Car not quite clunky enough? Donate it!

Are you one of the Americans who’s trying to unload a creaky old car during the Cash for Clunkers craze? Many people are finding that their cars are just a LITTLE too fuel efficient to qualify. My coworker just told me his college daughter’s 15-year-old Taurus doesn’t quite make the cut. This made my wonder if my dad’s 1993 Buick Park Ave would have been clunky enough to qualify for cash. So I did a little Googling and reminiscing…

I started driving the P.A. when I was 16. That car was BIG. I think that’s why my dad was happy to let us drive it—because it felt as safe as a tank. When I got into an accident making a left, my Buick totaled the oncoming Saturn but was left with barely a dinged fender.

That car made it through years of commuting to high school, summers as my brother’s trashmobile when he was working construction, and many a college road trip. Mere months before my brother’s graduation from I.U., the Green Hornet gave up the ghost in our driveway. My dad paid someone to haul it away, wondering why he’d had enough faith to fill the tank with gas. I still have the email he sent to me that day, when I was away at school:

I thought you might want to get one more look at the dear departed Buick Park Avenue. A great car ! 123,000 miles, 12.5 years, many great memories, reduced to being towed away unceremoniously. You served us well PA.

According to my Googling (this is NOT official!), that car doesn’t quite make the clunker grade. But it sure would have been a nice tax write-off for my dad if we’d known about the Red Cross car donation program. So put your quasi-clunker where your heart is. Check out the details here or call (312) 729-6120, and we’ll have someone come take that clunker off your hands for a good cause.