“OBAMACA$H FOR CLUNKERS”: A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST AUTOMOTIVE HOBBIES

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In 1850, there were an estimated 20 million buffalo roaming the Great Plains of North America.

In 1866, General Philip H. Sheridan assumed command of the U.S. Army in the frontier American West. Indigenous, nomadic native American tribes were viewed as the largest obstacle to settling the frontier. General Sheridan proposed exterminating the herds of buffalo that support the Indians' way of life. "Kill the buffalo and you kill the Indians.”

Over the next twenty years, Sheridan’s suggestion was de facto U.S. Policy. By 1889, only 541 buffalo could be located.

Virtually brain-dead “appliance motorist” Rep. Betty Sutton’s (D-Ohio) Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save bill (CARS Act), better known under the deceptive moniker “Cash For Clunkers” is another misguided “buffalo hunt.”

Only this time, the liberal greeniacs intend to “Kill the old cars” in order to “kill our automotive culture.”

Morons like Sutton and her tax & spend ilk point to the “success” of “Cash For Clunkers” in Germany.

But the German “Cash For Clunkers” programs is sweeping up a whole generation of serviceable collector and sporting cars in its dragnet.

Autoweek magazine reports as follows:

Germans also are concerned about seeing sound but aging cars disappear.

“It breaks my heart seeing perfectly good versions of the Golf GTI going to the press,” said one Volkswagen Golf GTI fanatic. “They’re highly sought after by collectors, but all their owners care about is receiving written confirmation from the scrapyard so they can collect their rebate."

(Interestingly enough, much of the German “Cash for Clunkers” money is flowing outside of Germany to Spain and other lower-cost producers. Thus, Germans are losing their automotive heritage in a tax-funded boondoggle and are creating a windfall for foreign producers.)

And that’s exactly what hysterical, Goreian GreeNazis supporting Sutton’s CARS Act intend to have happen here.

In the blinded minds of the radical, freedom-hating Greens, racing, hot rodding, tuning, customizing, antique car collecting and other grassroots automotive pursuits involving historic vehicles are “killing the Planet.” These freedom-hating, power-grabbing, “we-know-what’s-best-for-you” environuts cannot fathom why anyone would waste their time pursuing any automotive hobby or automotive aftermarket vocation in the first place. They will never understand that participation in these automotive pursuits often define much of who we are (just as hiking in the woods, eating tasteless vegan food, and blocking the fast lane in their slow, wimpy Priuses defines who they are).

The liberal “true believer” greens see such “Car Crazy” “rebels” as an impediment to their dream of banishing internal combustion and the 20th Century “car culture” to the ashcan of history. And the only way to “kill the Car Nuts” and subjugate them to the “uniform, happy, shiny, government-designed, sanitized, tamper-proof, disposable electro-micro car ‘reservation’” is to flatten the “obsolete,” “dirty”, “rebellious” objects of our “Car Crazy” passion. In other words, crushing our supply of historic and milestone parts cars and “project cars,” and thereby destroying the businesses which depend on them is in essence the “slaughtering of our buffalo.”

Just as slaughtering the buffalo didn’t exterminate all of the Plains Indians, a well-heeled and resourceful remnant will survive Obama’s war on Automotive “choice.” But our “tribes” will be much smaller, much more insular, and much less diverse. And the “entry costs” for participation will escalate dramatically.

The June 2009 issue of Car Craft magazine features a story on the “Top 10 Affordable Project Cars.” (See Page 26, et seq.) Each of these "affordable project cars" would be "clunkers" as defined in the flawed CARS Bill. Each of these cars often sell for less than the amount of borrowed tax money that an "ObamaCa$h for Clunkers" extermination plan would pay to destroy them. While Ford rodders and tuners would take some issue with the selections (for example no Panther platform vehicles or Lincolns made the list, while the 1965-1975 Cadillac did), the list is a prime example of the sorts of cheap and interesting cars that would be driven to the brink of extinction by a misguided “ObamaCa$h For Clunkers" plan.

Make no mistake about it, “Cash For Clunkers” is a declaration of war against the automotive aftermarket and all “old car” automotive-based hobbies.

