Recycle More Now Than Ever

The following was written over a year ago and posted in an open forum at The H.A.M.B. which i'm a group moderator for a group I started for 1949-54 wagons
and sedan deliveries made by General Motors.
I simply wanted to know what responses I would receive from the members in regards to recycling, I just wanted to know if the members agree or disagree
with recycling. Some of the replies I read would have you believe I wanted to
start World War III.
Believe me i'm not trying to start a fight between the North and the South,
my main objective was to show that we all have a choice when it comes to
recycling, old car vs new car. I know this is a little long but I hope you find it
a good read. So now that I have explained myself better this time (I hope)
please feel free to read my posting to the H.A.M.B. members.

If you don't mind, I'm having a soap box moment, I feel at home hear at
The H.A.M.B. and I know the hambers here already know what it means to
recycle old cars. So everyone who reads this testimonial, please remember
to recycle, especially those old cars.
You know I see thousands upon thousands of old rusting cars that people on
flickr have added to their sites, and it's a shame what we've done to these
great relics, the pictures show these great Icons of our past that have been
stripped, abandoned, deserted, forsaken, rejected, scrapped, dumped,
discarded, tossed aside or the owners have just relinquished all control,
and why? because it was old, it was new once and if you can remember that
far back how it made you as a child or your parents feel and just because it
needed some engine work, the paint was faded, had to many squeaks and
rattles, you know It's a good thing we can't do to our parents what we do to
our old cars, whatever the reasons we come up with that justifies our minds
into thinking we need another new car. We'll I guess it works, because you
don't see them on the road anymore.
OK, so you've made up your mind and convinced yourself you want, need and deserve a new vehicle, so you go down to the local car dealership because you
want something new, something different, something that you think no one else
has, but in reality the manufacturer has made hundreds of thousands of them,
but at this point you don't care you have the fever so you pick out that shiny new
red one, and of course you want leather interior, am/fm cd player, mag rims and all the other bells and whistles it comes with and the salesman tallys it all up and he gives you the bottom line and you think to yourself I just want a new car I don't
want to buy stock in the company, well you say to yourself maybe I don't really
need the mag wheels or leather interior or whatever else that will bring the price down.
By the time the salesman has talked you back into all those accoutrements
(options) due to some creative financing, the price you pay for that new car
plus the financing over three, five or even seven years you could have
resurrected one of those fine rusting relics that you might have seen on flickr
and restored it for not much more than you would have payed for that new
one and you would still end up with something new, something different,
and truly something that not everyone else has, which is what you wanted
in the first place.

My latest Resurrection is a '51 all steel Chevrolet wagon which only 23,586
were made and it turned sixty one years old this year. I have no Idea how many
are left but there can't be that many, mine had been sitting in a field for 40
years all because the engine failed, and I have never seen one on the road
only a few at some car shows or in magazine here and there.

Look i'm not trying to talk you out of buying a new car, if you feel that you
have worked hard for it and you deserve it then by all means buy it, what i'm
trying to say is you have other options that you might like to explore, and in
this day and age it's important to recycle now more then ever, not just for the economy but most importantly it's good for Mother Earth.
I hope I've given some of you a little food for thought about recycling and I
hope some decide to rescue those cars or trucks or whatever your fancy is
from the wrath of God or at the hands of Mother Nature.
Thank You
gemnewt

I totally agree with this. When my 1968 Chevy C20 engine blow up I decided that I would just get me a newer car because I was sick and tired of fixing up my daily driver. So I went and bought a 2009 Dodge Journey. You know what I absolutely hate it. I wish I was driving an older car. Something that has some sole. Something that i don't see every day. That's why I'm going to be fixing up my 47 and making it a daily driver. People say its impractical to drive an old car daily but you know what in 47 it was a new car and people felt special for driving a new car everyday. In 59 when some kid bought that car with the little bit of money that he saved up he would drive it everyday and he felt great for the freedom. Now I want to fix it up and drive it everyday because I'll actually enjoy driving my car everyday.