[sigh] This kind of thing breaks my heart.
http://www…cash.KUSA
Here is the video without commercials.
Some cars deserve crushing - the Maserati Biturbo is one of those cars. These are infamous for never running right, for blowing engines, for being bottomless money pits. Problem started with the biturbo blowing through the carb, overheating it and causing unending vapor lock. They crushed one on Top Gear just for fun.
You could buy this car for $2,000, spend another $10,000 to get it to run and have a $4,000 when you were done.
Now, a 2002 Maserati Coupe GT for about $25,000 ($95k new) is one of the best deals going.
Twotone
Sad. Just another in a fast building mountain of examples of just how insane this whole CFC program is.
TSM, Perhaps What Is Needed Is A “New CFC” Program. Ejecting Congressmen During A “Cash For Congressmen” Program Would Be Beneficial.
The “cash” saved could go toward trying to get the deficit/debt under control and the missing politicians couldn’t spend any more of our tax dollars.
CSA
When future historians write the story of Cash For Clunkers I don’t think it will read as one of Washington’s finer moments. But I have to tag the Executive Branch for this one.
very sad.
Ray lahood is a quack.
The Biturbo was garbage the day it was made. This was built when Maserati was the laughing stock of the car industry. The Biturbo was the King of Clowns.
ALL Italian cars are Fiats with different trim levels and engine options…
As hard as it may be to believe, a Biturbo is to a Fiat as a Fiat is to a Lexus…
Yep, here is Jeeza’s review of the MC12 and the famous “Dumpster Bi Turbo”.
thats no excuse for crushing cars willy-nilly.
take the chevy vega. yes the vega. hot rodders would LOVE to get there hands on a good body vega. or any vega for that matter. particularly a waogn. why? because they look good, and theres no hard feelings for cutting them up.
Not so. The Lamborghini is an Audi. And Ferrari is still an amazing car, despite Fiat ownership. Hey, Chevy builds the Corvette and Ford built the GT40.
Maserati was a great sports car until Citroen took them over. There were still several good years, but they were not the top end racers they had once been. And Fiat buying them was actually a good ting. Maserati was joined with Ferrari and is now a much better car than it has been for decades.
You know these cars don’t have to be crushed. The C4C program requires that they destroy the engine and drivetrain, but the junk yards are free to keep any of the rest of them for selling as used parts. The fact that they did crush this car indicates there is no market for the used parts.
Showing good looking “clunkers” being crushed makes for good television but you can bet they waited around to film that 1 in a hundred. Those junkyards know which ones aren’t worth keeping for parts.
uh, no. the yards must destroy them wthin 180 days, and they arent about to go running out of the office to begin parting them out before 180 days is up.
1 in a hundred huh?
Edit-sorry JTS, I couldn’t tell…here’s what still is worth posting: The Biturbo was a very bad car, even when new, as compared to Fiats, many of which were fun cars to drive and not nearly as bad as many make them out to be. Earlier and later Maseratis were good, sometimes great, cars. Not the Biturbo.
texases, my comment was addressed to Caddyman, not you.
The Maseratti made the TV news!
I’m not sure what your point is with the video. Are you trying to suggest that Corvettes and Maserattis are being turned in in large numbers for C4C? Again, sure there will be some “nice” cars turned in, but the reason the only ones you see on TV are “nice” cars is because it “makes better TV.” Same goes for YouTube. It was filmed because it was exceptional, not because it was a representative example.
Oh, and that “1 in a hundred” is hyperbole, not meant to be taken as the actual percentage.
You can also bet that any junkyard that thinks there are saleable parts to be salvaged will do so before they crush or shred the car. Truth is, most of them aren’t worth the space they would take up.