Unique Clunkers

While most of the headlines from the recent DOT report about "Cash for Clunkers" have focused on the number of pickups traded for other pickups and the miniscule percentage increase in gas mileage for those particular consumers, what intrigued me were the handful of manufacturers who had only one car "clunked".

Someone in Florida traded a 1985 TVR 280i Convertible, listed at 18mpg for a 2009 Mini Cooper S, giving them an additional eleven miles-per-gallon toward the goals of the program.

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While in Missouri, someone traded a 1997 Aston Martin DB7 Volante (15mpg) for a 2009 Chevrolet HHS (FWD, 25mpg).

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Other individual cars traded for which no online, freely-republishable images can be found: a funeral-grade, 1995 Lincoln Eaton from Federal Coach (stretch?, 17mpg); a 1991 Wallace Environmental Wetl 560 SEL (13mpg), a Duntov GT from CCC Engineering (15mpg) and an unlisted 1988 from Aurora Cars Ltd.

All told, the five clunkers which listed mileage in the federal report went from a total of 78mpg to all the way up to 128 after trade-in, giving an additional 50mpg to the environment.