to purchase a vehicle based on our own needs and taste. They'll pry my 95 F-100 from my cold dead hands because I'm not giving it up either.
“They will do what they have done for years in Japan. The older the car gets the higher the taxes to operate it get. That influences people to constantly buy new cars and keep the car manufacturers happy.”
In Singapore, once a car reaches ten years old it can no longer be driven there. So, what does the owner do? He drives across the bridge to Malaysia and sells it. Just a side note, the number of pre-catalytic cars is very small and diminishing every day. Those that become collector cars aren’t driven very much. In fact, the more one of these cars is worth the less it’s driven. So, their contribution to air pollution is “fly shit in pepper” as we say here in Texas :)
That idiot co-worker of mine who suggested years ago that the best way to guarantee perpetual prosperity is to manufacture millions of cars and launch the unsold ones into the sun may have been onto something after all.
It’s also Agenda 21. Make it too expensive for poor people to drive their own vehicles. It would eliminate rural poor altogether.
My God, what a waste of resources.
How the hell can companies write all that off?
This is unfortunate but true. I was instantly drawn to hotrods and performance cars as a kid and have pursued it as a hobby all my life. I'm going to a swap meet later today where I'm sure I'll find the median age at about 53.
I'm reluctant to make blanket statements so let me just say that all of my efforts to entice kids into the hobby have fallen on deaf ears. They just don't have any interest. So many kids these days see cars only for their utility value - they don't appreciate technology (unless it is built-in electronics) or performance (although I'll admit that a lot of cars these days are pretty peppy).
Customizing cars seems limited to putting in bigger speakers and an amplifier. Taking a torch to one seems like a lost art these days.
*Sigh* - another facet of Americana being polished off in favor of shapeless, flavorless, boring blobs.
Where do you think the stimulus passed in this and other countries went wrt automobile manufacturers?
This sort of picture is why we ended up with cash for clunkers early in Obama’s first term.
Liberals are fascists.
“Would not surprise me if this happens in Kali-fornia”
They are doing it with car smog check laws for cars made after 1975. Getting harder every year for the older cars to pass emissions. For those cars made in and before 1975 they are exempt so far. That is the reason I bought my 1965 Buick Skylark. No smog checks.
Today to get a car a 16 year old could work on you would have to go back into the 1980's and cars being built then were mainly junk. The cars we drove you could sit on the hood. Today's cars it would cause several thousand dollars damage LOL.
The thing is todays cars are not built for the average shade tree mechanic to work on. My ex-father in law is a retired mechanic. He mainly worked on diesel engines but could fix any of the older engines from old VW bugs to a Detroit 671. He takes his car to the shop. In 1976 I had a new F-100. I could fix anything on it. Tune ups were easy you just climbed under the hood and sat down on the wheel well. Last year I changed out the plug wires and plugs on my 95 F-100 w/302 and I was cussing. I had to stand on a step ladder bending down into the engine to reach parts I could not even see.
Yesterday I was at my cousins house and his 97 Toyota 4Runner needed a new water pump. I never saw such a mess in my life. The older cars you could fix on the side of the road in a few hours. Todays cars a sensor located in some obscure place will leave you sitting and only a garage with a diagnostics system can determine which one is bad. The Crank Positioning Sensor is notorious for this. With breaker points you had some warning. I've had at least 3 tow bills because of that one issue.
My dream car fix up I never got to do. I bought my sisters 65 Mercury Comet. I had every intention of putting a 302 in it :>} But at the time there were kids to raise and bills to pay. But I did have a 71 Torino with a 302 stock. My youngest daughter needed a car so it got traded off. There was no way I was turning her loose with that LOL.
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