Poor Regulatory Policies Heighten Wasteful Scrappage of Collectable Cars

Imagine a car as this 1936 Packard Phaeton, being parted and scraped during the 1990s

 

Imagine, scrapping automobile as say a 1936 Packard Phaeton (4 door open car/convertible) at an age of 65 years in 1992?

 

4 door convertibles were last offered regular by model year 1941, except for the 1949-1951 Frazer Manhattan, as well as the 1961-67 Lincoln Continental 4 door convertible - a stretched version being the J.F..K Assassination car).

  

 1941 Oldsmobile

 

When U.S automobile production resumed after WW2 with the pre-war generation bodies, none resumed producing phaetons.  Yet a new manufacturer, Kaiser-Frazer would offer its own new body that included a pair of beautiful semi-open 4 door models, a convertible - the Frazer Manhattan - and a fixed roof "hardtop"   -  the Kaiser Virginian - both being "semi-open" with the front and rear door windows separated by a fixed rectangular fixed framed window.

 

 

 

 

The " true"  4 door hardtop- fully open side window configuration - appeared as its prototype with the 1953 Cadillac Orleans show car, 

 

 

True 4 door hardtops mass produced debut for the 1955 model year with GM's Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac, and for 1956 with Chevrolet & Pontiac.

 

 

 

 

GM produced 4 door hardtops through model year 1976 (along with the 1965-67 Corvair, and the 1966-1972 intermediates Chevelle, Tempest/Lemans (alongside the 4 door post sedans). 

 

 

Ford/Mercury offered them 1956-1974- chickening out with the pillared hardtop upon the same generation body through 1978.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chrysler introduced its initial 4 door hardtop in 1956, aka the Southampton.  

 

 

 

 

It's initial final generation body, coming after the 1968-97 "fuselage, with its 1974-1978 version.  Plymouth and Dodge, which offered them by 1957, would wimp out like Ford/Mercury by late 1974.  Chrysler, to its credit continued its 4 door hardtops through model year 1978, with its gorgeous waterfall front New Yorker (initially offered as the Imperial for 1974 & 1975.  Subsequently, Chrysler offered "pillared" hardtops (lacking fixed door window frames) only for 1979-1981, upon discontinuing their full sized cars, and offering as such the former compact Aspen/Volare chassis/body, with fixed door window frames.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_%28automobile%29

All U.S. American 4 door hardtops were full sized, except for the 2nd generation 1965-67 Corvair (shamefully not offered for 1968-69); 1966-1972 GM intermediates Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile & Buick (all separate body on frame); as well as the (sadly unibody) 1970-1971 Ford Torino and Mercury Montego.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth never produced any.

 

AMC had its 4 door hardtop, starting with the 1956 Nash 4 door hardtop .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMC wimped out after 1960, yet did have an excellent design effort towards what should have been a 1970 Javelin-Hornet, 4 door hardtop mini station wagon- a more sensibly sized upscale alternative to the compact Hornet, as well as the Mustang/Camaro/Firebird,, a well as the Mercury Cougar.  However, its poor choice of unibody construction (no separate chassis frame) would undermine that idea.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2019/12/18/rogues-ramblers-rebels-and-more-fred-hudsons-tenure-at-american-motors

 

Now consider the respective time deltas- 1936 or 1967, with the current year as this authorship's, 2023.

 

Try imagining someone with say a 1936 Packard Phaeton, held within a family for several decades, choosing to "part" and scrap such a fine piece of history during the 1970s, 1980s or even later?

 

What is the great squeeze upon the mass personal ownership of automobiles?

 

Consider: local zoning ordinances, prohibiting people keeping their own automobile/cars, if either "unregistered" or inoperable within residential lots, unless kept fully indoors, if at all.

Consider Facebook's "value capture" with disallowing the forwarding of its Marketplace ads, which are artificially limited for local rather than international use.

 

Consider the vast market of the automobile owner internationally.  Just consider as a start, the pent up demand for better market access for people who come across potentially desirable, respectable personal cars.  Ask Russia.  Ask China.  Ask anywhere else.  Why are people in the U.S. continuously stripping and wasting perfectly rebuild-able desirable rear wheel drive U.S. American cars?  Why are we seeing people as here, now just recently written up in a mid summer article in Motor Trend:

 

Larry Dillon is one of those devoted Pontiac fanatics whose mission in life is to discover sad and neglected high-powered Pontiacs and return them to the streets where they belong. It's something that's been near and dear to his heart for the last four decades.

