OK–We’ve all heard the jingle “1-877-KARS-4-KIDS . . . K-A-R-S Cars For Kids . . .” But what happens when a big national organization puts out a call for people to donate cars of all kinds to their charity? Out of the 40,000 cars donated per year, some pretty interesting vehicles show up, as you can see by going to this website which features some of the unusual older stuff K4K has collected.
The Kars4KidsGarage website has 30 pages of cars (with 12 cars per page) with detailed photos of the various antique and classic cars they have received as donations. This is not the Concours d’Elegance–a lot of these machines look like they were pulled out of the yard or garage after Grandpa died. And many of the cars are what I’d call “typical of the period daily drivers”–not special, top-of-the-line models that usually get the expensive restoration or hot rod treatment.
So I went through all 30 pages, and when I was done these were the cars I remembered. This post is merely intended to “whet your appetite” since you can easily go to the website and select your own personal favorites.
So what’s gonna happen to all these cars? Well, according to the K4K website, “All donated cars are evaluated to determine which method of selling would make the most money for our charity and for the donor, and then either brought to auction or sold for parts.” So presumably if you’re looking to buy a car at an auction, you may be bidding on a K4K car and not even know it! I don’t what auction venues they’re using. And who’s buying the parts? Are most of these cars going straight to the crusher? [The website also states that most of the cars they accept are “recycled”(!!)]
“Here’s another one, Luke!” 1958 Lincoln Premiere for sale on Craigslist, $850. If it doesn’t sell, maybe it’ll join the collection at Kars 4 Kids?
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P.S.: I think it’s pretty cool that Kars 4 Kids decided to put up a website with their more interesting donations pictured. I’d like to think these cars will go to good homes, or the rare parts will go to those who need them, but who knows?
My jaw hit the floor with the LaSalle, and stayed there for the rest of the article. That ’58 Buick was expected, the ’41 Packard (120?) and Bentley were definitely not.
I was also floored by the LaSalle, as well as the Packard, Bentley, and the MG TD. Sadly this seems to be a reflection of our old car hobby. Gramps dies, everyone wants his real estate holdings, money, assorted valuables but those dirty old cars don’t get the love from the younger generations. They’re big and hard to move if not running, hard to store, hard to sell and donating them is an easy way out especially if trying to settle an estate from far away.
For what it’s worth (there’s a pun in here somewhere…), the same goes for furniture and most items and collections that are not precious metals or stones. There are an increasing number of stories to read about how family heirloom pieces wind up at the dump as no heir is interested in it, and no one wants to buy furniture from estate sales anymore. We live in a society where if you can’t carry it in your pocket and interface with it electronically, it’s not very valuable.
None of which is a bad thing for the non-materialists out there…and a good argument for enjoying your stuff while you can, because there’s little chance that your kids will.
At some point in the future, people will decide that the old stuff is more interesting than the generic things which are currently available. Unfortunately, most of the old stuff will be gone. As I look about the room I am in, with heirlooms from the 19th century, I wonder how people can be so conformist in their tastes. The old has craftsmanship that could not be duplicated today and designed much more interesting than would in generated today.
Many younger people aren’t spending their whole lives in one (or maybe two) places anymore, i.e. they are far more mobile and more interested in experiences rather than being bound by or to long-term possessions/responsibilities. There is nothing that ties one down more than a bunch of heavy furniture.
In the 19th century, perhaps everybody had exactly the same stuff that you enjoy today as heirlooms and people were wondering why everyone was acquiring the same then-modern 1850’s stuff instead of using the even older 17th and 18th century stuff that they dragged over from England, Italy, Ireland, or Germany or wherever they came from.. Remember, what you consider old, vintage, and filled with legacy was once brand new in a store somewhere as well. You can’t buy a brand new heirloom.
You can though buy plenty of stuff today that’s hand crafted and of extremely high quality. Most don’t want to or aren’t able to spend what it costs, instead choosing whatever works in the moment and is good enough for their purposes.
Kars4Kids is a legitimate, albeit somewhat sketchy, charity.
The great majority of the funding that Kars4Kids generates is forwarded to a separate charity (Oorah) that sponsors programs that exclusively benefit orthodox Jewish children.
There’s nothing that’s wrong or bad about that — except that it isn’t openly disclosed in Kars4Kids’ fundraising efforts.
In fact, this bias is being watched:
https://www.charitywatch.org/charity-donating-articles/costly-and-continuous-kars4kids-ads-disguise-charity39s-real-purpose
Don’t be so fast to donate. Most of these type charities send a vehicle to the junk yard or crusher if they don’t run. Or even have one dented fender
The Packard is a 1940. The 1941s had the headlights faired into the fenders among many other minor changes.
