Your Government at Work

[So Cal Mark]

The US Senate has issued a resolution designating Friday July 8th as "Collector Car Appreciation Day". SEMA has suggested it should be "Drive Your Collector Car to Work Day". And if you don't have a job, cruise on down to the Employment Development Dept

[mdrburchette]

Employment Development Department? They actually develop employment for you? Cool.

[CajunMike]

The EPA is not gonna like this.

[boogiedude]

Does this give all.owners of collectors cars a paid day off and free track time? You know, to appreciate our collector cars

[manoa matt]

There probably would have been a good size turnout, if it were not for the highly successful government program: "cash for clunkers."

[FulviaHF]

Aw, c'mon; that's such a red herring. You can't name one collector car that was turned in under "cash for clunkers"; they weren't offering anywhere near enough money to attract even half-decent cars.

[boogiedude]

that and I believe there was a cut off of the mid 80's for cash for clunkers

[fiatS2000]

Aw, c'mon; that's such a red herring. You can't name one collector car that was turned in under "cash for clunkers"; they weren't offering anywhere near enough money to attract even half-decent cars.

I saw a Buick Grand National on the list of cars turned in as clunkers. I would consider that a collector car.

[leftfield6]

I saw a Buick Grand National on the list of cars turned in as clunkers. I would consider that a collector car.

Yeah......but. There are a lot of abused/trashed/bastardized examples of the GN out there. I would say more crappy examples than collector quality cars. In the South it seems the Grand National was the chosen car of mullet haired guys who wanted to move up a notch from their 1982 Camaro. Not a set known for maintaining a car in it's original collectible condition.

[manoa matt]

I guess no one picked up on my sarcasm. Keep the government away from automobiles, their fuel, and their emissions. They have blundered every aspect they touch. Ethanol is a joke, and costs more to produce than it offsets, it also lowers the volatility and power output of the gasoline. The worst part being it doubled the price of corn (food) for consumers. Several states have even done away with the emissions testing.

Just look how they butchered our lovely spiders. Marker lights plastered all over every body panel, Multicolored tail lights, BIG HEAVY federal impact bumpers that impede handling and substantially reduce the power to weight ratio. Increased ride height. Oh, and the emissions equipment designed to strangle the engine, and make problem diagnosis impossible.

The clunker program was a red herring. "To get consumers to buy more (new) automobiles" Just at the time the struggling auto companies needed it the most.

[leftfield6]

Matt, sarcasm duly noted, but I disagree with you in regards to ALL government involvement being a disaster. Aesthetically? Sure, many mandated changes on our Fiats, and on numerous other cars did not exactly add to the visual appeal.

At the same time, mandated three point seat belts? A good thing.

Eventually mandated air bags? A good thing.

OBD ports for diagnosis are a mixed bag, but certainly do make diagnosis easy. Also makes it more expensive, but there ya go.

I agree that government intervention was not kind to our Italian iron, but it's not fair to say all government intervention is a disaster.

Completely agree on ethanol though, you can thank political porkbarreling for that one. Ethanol makes no sense except for the farmers and refiners.