Cash for Clunkers - Maserati

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/08/14/delozier.maserati.cash.KUSA

I always loved these cars... and this one has 18,000 miles on it.

Huh?

The clunkers have to be crushed?? I thought it was just the engine had to be destroyed, not the car itself.

And the environmentalists bozos in Washington think crushing a servicable car and building a new one will have LESS negative impact on the environment than just driving the wheels the car that is already owned and driven.

Oh, I forgot - cash for Clunkers is a ploy to get stagnent car sales rolling and get people more jobs.

Still - it impacts us car hobbiests negatively.

jikelly wrote: Huh? The clunkers have to be crushed?? I thought it was just the engine had to be destroyed, not the car itself.

The engines have to be destroyed, but you can part the rest out as much as you want. The shells have to be crushed within six months.

One of those with an Ls1 in it would be unreal.

Although..I think an LS1 in anything is better then what it has... Cars...blenders...Microwaves...

A 1985 Biturbo? That's probably not a bad car to crush. There's nothing more expensive than a free Biturbo :)

But they do look awesome.

Ya, there's a reason it only has 18K miles on it. It wasn't running most of the time!!

The dude in the vid called it a BEE turbo.

I never knew these cars got such bad mileage. A quick check shows that it gets 14mpg combined. Interestingly, the story says the buyer got $3,500 which means that he bought a car that gets less than 24 combined. I thought it should not be too hard to get 24.
Turns out that Subarus only get 17 to 22 combined. .

There are some pretty funny comments on the article. My fav's:

"Yeah, it's a shame they are going to crush this car before it has a chance to deplete a few more bank accounts, break up a few more marriages, and given the possibility it ever runs again, getting smoked in the straights or the twisties by your mom's Camry"

And

"Know what? Even at $3500, nobody wanted it. And you know why nobody wanted it? Because it's a freaking Maserati BiTurbo, which is about as desirable as catching herpes from sex with Carrot Top."

obviously the salesman is a dumb***, doesnt care to know that first it will see a junkyard before the crusher, hes just concerned about money. The reporter doesnt know anything about cars, probably thinks Blinker Fluid exists..

16vCorey wrote: There are some pretty funny comments on the article. My fav's: "Yeah, it's a shame they are going to crush this car before it has a chance to deplete a few more bank accounts, break up a few more marriages, and given the possibility it ever runs again, getting smoked in the straights or the twisties by your mom's Camry" And "Know what? Even at $3500, nobody wanted it. And you know why nobody wanted it? Because it's a freaking Maserati BiTurbo, which is about as desirable as catching herpes from sex with Carrot Top."

Awesome quotes.

Regarding CfC, I decided last night that I am all right with the whole deal. I wouldn't want to own a car that was maintained by someone who fell for this gimmick.

Two E30's in the local Honda dealer's crusher lot. One is a ix. Yeah, those are real gas guzzlers.

This program is stupid beyond words.

While in North Carolina, Toyman and I passed a dealership with one of those Dumpsters out front. Sticking out was the back half of a 2nd gen RX7. From what little I could see, the car was actually in pretty good shape, glossy paint etc. I died a little inside; another 13B gone.

destroying the engine in a parking lot is boring, it would be better to take this car to the track and see how long until the engine implodes naturally. I give it 10 laps of Laguna Seca.

Maserati Biturbo?

I give it until it gets started on the trailer to back it down.

Jensenman wrote: While in North Carolina, Toyman and I passed a dealership with one of those Dumpsters out front. Sticking out was the back half of a 2nd gen RX7. From what little I could see, the car was actually in pretty good shape, glossy paint etc. I died a little inside; another 13B gone.

Ya I would like to get my hands on that one just for the parts alone. Always looking for FC RX7 parts.

You guys lament the "good" cars going to the shredder but no one was waiting in line to buy them.

On the flip side, a friend has a 99 Ford F-150 XL with about 120,000 miles on it. Runs good, looks good, and still shiny black. Kelly Blue Book Private Party value? about $3300. Cash for clunkers would be an easy $3500 but he is keeping it anyway. Too good for that. Now if a head gasket started leaking...

This story hurts my heart. Even thought they aren't the greatest cars in the world, I had alot of admiration for the Biturbo. My best friend had two of them in high school and we had great fun in them. Impressive when it ran well but it was an eighties italian car. What a shame.

So if no one was willing to buy a car at a decent price, we should then give the owner $4500 and destroy the engine?

In reply to 2002acr:

Nobody was waiting in line to pay 3500-4500 for them now, but in the future, this is one less car that will be able to find the right owner to preserve it for enjoyment of people of the future.

At the same time, I'm paying for cars to be destroyed and subsidizing people's purchase of new cars. I really don't see the upside of this debacle for me.

Feedyurhed wrote: The dude in the vid called it a BEE turbo.

That is the correct pronunciation of the name.

Still wrong. It's actually BEETrouble.

Im looking at a Taho that the owner was going to trade in under C4C. Decided to sell it for $1k and put the money towards a used wagon. He will come out cheaper in the lonk run. Now if Uncle Sam will send me my damn tax $$ it will be mine.

GregTivo wrote: In reply to 2002acr: Nobody was waiting in line to pay 3500-4500 for them now, but in the future, this is one less car that will be able to find the right owner to preserve it for enjoyment of people of the future. At the same time, I'm paying for cars to be destroyed and subsidizing people's purchase of new cars. I really don't see the upside of this debacle for me.

No. 1 clunker, Ford Explorer, good riddance.

yes I know Masers, are always troublesome, they actually embarrass you some times, believe me i had one i know.Everyone knows that italian thoroubreds are high maintenance cars. on the other hand though they have character, design, timeless looks that make them prime canditates for classic status. i would bet my last $ that all of us folks will be kicking ourselves for not queing up to buy cars like that in 10 years from now. you only have to look where car design is heading to. pretty soon we will all be driving little electric runabouts with no character,or spirit, longing for the days when we were able to tinker with owr piston engines, make them go faster. that was labor of love.Now who will want to tinker with an electric motor. find me nowadays a car with the character of the early jaguar e-type, the alfa romeo gtv bertone, or the triumph tr-6. all of them fun cars with character.