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So, it's ok to overcharge someone who has more money to spend on a
vehicle than the rest of us? I was under the mistaken assumption that everyone
who has equal access to the public road system should pay an equal share in
it's maintenance costs. The folks driving bigger vehicles are already paying a
bigger share anyway at the pump via fuel taxes.
When I started doing
this old car thing I was just a teenager. We all know how teenage minds
think ;-D It was the mid 70's and finned cars were getting scarcer all the
time. I naively and ideolistically thought that if "the public" was shown
how cool these cars were, they might be inclined to take better care of them and
hang on to them, thereby keeping them on the road - my ultimate goal
was to see them out there driving.
The years have dulled my sense
of crusading, ... or maybe it is just reality sinking in ???
;-D
Either way, I long ago accepted
that the vast majority of Americans are lazy, take the path of least resistance,
have short memory, and more pointedly, are not interested in all the work and
fuss it takes to keep an old car in top shape like us enthusiasts. Admit
it, these things are expensive and VERY time consuming if you want to keep them
nice ! Stuff like flash advertising and what Paris Hilton is doing are far
more pressing issues to the average American and media than a lot of out of
pocket expense, dirt, grime, and banged up knuckles. You can fight
it. I thought I was fighting it for a long time. But the reality is
most people just don't care. They have other priorities. That is
reality. I hate reality ! ;-D
Another reality is that (for
whatever reasons), vehicle sales and licensing fees / taxes are tied to the
wholesale / retail sliding scale of depreciation. They have been since I
became aware of such things, and as far as I know, always have been. You
have a new $75K H2 in the drive, yer gonna pay your local rate in taxes on that
"established" value. You finish your restoration of a 57 Dodge you bought
for $2500 and sunk 40K into, you are going to pay taxes / fees on something
closer the $2500 "established" value because the high falootin' scale of
depreciation speaks in golden tongue that this is all that car is worth.
Don't let the powers that be discover Barrett-Jackson, or we are all gonna
be in a world of hurt ! ;-D
Personally, I am very happy
flying "under the radar" of the politicos who scheme for ways to get in our
pockets to help pay for gov't. projects. I don't mind funding my share of
some of it, but many of these expenditures are nothing I want to spend MY money
on ! I am more than happy the H2 owner pays cubic dollars to drive that
pig around. That is my ideolistic thinking showing through. Whether
or not the owner driver pays more for fuel because of higher consumption is an
irrelevent argument, because we all pay the same rate of tax per gallon
purchased. The mass gas user chooses to consume on a higher level and
insuch, chooses to pay for that much more fuel.
I could go all crazy and suggest
we car enthusiasts get PAID to drive our museum pieces around as part of the
education process - (file it under American History). But that
ain't gonna happen ! :-( So, I settle for that dastardly
"reality" being the glue that binds. *sigh* It is what it is.
I am grateful I can even own my cars. Many can't.
I used to own a truck. I paid my
state a use fee based on ton/miles covered. Seems only fair for a larger
vehicle to pay a bigger share of the road costs since, in theory anyway, a
larger vehicle should cause more wear to the road surface. Could be a good way
to encourage people to buy lighter, more fuel efficient cars.
Isn't that an odd comment on a
board devoted towards preservation of older, heavier cars ? ;-D Of
course, we should all take possible steps to improve fuel economy when restoring
our cars. And the reality is, we are not even a speck on the radar in the
overall scope of cars driving on the roads today. There it is, ... that
reality thing again ! ;-D
Brent
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