Since we’re wallowing in a bit of nostalgia today, I thought I’d return to the site of the first CC and get another five-year update, after the one in 2014. The old Coupe de Ville disappeared a couple of of years ago. What was sitting there is a bit ironic, on several levels.
Obviously, it’s ironic that one of the biggest cars ever would get replaced by one of the smallest cars on the market. Somehow, a big SUV seems more fitting.
The Fiat 500 isn’t exactly a recent arrival, as it was already there when I shot the 2014 updates. Back then, these made a fine foursome. The Corolla arrived about a year or so after I first shot the Caddy in 2009, and then outlasted it by about a year, but it too has made an exit from this spot, in front of one of my favorite old unmolested industrial buildings by the railroad tracks.
I wrote up the Corolla in another rambling CC on 2010, at the old site. And it’s one of the few I haven’t brought over here. Maybe because it’s a bit too rambling. And it hits on the obvious point of how the Corolla reflects the downfall of GM and the rise of Toyota and the Asian brands.
And I used the old line “as goes California, so goes the rest of the country”. And in so very many ways, that has been true and will likely continue to be so, depending. But at the time I also wrote: “California is in crisis, ungovernable and practically bankrupt”. Well, that’s certainly not the case anymore, although it does seem to have predicted some aspects of that reality for the country at large. Is a California-style solution at hand?
I finally wrote up that Olson Kurb Van here a few years back. It’s the last survivor of this fab threesome. I hate to think of its eventual departure. But nothing stays the same, and maybe the Fiat will be around long enough to become a venerable CC in its own right. We shall see.
(update: this post is now closed to further comments)
Do any of these vehicles ever move? Also, do you think the cars that are gone have been scrapped?
The Cadillac and Corolla moved away, but it was a one-way trip in both cases. Before that they were always in the same position, and showed no signs of moving. I don’t know what happened to them, but in the case of the Cadillac, I suspect it may well have been scrapped. It was getting in pretty bad shape, and a side window had been busted out. I’m quite sure it didn’t run. The Corolla was in significantly better shape, so it might have survived.
Ahhh, I see.
The Corolla liftback was on craigslist several years ago as a mostly running project. I would have inquired had it been a stick.
Wow that was a trip back in the CC wayback machine. Only 15 comments too, pretty sparse compared to your current level of internet stardom Paul. 😉 And yes, rambling too, although you did mention “Predicting the future is a folly”
The FIAT is fitting, because it’s sort of a faux Curbside Classic.
So how did CA go from ungovernable and bankrupt to to source of the solution in 10 years? This is probably explained elsewhere, so just a link would be helpful. Some of my news sources regularly tell me it’s still a failed state so would be interesting to find out more..
Some of my news sources regularly tell me it’s still a failed state
What would those “news” sources be? Never mind, don’t tell me…
Ex Gov. Jerry Brown took office in 2011 facing a $27 billion deficit. He’s leaving office with almost a $9 billion surplus.
From a Sacramento Bee article: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article221653225.html
Economic trends are so sunny that the analyst’s office projects a state budget surplus of $14.8 billion next year, unless the Legislature chooses to spend the money or cut taxes.
The Legislature and Gov. Newsom could follow Brown’s lead and use that money to continue preparing for a recession. If so, the state would have about $30 billion in reserves to weather a recession by the summer of 2020.
“For eight years we have worked tirelessly to end the era of perennial budget deficits and bring about responsible budgeting. Not only have we pulled the state from the depths of the Great Recession and made significant improvements in critical programs, we are also well prepared to withstand the next recession without major cuts or middle class tax increases,” said Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.
Obviously California has plenty of challenges. Brown was able to work well enough with the few remaining Republicans to get California’s fiscal house in order. But now that the Democrats have a supermajority in both houses as well as the governor, actual governing should be much easier.
In terms of that being a model for a solution to more effective governance in Washington, I’ll let you use your imagination.
Thank you for the insight I had no idea California was doing so well. I still am concerned about water usage and availability in California though especially since they have records snowpack this year. Will they squander the it by continuing to water their lawns and etcetera despite living in a desert or use the water responsibly?
Not all of California lives in a desert. But water will likely be an issue in the future, with climate change. keep in mind that 80% of water use in CA goes to agriculture. There are ways to improve the efficiency of that, as well as moving to crops that require less water.
