1997 Bentley Continental R Photo:www.finecars.cc
Back in 1997 the Bentley Continental R would have set you back about $250,000.
Apparently today you could have had one for just under $4500.00. if you were lucky enough to buy it before somebody traded it in under the governments recent cash for clunkers program.
According to the Freep.com:
"It’s one of several rare or surprisingly new vehicles destroyed under the Obama administration’s cash for clunkers program designed to sweep old gas guzzlers off U.S. roads. According to new government data, the rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 were enough to doom the Continental and a ’97 Aston Martin DB7 Volante that once had a sticker price of $135,000 to the crusher.
And 37 people decided to clunk models that were less than a year old.
Beyond car lovers’ grief over why anyone would destroy sweet rides like a 1999 Mercedes C43 AMG, the value of the junked jalopies plays a major role in deciding whether the $3 billion program helped the economy."
But wait it gets even stranger as not just old but even 2008 model cars were traded in for the $4500.00 rebate.
The Detroit Free Press goes on to report that:
"Some enthusiasts would have paid many thousands of dollars for the rare 1987 Buick GNX destroyed under the program; only 547 were built. The nation’s supply of used Chevrolet Corvettes was thinned by 131, including 34 convertibles, and the program also liberated 22 Americans from the burden of owning a Peugeot.
The 2008 model year vehicles deemed clunkers ranged from a Scion xD to 10 Mercury Grand Marquis sedans to two copies of special edition F-150 pickups, sporting 450-hp V8s and Chip Foose-designed paint jobs."
Check out the video below as the boys on the British Show Wheeler Dealers restore a classic Bentley:
Comments
Ridiculous results...
Here are the words of user Oscar77 in the comment section of the story on freep.com and I find them to be spot on.
tinyurl.com/yb2odnm
"Remember that the condition of the car had to be 'running'. So if you had a Vette that had been T-boned, or a Caddy that took a swim during Katrina, this may be a better deal. Don't forget strange bankruptcy/divorce laws. A person might have been unable to buy a car and sell the Bently, but may have been able to convince a 'green' judge to let him just trade vehicles. Or perhaps the wife was going to get the Bently, and now she gets a new Dodge Caliber after the court case is done.
People have been known to incur loss in order to spite others."
Methinks too many reporters are trusting but not verifying what other reporters report.
U.S. News and World Report makes a number of very good points indicating some of the "Exotic Clunkers" are more than likely typos and reporting errors.
For example, freep.com reports a Scion xD among the Clunkers, and Roman you're repeated it here. However, the Scion xD gets a minimum of 28 MPG so it wasn't available to be Clunkered.
tinyurl.com/yavl6z9
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