With one day to go for the popular Cash for Clunkers program, the McDonald family hopped into "Big Red" for the last time Sunday morning and drove their beloved, old van to one of Silicon Valley's auto rows.

"It's funny, the attachment that you get to a vehicle," said Ken McDonald, an education consultant from Mountain View. He drove in with his wife, Kathy, and their 16-year-old daughter Holly. "It's taken us to water polo, soccer, tennis, everything."

They didn't have a problem finding Big Red's last parking space at Oak Tree Mazda on Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose. As at most of the strip's dealerships, last-minute shoppers did not flood the place. Four hours later, after the usual haggling and then some, the McDonalds drove off in a new Tribute sport-utility vehicle with a hybrid engine and "kiwi green" paint job. It will be Holly's car.

"I'm happy!" she said, hugging and thanking her parents and even the salesman, Art Boseman.

Today is the last day for the standard $4,500-per clunker subsidy because the federal program has run out of money — two months early. Buyers and dealers have until 5 p.m. Pacific Time to close deals. But if Sunday's underwhelming showroom action was any indication, no one should expect to see the auto version of a Christmas Eve buying spree.

Confusion among buyers, extra paperwork hassles and rebate delays that frustrated dealers were still in play. On top of that, some dealerships had

simply run out of the most popular cars that qualified for the program.

For example, Phillip and Jayne Liao drove all the way from Union City to Stevens Creek Toyota in San Jose.

"We'd like a Corolla," Phillip said.

"I'm sorry," answered salesman Christian Dimas. "We're sold out of Corollas."

"Then a Yaris," Jayne responded.

"We have only one left," Dimas said.

The three walked to see the Yaris, an electric blue, fully loaded economy car listed at $17,024, which was much more than the Liaos said they would pay. The ancient ritual of haggling over a new car's price had begun, but it lasted only a few minutes.

The title to the couple's slightly damaged old van said it was a "salvage" vehicle, closer to junker than clunker. That difference sunk the deal.

The dealership, Dimas explained, had already sealed about 300 clunker-deals but has been reimbursed by the program for only a fraction of them so far. As a result, the dealerships was shying away from "salvage" titled vehicles.

"I wish I had known that," Phillip Liao said.

Over at Courtesy Chevrolet just down the boulevard, Marc Finnegan had his heart set on a new Camaro because, well, he had owned such a muscle car when he was younger. Now 41, he saw his opportunity. His clunker, an old Ford work truck, qualified. But he said he didn't have the $5,000 down payment requested by the dealer. Meanwhile, the dealership declined to comment.

"I thought bringing in the clunker was all I needed," Finnegan said.

Cash for Clunker deals also introduced an extra layer of paperwork and to new-car purchases. Back at Oak Tree Mazda, Ken Beireis' 1985 Mustang clunker was gladly accepted, but he had to literally go the extra mile back home in San Jose to bring back auto insurance documents dating back 12 months, not just the usual six required for the usual car deal.

The computer technician left happy in a new, sporty sedan anyway. Except for the extra trip home, his deal was quick and smooth, partly because he didn't have to compete against many other buyers in the showroom.

"I'm glad I got here early," Beireis said in the early afternoon, "but I expected to see a lot more people than I'm seeing."

Contact Joe Rodriguez at 408-920-5767.

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