Water usage for lawns and stuff is regulated during drought years.
I thought we typically try to avoid bringing politics into discussions, since Paul already opened the doors, as a resident of California I feel I should weigh it.
I give Gov. Jerry Brown a lot of credit. Despite the stereotypes you might hear about California politicians, Gov. Brown was actually quite the fiscal conservative. He’s been known to veto bills because he felt the state couldn’t afford to pay for them. He did take a more balanced approach to getting the budget under control compared to some other states, utilizing both tax increases (including a temporary sales tax hike that has now expired) and spending cuts.
There was also the passage of a constitutional amendment that eliminated the requirement for a two-thirds majority to pass a budget, which made governing much easier, too. The idea, I think, in having that two-thirds majority requirement was that it would give the Republican minority some say in spending, but what actually happened was that it allowed small groups from either party to essentially hold the budget hostage unless their pet project was included. Back then the budget was always late and always eventually passed with some sort of one time deal. Eliminating that requirement has made things go much smoother.
Also, generally improvement in the economy has probably helped the state’s revenues a lot. There was some discussion on NPR not long ago about how California’s income tax structure is rather dependent on taxing high income earners. During economic downturns that revenue tends to plummet quite a lot. So whenever another recession hits California’s budget may not look as rosy as it does right now.
I have also understood that there has been a fairly sustained exodus of population out of California and into other States. That kind of a trend cannot go on for too long without seriously impacting the “income” side of the budget.
CA has had sustained net population growth every year. What you’ve heard is the typical skewed information that certain politically-motivated “news” outlets push to make CA look bad.
What they’re doing is using only net domestic migration statistics. While CA has had a net domestic net migration, and in absolute numbers, that amount might look big (as in hundreds of thousands), but when it comes to a state with almost 40 million, the relative numbers are absolutely peanuts. And what they’re conveniently leaving out is that CA has very strong net international migration, which makes up for the difference. If these sources would present the complete migration picture, it would be quite different.
And the international immigrants coming to CA are typically Asians with high levels of education and motivation, which fuels the economy. And many of the ones leaving are relatively poorly-educated, and cannot keep up with the rising costs of living in CA, hence they’re moving to lower cost states.
Bottom line: CA does not have a population problem, except in its ability to house the continuing growing net population.
Folks have been leaving CA for many decades. Others keep coming.
Details: https://medium.com/ca-rising/the-great-migration-myth-bda59595dfa2
The great majority of people in the Silicon Valley based computer company I just retired from are immigrants. They typically come to the US with a bachelor’s in engineering from the best college back home, go to graduate school at a US university, get an H-1B visa and stay for their career. My entire management chain up thru the CEO had that resume. It’s been true in Oregon as well as California.
Average apartment rent in San Jose is $3000, average house for sale is $900K. So if you’re not one of those multi-degreed engineers, you’re out of there.
I read the link in “Medium”. Fair enough. It does admit California being a last choice to move to from other states. While it’s net population increase is fueled by foreign migration, am I to believe the H1-B program for highly educated Asians is more to credit for that than illegal immigration of Central Americans? Lots is made of the sky high housing costs of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. What about the high numbers of desperately poor immigrants (is it still PC to call them illegal?) who are pushing out the lower and middle class? Sure, California has had surpluses of late, but unfunded liabilities such as pensions are cows that will come home, one day. But that’s pretty universal across the country. California has, and probably always will, a mystique about it. However, it seems that it appeals not not so much to other Americans as it does to foreigners, now. But even the hell holes of east LA are probably the promised land compared to Guatemala. I heard California is great, if you got bucks. They say it never rains there, but man, does it ever pour…
But even the hell holes of east LA
I can see where you’re coming from.
BTW, East LA hasn’t been a popular destination for new Latino immigrants in decades. That happened mostly in the 30s-70s. East LA is very hot, as in becoming gentrified. It’s become expensive and is anything but a “hell hole”.
But since our prez called countries in Africa “shit holes”, you’re at least one level above him. 🙂
One of my younger brothers lived in Orange County for 15 years or more. He and his native SoCal wife recently picked up and moved their young family to Nashville. He had been very successful in sales management for a national medical device company. An increasingly high tax burden was a significant factor. It took something like 9 months to sell their home. He tells me that he knows quite a few like him who have left for similar reasons. Anecdotal perhaps, but the extended time their home was on the market is an indication that not everything is as hot as it may appear, at least in that part of the state.