As Edmund Burke once said about tyranny “All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” Burke also said, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

Make no mistake about it, supporters of "Cash For Clunkers" and other wasteful errosions of our cherished Automotive liberties are "evil men." They must be stopped.

To withstand the attacks on the free market and automotive freedom being relentlessly pushed by car-haters like Rep. Betty “the-Buffoon” Sutton (D-Ohio) and Barack Obama, we’ve got to stand up to them. The Specialty Equipment Market Association’s SEMA ACTION NETWORK is an essential tool in fighting the “crush our CARS” boondoggle.

We’ve got to be vigilant in keeping the pressure on to defeat any and all “Cash For Clunkers” schemes. Write and call your Congressperson today.

And when any “Cash For Clunkers” supporters come up for reelection in 2010, 2012 and 2014, the greater automotive community has to let its collective voice be heard against the enemies of our automotive rights. It’s time for car haters such as Betty Skelton to be soundly defeated at the ballotbox.

This time let’s stop them from “killing our buffalo.”


UPDATE: THE "BUFFALO KILLERS"

According to the "Govtrack" website, here's a list of the rogue's gallery of big-spending, anti-freedom, historic & milestone car-hating liberals (and a few RINOS) who have co-sponsored "BOZO BETTY" SUTTON'S horrible Cash-for-Clunkers bill:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich [D-OH][Affectionately known here as "Dennis KOOKcinich"]
Rep. Frederick Upton [R-MI]
Rep. Mark Schauer [D-MI]
Rep. Gary Peters [D-MI]
Rep. Candice Miller [R-MI]
Rep. Linda Sánchez [D-CA]
Rep. Bruce Braley [D-IA]
Rep. Dale Kildee [D-MI]
Rep. David Loebsack [D-IA]
Rep. Joe Courtney [D-CT]
Rep. Joe Donnelly [D-IN]
Rep. John Dingell [D-MI][Yes, the U.A.W.'s favorite Congressman]
Rep. John Yarmuth [D-KY]
Rep. Phil Hare [D-IL]
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick [D-MI]
Rep. William Clay [D-MO]
Rep. Russ Carnahan [D-MO]
Rep. John Sarbanes [D-MD]
Rep. Bart Stupak [D-MI]
Rep. Earl Blumenauer [D-OR]
Rep. Patrick Kennedy [D-RI][Just keep'em away from Dad's Oldsmobile . . . or his own Fords!]

And no, this is not the "Holiday Card" list of Tom and Ray Magliozzi a/k/a Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers (but it might as well be for all of the automotive expertise you'll NOT find on it).

This is a list of awful, power-mad, big-government-loving, borrowed-tax-money-blowing yahoos that any reasonable "car guy" (or freedom-loving American) would never, ever want to see themselves associated with, much less vote for.

Can you imagine any of these "goofs" and mouth-breathers on the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour? Or at the Street Rod Nationals? Or running at a drag strip or autocross or local dirt track? Or at Hershey or Carlisle or Bonneville or Daytona or even at the genteel events of the Monterrey Weekend at Pebble Beach?

This bunch of car-crushing, freedom-hating sad-sacks probably has no clue which end of the jack to put on the ground or which way to turn the lug wrench in order to "change" a flat tire. Most likely giving one of them a ride in a Dodge Viper or other "real car" would cause whiplash.

It's as if the VW-Beetle-driving, automobile-phobic "chess club" wimps from high school are now in charge of our transporation policies (along with Obama's hapless "Car Czar Central Committee.")

This is a motley bunch that makes Brian France look like a MENSA member.

RAGING, RADICAL "SAN FRANSICKO" GREENS SUE OBAMA OVER CAFE

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If you needed any further proof that the global warming crazies intend to stamp out all automotive freedom in America, you need to look no further than the off-the-charts greeniacs at The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).

In an ominous press release, CBD announced that it "filed suit to strike down the Obama [A]dministration’s [C]orporate [A]verage [F]uel [E]conomy (CAFE) standards for cars, trucks, and SUVs for model year 2011. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act requires miles-per-gallon standards be set at the “maximum feasible level,” yet the Obama rule sets a significantly lower standard than proposed by the Bush administration in 2008, and is much lower than current standards in Europe, Japan, China, and other countries."