Well now that the song is stuck in my head for the day……..how about that 67 Galaxie
That convert sure got my attention!
Thanks for the photos and the update on just what this organization is.
Great article! Love the variety of cars they receive. I used to listen to NY Mets games on WFAN, back in the late ’90s (over the air), 700 kms away in Canada. And their commercials, ran all the time then. Ensuring, they reached a massive audience (and source of kars), in the US Northeast.
Their ads, and Tom Bodett’s Motel 6 commercials, played endlessly. “”I’m Tom Bodett for Motel 6, and we’ll leave the light on for you.” 🙂
This topic reminded me, there is a village about 50kms south of where I am, named ‘Kars’. 🙂
Yeah, what kid wouldn’t want a 58 Buick!
Very interesting. I’ve never heard of Kars4Kids, though I know many people who’ve donated older, low-value cars to various charities. Some that have used the actual cars themselves, and others that just auction/scrap them. The appeal is just efficiency – it’s an easy way get offload a car, and sometimes it’s not worth selling privately to wring out a few more dollars.
But taking something like a LaSalle or vintage Rolls-Royce to one of these charities is like selling your Frank Lloyd Wright home to a company that puts ads on light poles saying “WE BUY HOUSES.”
That said, it’s fun to look through the Kars4Kids Garage here – I just try to convince myself that all of these cars found appreciative homes after their donation!
Oh, and the one I keep drifting back to here is that Packard – what a great car.
So many cool oldies .
I’ve bought more than a few old cars (1966 Porsche 912 $1,500) from auctions, some or good, others decidedly dishonest .
-Nate
Wow, I’d love a ’66 912 for $1500 today!
Yeah ;
Who wouldn’t ? .
It was scruffy and needed a valve job, no biggie, right ? .
Like most everything else I bought I fixed it up a bit and sold it on for a nice profit .
-Nate
Great article Stephen. It’s interesting to know a bit more about Kars4Kids than the earworm jingle that used to play during every single solitary commercial break when listening to Red Sox games on the MLB audio app. That jingle was/is just awful.
Around here, we’re a bit junkyard deprived, but the one self-service yard that I sometimes visit in Worcester (central Mass) is always full of “donated” cars. I think that the local public radio and TV stations in the Boston area do a bang-up business on “let us take your unwanted car, truck or boat” and I believe that the vast majority of those cars never make it to auction…they go pretty much straight to the crusher after being stripped of useful parts. And many of those that I’ve seen awaiting that fate are less than a dozen years old. On the other hand, I’ve never seen any cool ones like the ones you found here. It’s good to know that at least some donated cars are offered a chance at a good new home.
My favorites here are the Galaxie Convertible, the MG, the Packard and of course the tractor. And honorable mention to the 72 Fury with the aluminum foil patches. That’s a car (and repair) after my heart 😉
These charities do serve a legitimate purpose, though as was stated, they are not always transparent about which charity is benefitting from the donation. There are lot’s of charities like that. They are useful for disposing of unwanted vehicles, running or not, which is really handy.
If there is a desirable (to whoever) vehicle owned by an older family member, there is usually someone scheming to end up with that car!
Which is not really a bad thing, I want to leave my house to my kids, and that’s worth much more than any crummy car! However, leaving a car to a family member before you pass, will let you observe all the family drama that is bound to ensue.
Oftentimes it’s just the Grandfolk’s old Corolla or Accord that can be immediately used by a Grandkid. Sometimes it’s a vintage classic in nice original or restored condition. Usually it’s something that has been sitting in a sideyard or garage that hasn’t run in ages. Greedy family members might see potential dollar signs, but realistically, it’s a sorry money pit that might have some sentimental appeal. But who has the means and space to do anything with it?
I advocate for the idea of disbursing things like treasured possessions and cars well before one shuffles off the mortal coil, but that also has problems. Who wants to admit to themselves that their time is quickly running out? I had told my Wife that I’d give most of my tools to my Son when I turned 70, but that’s only a bit more than a year and half away, and I’m still involved in using them. And, though my Son bought a house a year ago, it’s a small one with a one car garage, and I’m still storing some of his stuff!
In the last three years I’ve disposed of four vehicles; my ’97 Explorer experienced problems while we were dealing with my Mother in Law’s health crisis far from home. That went to a scrapper, but I got 700.00! My ’97 Jaguar XJ6 and ’89 XJS went to online car buyers for a total of 5,500.00. My ’51 Jag Mark VII went directly to a Jag dismantler for an agreed upon price of 1,000.00.
I prefer a little cash over a tax deduction, which doesn’t really help me much.
