In Mexico, old U.S. cars find new homes

By Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Photo: J.R. Hernandez / For The Los Angeles Times
February 16, 2008

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO -- While some Americans are congratulating themselves on switching to fuel-sipping cars, their old gas guzzlers just won't die. Lowered trade barriers are giving them new life south of the border.

Thousands of used vehicles from as far away as Colorado and Missouri jam tiny car lots and auto salvage yards in this gritty border city. An estimated 25,000 families make a living here hustling U.S. castoffs. Among them is Jose Zavala, a wiry used-car dealer with a trucker's cap and an eye for bargains.

At a recent auto auction in neighboring El Paso, Texas, he snagged a decrepit 1974 Ford Gran Torino that brought snickers from the crowd. But it's Zavala who may have the last laugh. He figures he can sell the wizened muscle car to some "Starsky & Hutch" wannabe in Juarez for at least four times the $100 that he paid for it.

"If it's cheap and it runs," it will find a home in Mexico, Zavala said.