The apparently automotive free-market-hating "Director of the Climate Law Institute" at the CBD, Kassie Siegel said:

"Reducing the proposed fuel economy standards is a step backwards from the clean energy future President Obama has promised. These low standards, which ignore greenhouse gas emissions and the climate crisis, are illogical, illegal, and very disappointing from a president who has promised to make the United States a leader in the fight against global warming. The technology for better, smarter, safer vehicles exists today. The U.S. auto industry is collapsing in large part because it has rejected new, more efficient technologies. These standards embrace instead of reversing this failed approach."

“Obama promised change, but this is change in the wrong direction. With all the bailout money spent, the U.S. government practically owns the U.S. auto industry, but unfortunately the bankrupt policies of auto industry lobbyists are still behind the wheel at the Department of Transportation.”

The CBD is among the groups of hysterical, freedom-grabbing "appliance motorists" and car-haters and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer who urged the off-the-hook crazy-liberal "Ninth Circus" Court of Appeals in 2007 to strike down the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2006 CAFE standards.

The ["Ninth Circus"] court ruled that the [2006] standards failed to adequately consider the vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions. As the Bush administration was formulating new standards, [the liberal Democrat-controlled] Congress [mistakenly] passed the Energy Independence and Security Act in December 2007, which mandates that the agency require the combined car and truck fleet reach a minimum of 35 mpg by 2020. In May 2008, the Bush [A]dministration issued a new proposal. While those standards were well below what are technically feasible [at least according to some granola-eating, pencil-necked geeks and muscle-car-hating wimps who have never engineered or built or sold a single new car or truck . . . and would be as horrified as "Click and Clack," the Tappet Brothers (Tom & Ray Magliozzi) to actually ride in a bona-fide supercar] and required by [bad, unconstitutional] law, they were higher than the final decision issued by the Obama [A]dministration last week.

So now you have it. Obama apparently triangulates his re-election strategy by goading his zany left-of-left flank into suing him for even more draconian butchering of the automotive free market in service to the false "climate change idol-god." Then when the activist judicial heavies "hometown" our automotive freedom into a fetid San Francisco trashcan, Obama will have the excuse that he was "just complying with a court decision" when he jacks CAFE to 35 m.p.g. in a huge jump.

Does anybody really think the Obama Administration will put up much of a fight against his allies and friends in the CBD? Or is this going to be another weakly-contested "show trial" like the one that resulted in last week's Iowa Supreme Court's decision forcing another of San Francisco favorite radical causes de jure onto the citizens of America?

Autoextremist Peter M. DeLorezo -- commenting on a host of uninformed, inane "greenazi" Detroit-bashing gibberish spewing from "San FranSICKO" Mayor Gavin Newsome -- had the right idea:

We have an excellent idea for Newsom and his ilk: Let's close off Northern California from the rest of the Union and let them "re-imagine" their own auto industry. After the citizenry realizes that they can only buy Obamalosimobiles and Shiny Happy Smiley cars of diminishing degrees of realistic feasibility then we can sit back and joyfully watch as the state government in Sacramento is dismantled and thrown out on their @$$#$ until some semblance of rational thought can return.

Eventually, litigeous, authoritarian liberal anti-automobile jerks like Lockyer, Newsome and the CBD will be coming for your collector cars, muscle cars, race cars, Jeeps(R), SUVs, work trucks, RVs, and car haulers. After all, they've got to "save the planet" by stealing our right to automotive "choice" and "self-determination." And after Obama packs the federal bench with like-minded wing-nut activists, you can expect no help in protecting your rights in the courts.

It's about to get a whole lot worse. And don't say Truth With Speedzzter didn't try to warn you.

"OBAMACA$H FOR CLUNKERS" DESTROYS THE USED CAR MARKET, BALLOONS THE DEFICIT, AND KICKSTARTS VEHICULAR INFLATION

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"Cash for Clunkers" is a horrible idea that will inflate the deficit, destroy the used car market, and drive inflation.

1. It will dramatically hurt late model residual values.

In a copyrighted story in the Automotive News, the chief economist of the largest U.S. auto auction said:

'Cash for clunkers' incentives to new-car buyers would have the same impact on prices of late-model used vehicles as new-vehicle cash incentives from the factory, said Tom Webb of Manheim, based in Atlanta.

