Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Cash for Clunkers..The Sound of Good Motors Going Bad
Carpe Diem has a post today with links to YouTube videos of dealership mechanics destroying perfectly good vehicles in the name of environmentalism....because that is what getting all those "gas guzzlers" off the road is, an expensive, funded by you and me, sop to a bunch of ivory tower environmentalists who never had to settle for a not so great vehicle just to get around in. Many of the poor, innocent, trucks they are ruining by running them without oil are far better than the ones we in our family drive. Nice trucks with an easy hundred thousand miles left in them. He is an economist. I am just a farmer. But the idea of killing good trucks about kills me and I don't think he was too crazy about it either.
Bad enough to crush them. To destroy tangible wealth like that.
But if you can listen to those motors running themselves to death with whatever that glop they pour into them is, you are stronger than I am.
I used to drive tractor for the boss...a lot. Back when the 5088 had a functional transmission I chopped almost all the haylage and some of the corn. Hundreds of loads a year and hundreds of hours alone in the cab, watching the rows of hay rolling up, watching swallows diving for the insects I stirred up, sometimes sharing the field with foxes, coyotes, deer and hawks.
And listening.
When you drive tractor doing crop work you learn to listen, constantly and carefully, with a certain part of your mind for every sound the tractor, chopper and the wagon you are pulling behind might make. The least, tiny, wrong noise from the engine or a bearing or a gathering chain or any moving part and you stop and investigate. Even today, when I hear them chopping when the wind is right, or hear the Case 930 coming down into the barn yard with the spreader, I subconsciously listen to the chugging of the diesel, making sure it sounds smooth and right and powerful. To listen to engines deliberately being driven until they were ruined literally made me feel queasy. Alan wanted to look at more of them and I told him he had to do it later when I wasn't on the computer.
We talked about how we would happily have driven several of the nice pieces of machinery we saw ruined...that they were in better shape than ours.
Then Alan said, "I couldn't do that to my truck."
I had to agree. I have had a few issues with the Durango, but there is no way I would let someone ruin it like that.
It doesn't bother the government at all though. They create no wealth and have no problem disposing of it in the name of theoretical pollution abatement plans. Golly I am glad I didn't vote for anybody in power in Washington right now.
I'll bet that it's even worse for those who did vote them in! lol.
ReplyDeleteSo right. We are being ruled by people who have created no wealth and have no understanding of what is involved in production.
ReplyDelete1 minute 15 seconds. That's as far as I got with the Death of the Corvette. Who could listen longer to that lovely throaty engine strangle to its demise.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I have spent my life listening to engines and liking it. Gas-ups get my blood going and tractor pulls keep my adrenaline so high for so long it can't be healthy.
How sad and stupid. And not just the death of perfectly good cars. The waste waste waste of money. to me it's like burning money. How can that possibly be good for the economy? Or throwing away all the appliance in your home to buy new...how can that be good for the environment? Idiotic. Awful. Sad.
XOXO
Joce
PS You should have a disclaimer that emotionally sensitive folks ought not to watch the video. I don't know if my preggers self can recover from this funk.
sad, very sad!
ReplyDeletethe worst one for me was the v10 ford, even though i am not a ford fan, there is something about american power that draws me to it, and a 6.8 liter is a power house, sad just sad :'(
ReplyDeleteClassic straw man argument!
ReplyDeleteFred I'll keep my old dodge thankyou very much.I thought about for about two blinks. What a waste
ReplyDeleteLove
XOXO
Mappy
We certainly develop affinities for machines, since we're around them all day, and we get "in tune" with their rhythms and peculiarities.
ReplyDeleteThe abuse of these perfectly functional motors is just wrong, and so wasteful.
LOL our clunkers are too old to qualify. Go figure on that one. I guess we'll keep running them until they quit, they are a lot better made anyway!
ReplyDeleteThe good folk who took advantage of the program and got spandy new vehicles at a discount might deserve some of your wrath too. If nobody had taken 'em up on it, those cars wouldn't be being destroyed.
ReplyDeletei have serious problems with this whole program. i know the theory is to stimulate the economy by having people buy new vehicles, but since the deficit is in the TRILLIONS now, i don't think we have the money to waste on sh*t like this.
ReplyDeleteand, i can't even click the link, knowing what it is. i'm an engineer who imprinted like a chick on horsepower. hurting it hurts me.
Dickiebo, I hope they have sense enough to be troubled by the direction the country is taking. I have my doubts though.
ReplyDeleteJan, when everything is handed to you, you have no reason to value it. They should all have to work at real jobs as a prerequisite for election.
Joce, it about killed me. I had to make Alan turn off the sound and then stop watching them. Egregious, wanton waste. So shameful!
Anon, it is
Alan, those cars could have served people for a long time yet. Now they are just garbage
Anon....bad news all around
Matt, love you too....try watching the videos. They will drive you nuts I'll bet.
Jeffro, if you were raised to deplore waste...to finish what was on your plate because of starving children somewhere, you can not abide wanton destruction of that magnitude without considerable discomfort.
Nita, we didn't even think about it...couldn't afford a car and like the ones we have. The ones that were ruined were in many cases so nice that folks saw them in the driveway of the dealership and stopped to check out buying them...alas
June, after I watched a few of the videos I thought about that. And you are right. I wish no one had taken the money, what a protest that would have been
Ericka, that is another good point. These people are throwing our money around like they didn't have to earn it...oh wait...hundreds of thousands of stimulus dollars went to ineligible people in prison. Such bookkeeping. What oversight!
I am certain that "not voting for any of those in power" will not be enough to forgive all my tolerance of total stupidity in the name of goodness. Lucky that I know what will save me, working on the best for the betterness. Kind of like butter, cream churned. Love your post.
ReplyDeletethis new president is totally wasting our money...how 'bout the supplies for school kids...lots of abuse there...i've seen it!
ReplyDeletei pray things get better!
I am so mad about the cash for clunkers! What a waste. We have been driving back behing some of our local car lots just to look and see what kinds of vehicles were being wasted. I found about 3 vehicles that were actually ready for the junk yard and the other hundred looked nicer than what I drive. While I was there there were some guys snooping around to find a reese hitch for their truck. I guess they had found an almost new reese hitch and they were taking it off. I know that is steeling but it seems like that is better than the new hitch being crushed.
ReplyDeleteEArl, thank you for your kind words
ReplyDeleteAnon, I do too...this is so discouraging
Anon 2 I don't blame them one bit...the whole program is stealing from us and from our children and grandchildren....