EARTHWATCH : In Car Heaven : Havana’s street scene suggests arguments for going back for the auto of the future.
I have a friend who envies the Cubans.
He thinks they have all the neat cars. Really. He just got back from a trip to Havana and he says American classics from the ‘50s and ‘60s are everywhere. An entire city of cars you wanted to own when you were a kid.
He got a crick in his neck ogling all those beauties. In the original colors. Running fine on rebuilt engines, since no American cars or parts have entered the country since the ‘60s.
What does this have to do with the environment? Plenty. In a minute I’ll make the connection based on science. But first, another good reason to go out and buy a classic car.
If you were a guy like me in the ‘50s, it was the car of your dreams. The one you drove to get your girl. Or the one the other guy drove to get your girl. I mean, are you getting a buzz thinking about that crazy ’56 Chevy (or Plymouth or Ford . . . a good year)? I think we were crazy to junk our neat old cars.
When you see a classic anywhere it’s a head-turner, right? You also realize that new cars aren’t that exciting. Most of them look like mobile microwave ovens with a weight problem.
OK. Now for my ecological argument for buying a recycled car. Here’s why you should go back for your car of the future.
We’re talking about the family’s second car. The one that’s used around town for those short trips the deep environmentalists frown upon. According to the Wall Street Journal--scarcely an advocate of not purchasing new products--a classic car is “a part of the past that hasn’t outlived its usefulness.” Look in the “Autos--Antiques and Classics” section of this newspaper’s classified ads. Here’s a way to recycle steel, aluminum, glass, plastic and rubber all at once. And you’re buying American and helping the trade balance.
You’ll also be trading with local merchants (instead of impersonal franchises) because you’ll be motivated to find and cultivate an independent mechanic who will be a person of settled ways and good standing in the community. That’s an important “green” value (see below for example). Sales and service for classics owners is a terrific “networking” experience, by the way.
Insurance? You state in the policy the cost of buying another such car if it’s totaled. Since these are going for $5,000 to $10,000 in the vintages I’m excited about, it cuts your bill below new car rates.
Finally, the two biggies, environmentally speaking: (1) Buying an existing car--classic or not-saves a tremendous amount of electrical energy. It means that industry doesn’t use power making the car--an amount of kilowatts sufficient to run your house for a year. (2) Gasoline is something to watch but, surprisingly, not something to worry about. The average car on the road today--all makes and years--gets 22 m.p.g. The classics I like get about 18. And the new clean-burning regular gas cuts smog emissions to EPA levels.
My favorite, the Nash Metropolitan, now “hot” in Hollywood and praised by the Wall Street Journal as an investment, gets 50 m.p.g.
A call to a local classic car dealer said a “nicely restored” Metropolitan is going for $9,950, while a “ground up” model--totally restored with original parts from the ground up--would run about $14,000.
It looks like something Luke Skywalker would have driven as a teen-ager. It was the first compact convertible and I think it looks like the next compact convertible. This car was so far ahead of its time that its advertising campaign involved a driver club with the motto “Motores Prudentiores,” complete with a coat of arms showing the resources that were conserved when you bought and operated the car (petroleum, iron ore, forests and cash!).
So, whether for love or money, I think we should go back to the car of the future.
