San Francisco, California
Plastic with steel reinforcements
Via SFGate

This car, deaccessioned from a fleet belonging to the city of San Francisco and acquired by the Museum of Folly at auction, was used by a city employee for her daily commute between the Central Valley and the city. According to the Matier and Ross report cited in the credit line above, “San Francisco city records show that no fewer than 246 workers, including police brass, airport employees and Muni managers, have take-home car privileges.”

But the city’s generosity does not stop with merely providing vehicles — it also offers free gas to the commuters. The museum’s Finance office, generously granting the eight-cylinder vehicle a combined 20 mpg, calculates that a commuter logging a 150-mile daily commute would probably ding the city for 35-45,000 miles in a year, or 2,000 gallons of gasoline at a cost of more than $8,000 at current prices. According to noted scholars of folly Matier and Ross, “It’s just one reason why San Francisco’s gas bill is on pace to hit $7.6 million this year – $1.8 million over budget.”

It is not known what percentage of this gasoline was obtained through the Bush administration’s misadventures in Iraq, which were expected (by the oil executive-headed adminstration) to result in lower gas prices.

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Ford Crown Victoria, 1998 is a post from: museum of folly