In general, every $1,000 rebate on a new vehicle reduces the price of the same-make, current-model-year used vehicle by $700 to $800, Webb said. The impact on used-vehicle prices lessens as vehicles get older, he added.

Further compounding this problem is the reduction in frequent vehicle traders

There is evidence that that love affair is fading, and that for more Americans the car is becoming a longevity-driven commodity like the Maytag washing machine. New-vehicle sales fell 38.4% in the first quarter compared with the year-ago period, according to Autodata Corp. A recently released annual survey from R.L. Polk & Co. found that the median age of American vehicles in operation has risen to a record 9.4 years from 9.2 the previous two years.

And perhaps most worrisome for the industry is the recent disappearance of that iconic American character: the new-car enthusiast, otherwise known as the tuner, motor head, speed freak, buff, nut and zealot. [These people have not disappeared, but have simply been priced out of the marketplace**] The percentage of trade-ins newer than two years had hovered for years between 9% and 10%, says J.D. Power and Associates. Last year it slipped to 8.4%, and in the first two months of this year it fell to 6.6%, says J.D. Power.

Thus, as supplies of used vehicles shrink, the long-run outlook for the used vehicle market is poor indeed.

2. Cash for Clunkers will target V8s and other donor vehicles essential for motorsports and grassroots automotive hobbies.

The cash-for-clunkers proposals circulating in Congress vary. But the basic concept is represented by a plan backed by [Mouth-breathing Appliance Motorist Moron] U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton (D., Ohio). Her [pitiful excuse for a] bill would offer bonuses starting at $3,000 [added to the ballooning deficit and borrowed from the Chinese] for someone who scraps a 2001 or older model for a U.S.-made car that gets 27 miles per gallon on the highway. Buyers of a U.S.-made car that gets 30 mpg on the highway could get $5,000.

Dumping a "clunker" to get a new U.S.-made truck that gets at least 24 mpg on the highway would make you eligible for a $4,000 payment under Ms. Sutton's [idiotic] proposal. Businesses that buy a "work truck" that is cleaner than the vehicle replaced based on federal emissions testing could get $5,000 -- so long as the truck is registered in the name of a business.

3. "Cash for Clunkers" will inflate the price for older used American cars.

The reasoning is obvious -- anything older than 2001 that will wheeze to life for 50 feet or so (long enough to cross the "ObamaCrusher" "Cash-for-Clunkers" finish line") and which is categorically deemed a "clunker" by the know-nothing appliance motorists in Congress and the Obama Administration will instantly be worth as much as $5,000.00 in taxpayer cash if forever destroyed. Thus, the minimum "buy-in" for restorable cars and trucks built before 2001 will quickly inflate to more than $5,000.00. If not, then the artificial "ObamaMarket" will eventually suck most of these irreplaceable vehicles into the crusher.

As more and more enthusiast vehicles and more pedestrian donor vehicles are lost, the prices of the "survivors" will skyrocket. While natural attrition tends to increase prices on its own, "aborting" a whole generation of vehicles during the vulnerable time before they become recognized as collectable will spike prices.

This will also dramatically increase the price of used auto parts because of supply restrictions on the most desirable vehicles -- RWD V8s(Presumably, "Cash for Clunkers" won't target hideous four-cylinder imports, which are virtually useless as donor vehicles and have minimal future prospects as historic vehicles or restoration candidates). The loss of affordable used spare parts for RWD American vehicles will lead to fewer restorations and "builds" of vehicles from the 1980s and 1990s.

Fewer restorable "special interest" vehicles from the 1980s and 1990s will hamper development and sales of aftermarket restoration and modification parts. Fewer parts sold will drive up prices for the parts that do make it to market.

All of this, in turn, will price millions of automobile hobbyists out of the market. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT OBAMA'S APPLIANCE MOTORISTS AND POWER-HUNGRY GREENS WANT!

4. Cash for Clunkers disproportionately targets seldom driven marginal vehicles.

As the Wall Street Journal's Joseph B. White unwittingly points out, "cash for clunker" incentives will be too low to "hit" the SUVs that Obama's free-spending greens want to junk.

