The main "Cash for Clunkers" was in 2009. Not a single car made before 1984 was eligible. Let me repeat that-
Not a single pre-'84 car was eligible. Not even most of the FMJ's were eligible!
No one that was gonna buy a cheap *** 1985 econo-box decided to buy an A-body because they couldn't find a ratty mid-eighties crap box. That's not the same market, not even close.
So no, there was absolutely NO correlation between cash for clunkers and the price of A-bodies going up. The price of A-bodies went up, but it was MUCH later than 2009. You know how I know? I bought my Duster in 2012 for $2,000 and almost succeeded in driving it home.
As for "poof, they were all gone after 2010", again, I'm calling BS. Here's a bunch of cars I saw personally in the yard or pulled parts from. Not even everything that hit the yards, and only about 5 yards that I watch in Sacramento because I don't drive that far to pull parts. And honestly, this is only most of the A-bodies I saw. I didn't take pictures of the FMJ's I pulled brakes from, or even the C-bodies I pulled 8 3/4's from, and there were a bunch of those. Heck there was at least a couple 4-doors I didn't take pictures of.
9/2012 - pulled the entire front clip from this '71 in South Sac
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10/2012- pulled the fenders from this one, and a few other small parts. It was pretty rusty
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11/2012 - this is the Duster I pulled all my fold down seat parts from
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10/2013- Someone beat me to this one, that's not my cart in the picture. I took a picture as I was walking out from grabbing something else. They knew the gig though, they took the UCA's, spindles and brackets but not rotors, calipers etc...
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3/2014- pulled the doors and fenders from this one, somebody beat me to the rest of the front clip. Really solid car, damn shame
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7/2015- grabbed a few random parts from this one. It was RUSTY.
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3/2017- I was gonna look at this one, but I talked myself out of it . It was in the yard to be parted though, at this point it wasn't for sale complete
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Hell there was a complete '73 Dart Sport that iPulluPull had for sale in South Sac a few months ago. It wasn't in the yard though, it was for sale complete with a title, I think they wanted $3,500 for it. There may have been a thread here on it.
But yeah, bottom line is A-bodies stopped showing up in yards after the price took off, and that was really only about 5-6 years ago.