And as an addition to my earlier comment, the large number of folks regularly leaving CA has some very positive aspects too. if they all staid, real estate would be even much more expensive. Folks moving out is something of a relief valve on a very expensive real estate market. It helps balance things out. And they often bring a lot of equity with them wherever they go, for better or for for worse.
Many Californians who leave are middle-class retirees moving for a lower cost of living or to be near family.
We have new neighbors here in Portland who did just that. They sold their house in Sunnyvale for a couple of million, bought a good medium-sized house here and I assume they have a comfortable retirement on the change plus his pension. They see a lot of their grandkids.
Thus shifting a bit of California equity over to Oregon, and making housing available for some younger well-paid Valley people. They bought a Subaru so now they blend right in.
Governing is always much easier in a One Party state!
The game was over when the population discovered they could vote politicians into office that had no problems to speak of in supporting the unsustainable.
I was just thinking a few days ago about how all the stuff I was photographing 8 years ago is now 8 years older. Pretty soon 90s cars will be the stuff we enthuse about.
At work, I tell stories about cars of the ’90s to people born in the ’90s! And when I tell them my first car was a ’69 Valiant, they look at me like I said I was driving a Model T. People look at things from the reference point of their own life I guess.
They keep the sad news of pension shortfalls and unfunded liabilities on the down-low here in Caliunicornia…
My wife and I’ve each lived here for over 60 years. I just retired this last Friday, after nearly 46 years of gainful employment. The quality of life has deteriorated in many respects, not to say that it hasn’t elsewhere. But the trend is not positive, so we will be actively looking at other western states for relocation… as much as that pains me to even think about.
California is a big state. If you like living in the desert, the cost of living is not high. But you will be far away from pretty much everything. As far as a potential pension shortfall, it won’t change anything if you are a retired state employee and you move to another state. The other state won’t pick up your pension.
Everybody thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. People in urban high cost areas complain about the crowds, traffic and expense. People in more rural low cost areas complain about the lack of good paying jobs, lack of opportunity, crime and decay and nothing fun to do. I will say that people in low cost areas seem much more desperate to get out than people in high cost areas.
Might the author be praising the joys of “California living” to mitigate emigration to Oregon?
I ask because I remember the welcoming Oregonian arms that were awaiting California emigres to Oregon in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It wasn’t pretty.
No. Why would I? And I’m hardly praising anything. The only thing I praise is facts, for better or for worse.
I wouldn’t go back. But then I’m old. CA is a young person’s game. Which is exactly why I moved there in the first place. I smelled opportunity, and I found it. And then I left. Why stay, unless you’re making good/lots of money? Which explains why so many leave, with the equity from their house and such.
California has lots of challenging issues. But the same ones are popping up elsewhere too, including here in Oregon. These are not completely isolated issues.
Challenging issue? Yes… yes, we do: http://californiapolicycenter.org/californias-total-state-local-debt-totals-1-3-trillion/
The website you cited is run by a someone who has run for political office. They seem to be using website as a way to push a political agenda and get into office. I’m not saying the website is wrong, but it is hardly unbiased. Click on about us and search some of the names. They are not journalists.
Here are a few more links that go on to describe the problems:
https://www.ppic.org/publication/public-pension-liabilities-in-california/
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article209303974.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasdelbeccaro/2018/04/19/the-top-four-reasons-california-is-unsustainable/
Almost every state in the US is facing pension obligations issues. Obviously CA’s are larger than average.
So what’s the point? These pension obligations are the results of unrealistic commitments made years and decades ago by regulators/politicians who are long gone and cannot be held accountable.
It’s a big problem that many states face. There’s no need to use it to try to denigrate one state over another.
Interesting discussion about California, which seemed to draw a lot more interest than the sad fate of the 72 Caddy. I’ve never lived in CA, but have always been somewhat fascinated by it.
I’ve read elsewhere that CA is actually in good fiscal shape in recent years, at least in their yearly budget. A little surprising to me but, admittedly, many of the stories I read about the state come from conservative sources. I’ve read a lot of columns by Victor Davis Hanson, a Californian who tends to paint quite a grim picture of trends in the Golden State, such as this lengthy one: https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/california-coastal-elites-poor-immigrants-fleeing-middle-class/