If I owned a 2000 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer all-wheel-drive model equipped with a 5.0 liter V-8 -- a popular configuration that year [and an excellent donor vehicle for various grassroots sporting vehicles] -- I would be getting about 15 mpg or less in daily driving. This is exactly the kind of vehicle Mr. Obama wants retired to the junkyard. But if Mr. Obama was a car dealer, I'd want him to give me as much as $5,300 for my old Explorer, based on the used vehicle trade-in values at Edmunds.com, an auto-shopping Web site.


[P]rying Americans out of their paid-off SUVs may require more than offering a fraction of the vehicle's trade-in value -- and that means more public money.

Thus, buyers will seek out cheaper trades, which will disproportionately come from the ranks of veteran vehicles that are not really in daily service.

5. Cash for Clunkers is a huge wealth transfer program to the Asian automakers.

Because of World Trade Organization (WTO) concerns, any "Cash For Clunkers" plan cannnot discriminate against imports. Thus, any "Cash for Clunkers" plan will have the unintended consequence of sending billions across the Pacific to the Asian automakers.

6. "Cash For Clunkers" will not screen out historically-significant models for preservation or salvage.

Plenty of marginal collector cars languish in the sub-$5,000.00 price bracket. Most of these are highly worn original vehicles or vehicles long parked in barns, fields, classic car salvages, or backyards. Many of these cars will be "monetized" by greedy opportunists if "Cash for Clunkers" becomes law. There is no mechanism to differentiate between a smoking, rusted-out, common-as-a-belly-button, boring Toyota Camry and a rare Rambler American, a Hudson Hornet, an Edsel, or a restorable 1938 "Spirit of Motion" Graham. Undoubtedly, some milestones such as these will be crushed in the haste to "cash in" on the "'ObamaCash' for Clunkers" windfall.


**A NOTE ON PRICING ENTHUSIASTS OUT OF THE MARKET

In 1967, the median income was $7,143.00. A huge variety of tire-smoking RWD V8 musclecars were available for $5,000.00 or less (Some substantially less. For example, a well-equipped 1967 GTO 400/4-speed stickered for around $3,300.00 -- that's less than 50% of the median income). The average musclecar in 1967 sold for 45-60% of the median income. Thus, an enthusiast who wanted a performance or sports car could often finance one during the boom years of the First Supercar Era for only a few dollars a month. Even clock-punching hourly workers could often afford a factory musclecar.

By 1985, the median income was $23,618. New Mustang GTs sold for only a little more than half of that amount. Even a state-of-the-art turbocharged, intercooled Mustang SVO or Buick Grand National sold for only about 70% of the median income. Thus, while respectable muscle was not as common or affordable as in the 1960s, it was still somewhat affordable for ordinary wage-earners and young college graduates.

As recently as 2003, the median income was $43,318. A 390 (net) h.p. SVT Cobra stickered for around $35,000.00 (right at 80% of the median income).

Now the median income is around $50,000.00. The few traditional musclecars left generally sticker for $35,000 or more, which pushes them above 70% of the median income. A 2010 Shelby GT500, exclusive of dealer gouging, retails for a whopping 92% of the median income! The bare-bones cheapest Mustang GT (which is saddled with glass-jawed hypereutectic pistons, spindly cracked-cap rods, a cast crank, and a pedestrian SOHC valvetrain) stickers in excess of 55% of the median income.

Obviously, if the Detroit automakers had been able to hold to price-income relationship of the 1960s, or even of the 1980s, new high-performance vehicles would still be affordable for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, more enthusiasts. OEM greed, unfunded regulatory mandates, and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards have artificially cut supplies and driven up prices on high-performance vehicles during the past 30 years.

If Ford could bring in a power-adder-ready (i.e. forged pistons, forged rods, forged crank, good multivalve heads) or even a power-adder-equipped V8 Mustang for around 50% of the median income, sales would be much, much higher (it's basic microeconomics).

Moreover, if Ford could offer a practical, affordable RWD V8-capable sedan (saloon)and crossover (we used to call them "station wagons" or "shooting brakes") with such attributes (i.e. Australian Falcon), it would further expand Ford's market share and high-performance image.

However, the emerging Obama "war" on high-performance and vehicle collecting will extract even more of a hidden "tax" on racers, hot rodders, tuners, and collectors.