My smoke-belching, fuel-guzzling diesel van doesn't qualify for Cash for Clunkers. I have insurance, current license plates, a safety-inspection sticker... but my van is one year too old to qualify.
Is my 1983 van a classic, Congress? Maybe they consider it too classy to be scrapped and think it should still be running up and down the highways. Well, that's what I do with it now, and I expect this old thing will be alive and kickin' for decades to come.
The merits of the program are worthy and admirable. But who decided to cut so many of us out, especially when the point is to get the clunkers off the highway? That $4,500 incentive would have me at the dealer showroom tomorrow looking at a Prius -- and I'd be happy to write a check.
NEXT: Michael Molino: Missed clunkerdom by 1 mpg
