Betcha didn't see this coming...

I have a little story to tell. In itself, there's less conspiracy than there is just aggravating reality, but by digging a little deeper one can see how easy it is for one thing to drastically affect seemingly unrelated other things.

My son recently embarked on a goal of rebuilding an old 1980 Chevy LUV pickup. We had one that had engine problems (which later turned out to be a spun rod bearing), and I thought it was an excellent idea for two reasons: to give him the knowledge of how to fix vehicles, and to give him the pride of knowing he made his truck run. Everything went fine; we had to search for a few parts, and we had to have a machinist do some work on it, but all that is normal.

The other day, he was filling up the fluids in preparation of hearing the old girl run and the antifreeze was leaking right through. Upon inspection, it appeared the old radiator had past its usefulness; there were several splits in the core. No problem - we'll just find another radiator. The problem is that no one (that we can find) makes this particular radiator any more. OK, plan B: go to a junkyard and find one.

Here's where it gets interesting... there are no more older cars/trucks sitting in junkyards waiting to donate parts! A few years ago when metal prices went so high, they were all crushed and melted down. Only cars newer than a few years are now kept for parts.

The conspiracy? Simple. How easy is it to manipulate metal prices? The supply is controlled by a handful of smelting companies. Increase the price of metal, even for a short time, and you remove all sorts of metal items from the economy. Remove repair parts from the economy and you effectively force consumers into regular purchase of either new cars or late-model used cars, since older vehicles can no longer be repaired. In effect, you have restricted the ability of people to escape an industry.

I remember the rush to crush vehicles when the price of metal rose... but never did I think that it would affect me in this way!

I never saw this coming.

Now consider this: if someone were to want to remove gold from the economy, what better way to do so than by increasing the price of gold? That will get people to melt down and/or sell old gold items, especially in a struggling economy. And that, in turn, places all the gold in the hands of a handful of brokers. How many here who have bought gold have actually taken possession? How many have bars of gold bullion or gold coins sitting in a safe in their basement? I would say very few; every broker I have spoken to has been very outspoken about how they can make ownership more convenient for me by storing my gold in their warehouse.

Convenient indeed. When gold was outlawed back in 1933, a great deal was never confiscated by the Federal government - it was hidden in the form of coins and trinkets. It's much harder to hide gold in the form of collectible coins or bullion, especially when it is sitting in a brokered warehouse or there are records of ownership.

Gold owners beware: you may be on a ride you never saw coming.

Oh, and we will fix that old truck... I already got a price on replacing the core, albeit an expensive option.

TheRedneck

in the uk all the scrap metal is sold to china so they can sell us cheap scooters

reply to post by TheRedneck

I remember when I was a kid, we would buy old crap cars from the junkyard, then make them run, just to go offroading and such. Used to be really easy, cheap and fun. Not so much anymore


All my gold and silver is in my safe though, I didn't like the sound of someone else holding it for me.

Not much of a conspiracy, all your scrap is being sold to China.

Getting a new custom radiator shouldnt be very difficult.

Yip the 'rag an bone' man has been round almost weekly around here.

My husband used to enjoy fixing up old cars, before it became ridiculously expensive.

They want all old cars off the road, they want us to buy as new as possible to boost the auto industry even though we generally cannot afford to buy a car and insure it over here. Most new cars are built to fall apart rather quickly and warranty terms are getting shorter.

Those who can no longer afford to drive, struggle to get to work or find a job locally, the trains are too expensive now.

It's not hard to see how so many of our problems are intrinsically linked.

For the past few years we have had people knocking on doors to buy any gold as well as tv/newspaper ads. We are swapping our gold for what will soon be useless paper, doing anything just to get by.

It most certainly sounds like a conspiracy to me.

add that to the cash for clunkers program here in the usa. i saw issues with that from the rip, they give you money for your old gas guzzler to get a more eco friendly car, but all the cars they took were not aloud to use for parts. engines were immediately destroyed and cars crushed and sent off to china. that took many of the older cars completely out of the market for people looking for parts at junkyard. another issue i had was say we do have a emp threat natural or attack, the number of cars that would still be drivable is pretty damn slim now that they done off with cars that can run with out ecu.

Planned obsolescence I see this all the time. Forcing consumers or businesses to upgrade when older components fail. But with the introduction of 3D printers and custom parts this could be a non-issue, missing a part you could manufacture it...

I do not follow the idea with Gold as it is a completely worthless metal to invest in and people are completely stupid to invest in it. In SHTF scenerio you will get much higher prices/Trade for Coffee, Cigarettes and Booze than a pound of something nobody can do anything with...

Yes the cash for clunkers program. That was my first thought exactly. The Obama administration will use this to push his green energy programs by trying to force you to buy a newer vehicle and make the parts of older makes and models unavailable even at junkyards.

Now we know. I was wondering why the Federal Government was paying for these vehicles. Now I know.

And this my friends is exactly how socialism works. The government tries to dictate the markets to control supply and demand. Where in capitalism the market is dictated by what is in demand.

reply to post by Ixtab

No, getting a new one is impossible. Spectra was making them, but stopped a few months ago. I can find them online, but after ordering I get an apologetic email back saying they don't have any in stock and have no ETA on when new ones will be available. After about ten such emails from different places, I started calling instead.

One place has them listed as out of stock - coming soon. When I call, they say they will get some from "Asia", but have no date. We have been waiting for a month now and still the same old story.

