If there's one thing I simply cannot stand, it's poverty shaming.

[happyslug]

56. I once went by a welfare office where a co-workers said they were all in late model cars

Then I looked at the cars, and they were about 10 years old. Most people have NO idea the age of most cars. If the car was made sometime since a major style change it is a "New Car" even if it is 20 years old. While the "Ideal" length of a car model is about six years, many are in production for 15 (I am excluding the VW Golf/Rabbit, which has been in production for 40 years). There are slight model changes from year to year, but even most young teen males no longer know the difference between this years model and last years model (prior to the 1970s and the huge increase in the models each car makers made, many males did know the difference, but that more or less died out in the 1960s as car makers introduced mid-Sized, then Compact, then Sub compact cars).

Till the late 1970s, one way to tell if a car was more then five years old, was by the rust it had. The problem is starting in the 1970s (and in response to Japanese Car makers rust resistant cars) even US cars started NOT to rust after five years. Thus a ten year old car could look just like a new made car if given a new coat of wax.

I work with low income people and I have to ask them what they are driving, it is are to find any of them driving anything newer then something 10 years old, they can NOT afford anything newer (and really can not afford anything older, older cars cost a lot to keep on the road for cars are only design to last 10 years). At the same time I deal with people who say they see people going to welfare offices in new cars, often poor people I work with. The reason these people see the poor is "Late Model" cars is as follows:

1: most people have no idea how old most cars are, unless the car is a Land yacht from the early 1970s, most look very similar and have since the 1970s.

2. Poor people like 8 cylinder engines, for the simple reason V-8s tend to last a lot longer then smaller four and six cylinder engines. As people since the 1970s have switched to six instead of V-8s, sixes are becoming more popular, but larger engines can take a lot more abuse then smaller engines, thus poor people tend to buy larger cars

3. The After market for Mid Size and Large Cars are limited. Europe tolerates them, but they are liked in the Mid East and Latin America in addition to the US. On the other hand the East Indies and Southern Europe like smaller cars. This has been the trend for decades. Many small used cars when traded in end up in Southern Europe or the East Indies, for both areas are willing to pay more for those cars then many poor Americas are willing to do so. A Thus we have a lot of used mid size and large cars in the US that stay in the US for 10-20 years, while a lot of smaller cars are shipped overseas.

4. A lot of Americans believe that if you are driving a large car, it is a late model car, while if you are driving a compact car, it is used for they would NEVER buy one. Thus if the poor person is driving a Cadillac it must be a late model, even if it is 10-20 years old.

5. Prior to the 1970s, the best way to see the age of a car was how rusted out it was. With the improvements in Rust protection starting in the 1970s, Rust is rare even in ten year old cars, but the perception that older cars must have rust persists. Thus any car with just minimal rust must be a late model car, not a car 10-20 years old.

Just a comment in that most people when looking at such cars see what they want to see NOT what before they eyes.