Neither the government nor Detroit can force upon American consumers vehicles we simply don’t want. There’s something called the marketplace at work here. What’s more, a centrally planned economy is answered, in all cases and always, by something called the black market. The rules of capitalism are immutable to the point where they should be recognized as a form of natural law, like gravity or the speed of light. Adam Smith, please take your place next to Newton and Einstein.
If the choices offered me by my local dealership don’t appeal to me, I would rather restore something from a junkyard that does. I rather suspect millions of backyard mechanics would do the same. Can you imagine the premium Americans would pay for a 1988 Volvo 240 restored and good for another 200,000 miles? Any government mandate will be met with a free market response. I see a lucrative new industry based on restoration and repair. I wonder what the going rate is these days for the purchase of a junkyard?