A lot of times the empty space is worth more than the car, as well as the lost opportunity cost. I recently passed on a car that I really wanted, that was a good deal, because I didn’t want to add another car to my residential space. I hadn’t been able to sell one of my cars. Maybe K4Ks isn’t such a bad idea!
My 1974 Buick Apollo came from a charity auction (supposedly). It is a full-on Grandma survivor!
I went to the site – it is apparently impossible to buy a car from that site. Instead, they send them “to area auctions”. I suppose you could contact them and see if they would tell you when and where something will be auctioned, but not even that is clear on the site’s FAQs.
As for the cars themselves, it has been a long time since a 67 Galaxie convertible has tickled my fancy, but this one certainly does. I love the bucket seats and the Brittany Blue paint (and the optional engine, that is either the 390 or 428 based on the callout badge).
That fleshtone/white 56 Ford sedan is one I find oddly attractive. The 41 DeSoto is kinda rough, but intriguing.
I thought of you the moment I saw that ’67 Galaxie rag top.
This article drove me to look to see if someone had started a different kind of car donation organization…one that I’ve thought that would be a good idea…and fortunately, there IS such a place. Perhaps there are these sorts of things nationwide. I kind of hope so.
https://www.secondchancecars.org/
The idea here is that there are a lot of donated cars that could be used by folks who need a car and yet don’t have the resources to purchase one. It’s no surprise that the need to drive (versus taking public transit, if it even exists) is critical for lifting some people up and out of poverty. Turning your “unwanted” car into both a tax deduction AND a chance to truly help someone move their life ahead seems like a win-win to me, so I’m glad to see that there are organizations doing this specific thing.
There’s a similar organization here in the Washington, DC region. A friend of ours looked into donating her Isuzu Oasis there a few years ago, but she eventually felt guilty that the car might not be good enough for someone to rely on (she ended up donating it to a high school’s vo-tech program).
I think that’s an excellent program, assuming that both the cars and the charity’s clients are well vetted.
It seems that the one here in MA partners with voc-tech schools to work on the cars before they are matched to the clients. I’m not sure how scalable that is, but it does actually benefit both the charity and school programs.
Now that I think about it, that may have been the situation that our friend ended up donating to as well – though I remember her donating it directly to the school since she drove the car there and talked with the shop teacher. Good type of program.
My personal favorites were the 1967 Ford Galaxy Convertible and the 1964 Bentley that looked like it had just left the showroom floor, LOL! I wonder how much they’re asking for the Galaxie?
These charities/companies are merely a facade of “doing good”, they’re just a way for the gov to get pre 1996 cars off the road. Once in a while you’ll stumble across one that strays from the path of waste and actually auctions off the cars they receive.
Tend to be a facade, I should have said.
How many 1996 and older cars do you still see on the road? Where I live, I don’t see enough to matter. Why would the “gov” waste their time to eradicate a non problem that is just going to go away anyway as time passes? They have better things to do like finding Bigfoot.
These cars cannot be tracked, hacked into, and are easily repairable. They also scream “i do not conform”. Anything pre EFI/feedback carb is also EMP/solar flare proof.
Any car with a VIN number can be tracked to some degree. Bigfoot doesn’t have a VIN number. That is why he has never been found. UFO’s may or may not have VIN numbers but our police cars have a hard time catching them so we really don’t know yet.
So, hold on… Do you mean that these kars are not going to kids? Now that might could be a way to keep the old kar hobby alive, y’know? I’d have been quite happy to drive that Ford convertible to high school when I was 16. Or the ’40 Packard… ’58 Buick or Komet or Katalina. The Bentley looks pretty much ready to go. Sweet!
I’m somewhat surprised to see some of these cars ending up here, but I suppose I shouldn’t be. At 44, I’m probably at the younger end of the age spectrum for people who grew up with old school tech (carburetors, points ignition, no airbags or antilock brakes)… I’ve been watching the general decline as I’ve grown up- starting with Brass Era, Model T, Model A, and late prewar. Now the post war stuff is starting to cool a bit. I’m not a huge fan of charities large enough where you can’t see exactly where your donation is going, but that’s just me. I actually haven’t heard that ear buzzing jingle for some time now, as I’ve gotten pretty burnt out on commercial radio. Let’s not give ’em any more ammo! *laughing*
Somebody quick snatch up that ’58 Lincoln on Kraigslist! I think I’m more worried about a demolition derby than I am K4K on that one.
A lot of those cars looked like good candidates for restoration or even driving as is with minimal restoration. I hope these are being sold to people who will care for them!
How do I bud on the McCormak Deering tractor