 

Larry's taste for Pontiac horsepower has put him in the seat of many top-tier muscle cars over the years. Countless GTOs, 2+2s, and Bonnevilles have made their way into his stable, and he's always on the lookout for more rare rides.

 

The above is the very start of the Motor Trend article, about a rare (5 made) 1968 Bagham OHC (Overhead Cam) Pontiac short-deck V-8, that Dillon acquired, and sought to flip at the July 2023 PYI Ames Pontiac Nationals event at the drag strip and fairgrounds in Norwalk, Ohio.

 

 

 

https://www.motortrend.com/features/ohc-pontiac-experimental-engine-found/

 

OK. "Larry Dillon is one of those devoted Pontiac fanatics whose mission in life is to discover sad and neglected high-powered Pontiacs and return them to the streets where they belong. It's something that's been near and dear to his heart for the last four decades... Larry's taste for Pontiac horsepower has put him in the seat of many top-tier muscle cars over the years. Countless GTOs, 2+2s, and Bonnevilles have made their way into his stable"

 

So what motivates/compels acquiring someone obtaining something akin to a 1967 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door hardtop, in reasonably tolerable straight body condition, and being so situated to striping such vintage cars for parts and scrap-page?  Just mere weeks after this article's appearance, the same individual, posts in Facebook PONTIAC PARTS SWAP MEET

 Parting out a 67 Bonneville four-door hardtop mint dash pad full AC setup let me know what part you're looking for Cars located in New Jersey if you could send me a PM and I will respond

 

 GOING TO THE JUNKYARD THIS WEEK SO LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANYTHING! Parting 67 Bonneville four-door hardtop dash pad real decent, full AC setup let me know what part you're looking for Cars located in New Jersey if you could send me a PM and I will respond

 

 

 

Why would anyone make such a listing, right after being written up by Motor Trend, as a devoted Pontiac fanatic ... whose mission in life is to discover sad and neglected high-powered Pontiacs and return them to the streets where they belong....

 

OK, 1967 Pontiac Bonneville 4 door hardtop.  57,055 produced.  How many surviving?

 

This is the production body generation initially introduced for model year 1965.

This is a full sized automobile. 124" wheelbase.  Huge open window side

 

 

https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/listing/1967-pontiac-bonneville-orlando-fl-2692667

Clearly we MUST address the net of "local" jurisdictional zoning restrictions, town, county and even state, that are overly prohibitive, most specially with upon larger lots zoned residential.

 

To be in such a business as Larry, one must have the space to store a number of automobiles on one's own dwelling.

 

One might suppose people would be permitted to store hobby cars, with restrictions contained somewhere within the rational scope, e.g. mandate things as tall fencing, and allowing outdoor storage kept minimally obtrusive, including with car covers upon the paved driveway towards the rear.

 

And one would likewise imagine the authorities easing the research and titling of such fine potential collector automotive works of art, as way too many are scrapped reportedly for the title being misplaced/lost, as when someone died and the kin did not have the paperwork kept inside the car. in question.

 

But alas, zoning restricts prohibit such hobby cars in a state of potential transitioning from being stored outdoors either covered or blocked from view by fencing limited to only 6 feet in height.

And people in general should better reflect upon such a speeding of wasteful and stupid collector car destruction.  Larry Dillon, as with anyone else, ought to be allowed to fence in a portion of his land, in order to store vintage automobiles for restoration and re-entry to the streets.

What is stymieing using the internet to find buyers world wide, and offering and selling of such collector automobile from buyers in Russia, China, the Middle East, and elsewhere?  Why does Facebook place arbitrary restrictions upon searches of its marketplace within comparably small areas of geography?  And on that note, what about Craigslist, with its absurd small area to large area index tree, e.g. Craigslist/small town/metro area/state, instead of Craigslist/everywhere/state-province/city/town?

 

 

 

Why instead are people eliminating such automobiles, for the sake of a few parts (many already otherwise findable), plus the scrap mettle value?

What are the full scope of U.S. mis-legislated and mis-regulated occurring under which here with policies designed for eliminating the widespread citizen ownership of automobiles, resulting in an obscene waste of mass produced products, via policies to speed the scrapping of perfectly serviceable automobiles already in existence.