Sunday, June 28, 2009
Cash for Clunkers
There is never a cloud so dark that a silver lining cannot be found.
With that in mind, the recent passing of the "Cash For Clunker" legislation left me with a singular opportunity. Kate and Gerardo have been looking to buy a new car. The Astro will never again be worth $4,500, so it has to go. So with the decision made to trade in the Astro, boy was I surprised that it started acting up. While loyalty is one of my values, it is not a primary value. At first I thought the problem was in the engine, every time I would try to accelerate, the car would jump and shudder, but Gerardo helped me diagnose that the rear end was actually falling out!
This does not look good.
Gerardo helping me take it apart.
With that in mind, the recent passing of the "Cash For Clunker" legislation left me with a singular opportunity. Kate and Gerardo have been looking to buy a new car. The Astro will never again be worth $4,500, so it has to go. So with the decision made to trade in the Astro, boy was I surprised that it started acting up. While loyalty is one of my values, it is not a primary value. At first I thought the problem was in the engine, every time I would try to accelerate, the car would jump and shudder, but Gerardo helped me diagnose that the rear end was actually falling out!
This does not look good.
Gerardo helping me take it apart.
The spring and axle with the bracket removed. The spring is made out of fiberglass!
The brackets, both sides were rusted out and broken. I called the Government Motors Dealer and he said that they had eight in stock for $40 each, but he had never heard of anyone having had to replace them. Of course that is the government talking.
Friday afternoon it was off to U-Pull-R-Parts for some replacement brackets. $5 each plus $2 admission. Having practiced with Gerardo, it only took a few minutes to unbolt.
All back together. This looks a lot better.While I was at U-Pull, I wandered around looking for other good stuff and found a couple of nice VW's. The tin that was left on these beauties was in surprisingly good shape. One is a 59 and the other is a 64. The 59 had the little lever to switch to the reserve on the gas tank. It brought back a lot of memeoies, mostly bad.
I have to assume that someone died and their kids hauled away their toys. # posted by Fred @ 7:35 AM 
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Make sure you buy American! Lots of good deals to be had, it's end of model year. Corrine
# posted by 
: Mon Jun 29, 09:48:00 AM 2009
: Mon Jun 29, 09:48:00 AM 2009
Hello Walter, As far as I could tell they made it up. I showed them the broken bracket and asked, "How much?" and the kid said, "$5 each." and I went out and got two of them. I am going to miss that car.
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