Feel free to prove me wrong: 1980 Chevrolet LUV mini-pickup truck, base body style, 1.8L 4-cylinder engine.

TheRedneck

Good call. Sounds like a solid theory. I have a friend who has been telling me to stock up on gold, for the economy collapse. "That will be your only barter chip." he says. I tell him: "If you show up at my house with a rock and want food, in times of survival, I will feed you to my children." haha.

Anyways, I see what you are saying.

On the rebuild side of things, I am also rebuilding a 1980 GMC 4x4. You can order everything new (after market crappy fits, but do able) As I'm doing a frame up, but there are still plenty of oldies in my neck of the woods as well. Some wreckers have the old stuff, some don't.

Interesting either way, S&F

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY

Here's something interesting as well: this particular truck can easily get over 40 mpg! I know because I had a new one back in 1980. Considering that the newer gasoline vehicles might break 30 mpg, it makes absolutely no sense to try and remove older vehicles simply because of mileage or economy. It only makes sense to remove them to get people to buy later model vehicles.

And remember as well that in addition to getting 40+ mpg, it can haul materials.

Why is it that every governmental program I can remember ended up doing the opposite of what it was 'supposed' to do?

TheRedneck

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY

That was my first thought as i was reading this,if an emp had to hit,it would be a shame those old vehicles wont be available anymore.Still,all in all,in thn US used vehicles are dirt cheap compared to where i live,in South Africa.Everything here has to be a rip-off,apparently.If you'r not wealthy,its impossible to afford a new car,and even the used ones are quite expensive.We are stuck with a l'il gutless Toyota Tazz,and will most likely never be able to trade up to a better used car,we could only afford the Tazzy through help from my husband's dad.Still,im grateful we have a car at all,millions upon millions dont have that,it is,at the end of the day,a luxury.

Being in the car hauling industry. I can tell you that we pick up salvage vehicles from a place called Copart auto auction. They sell savage vehicles...You may add them to your list of places you may want to check out for old parts...

Copart Auto Auction

Well, I had to check...
You are almost right, excluding aluminum racing radiators at 400-800$, I was not able to locate any either, except for one, in Florida - no part number, no price.
Waiting for call back.
Some onlie sites would auto-change the 1980 date to 1978.

The Isuzu Pup goes from 1966 then Pup only 1981+.

Funny thing is, a radiator vender had dropped some adverts two days ago so the first call to them was for this radiator.
Strike one for the new vender...

Also, with the 'Cash for Clunkers' gov't program, many of these older cars are hard to find parts for now.
The price of gold may be a racket, but it may also reflect the increasing worthlessness of reserve notes.

For a Challenge, Try finding a left front door window regulator for a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker.
I think I found the only one in North America. or a 3" cal hood for a 1980's Capri. (Mustang = thousands of different cal hoods ; Capri = one (if you can find the maker)
Good luck if you try...have more hard to finds that would drive you batty.

reply to post by TheRedneck


First off, thanks for the story. It made me think of when I was 18 years old. I found an old 1971 Ford pick up truck sitting in a pasture of a farm. The old man who owned it basically told me that if I could fix it and drive it off his property, he would sell it to me for $100. He had no idea what was wrong with it and it had been sitting in his field for years. I had NO CLUE how to work on vehicles at that point in time, so I bought a do it yourself type of book and spent the whole summer in that field replacing parts, converting the transmission from a column shifter to a floor shifter, and doing all types of work I never would have thought I could ever do.. but what can I say? Chilton makes some very good books

Ahhhh the good ol days.

More on topic though... It never occurred to me that those old cars in the salvage yards would be melted down. The thought or it's implications never crossed my mind. Certainly food for thought.

and some advice: Check Ebay for the radiator or use a parts look up for salvage yards. You might be able to find what you need very cheap some where online. If you need any help, U2U me and I will be happy to help.

reply to post by Raxoxane


your right on it being a luxury most people see it as a necessity but as you said millions go with out one, thanks for sharing your story its easy to lose perspective on life when you live in a society where everything is based of what you have. and how people live without and are probably actually happier over all.

40mpg's nice! fuel efficeint and capable of hauling no wonder they stopped making them

reply to post by TheRedneck


is the radiator beyond repair? you could try finding a local repair shop i had to for a old dirt bike once, not sure if you got any around you but you could search online to try and find a place as well. also is there alot of room in engine compartment you could try to just modify one you can find at junkyard so it mounts up. good luck!

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY


If the radiator was leaking right through when they put the fluid in, I would think it is beyond repair. Besides, with something that old that has been sitting a while, you are better off replacing than you are repairing.

reply to post by TheRedneck


I am looking for one now, is the truck a manual transmission or automatic?

reply to post by imd12c4funn

The LUV was an Isuzu P'up: the valve cover has the letters "I S U Z U" brazenly stamped across it. Rumor was back in the day that even the Chevy nametags were made in Japan. Chevy basically resold them under the name LUV (Light Utility Vehicle) until 1980 because they had name recognition in the US. In 1981, Isuzu began marketing them directly in the US as the P'up and Chevy made their own version. After 1982, Chevy dropped the LUV name and went to the S-10, a larger version of the '81-'82 LUVs.

I'm not sure how long the P'up was sold here, but I know it lasted longer than the LUV.

They were sold in other countries under different names too. In the UK it was the Bedford KB (not sure about the years), and as the Isuzu 25.

TheRedneck