District Buys Old Cars to Help Clear the Air : Getting the smog-belchers off the road is a cost-effective way of aiding the environment.

Instead of fretting about what to do when your wheezy old car fails its next smog test or finally dies in an intersection and has to be towed to the auto graveyard at your expense, you can now turn the situation to your financial advantage--and help clean up the air.

Several Ventura County “clunker” programs will get you either cash or a tax deduction for the old junk heap.

If your clunker is a 1974 model or older and can make it up the road to Coast Auto Salvage in Ventura, you may be able to get $500 from the Ventura Regional Sanitation District. Just make sure to call ahead for an appointment to see if your vehicle qualifies.

According to environmentalist Imelda Cragin, coordinator of the new program for the district, the goal is to buy several hundred cars, which will have the effect of preventing more than 30 tons of noxious gasses from fouling the county’s air. While clunkers make up only 5% of the cars on the road locally, they cause 10% of the air pollution, the district says.

Buying up old clunkers is a super-efficient way for the district to meet a county requirement to cut down on air pollution caused by its operation of Bailard Landfill. Instead of turning away every other dump truck that might come a-calling at the landfill, the district decided to buy up old sootmobiles, which makes more sense.

This kind of thinking is not new. A few years ago, Unocal bought up a lot of old clunkers in California as its contribution to clean air. Unocal didn’t do this to atone for mankind’s use of smog-producing gasoline, by the way. It was a response to pressure from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to do something about pollution emanating from Unocal’s own production facilities and other operations in the Southland.

According to Edna Ray, director of the American Lung Assn. of Ventura County, cash-for-clunkers has been an effective way to clean up the air for more than a decade. Her organization has recently begun offering evidence of tax deductibility for turning in old cars.

By calling her office, you can determine whether you’ll be doing yourself a financial favor by signing over the pink slip on old Betsy to the lung association. Sometimes, if you use the proper Blue Book as a reference, there’s more than a $500 deduction in it for you.

Another organization offering clunker owners the chance for a tax deduction is Best Buddies, a support group for handicapped children. Its program takes in old cars, sells them to recyclers and gives the cash to the U.S. Special Olympics.

If you’ve driven to Los Angeles International Airport recently, you’ve probably noticed provocative billboards announcing “Ugly Models Wanted” and giving an 800 number. There’s an accompanying photo of a really grungy car, making it quite clear that they’ll even accept cars that are no longer in running order. They pick up, as it were.

Cleaning up the air isn’t the only good thing about turning in an old clunker. According to Steel Today, a trade publication, “Cars may be the most recycled product on Earth.” Certainly so in the United States, where all structural steel and 95% of automobile steel comes from scrap. Astounding.

Doesn’t it make you look at that old wreck differently?

Details

* FYI: You may be able to turn your smoggy old clunker into cash by calling 658-4646. Or for a possible tax deduction by donating it to charity, call (800) 586-4872 or (800) 590-1600.