What ever happened to the old, reliable, $1200 beaters? Remember those?

When I was in high school in the 2000s, the student parking lot was filled with nasty Nissan's, decrepit Dodge's, funky Ford's, tacky Toyota's, and busted up Pontiac's that their barely adult owners had to work long hours to scrape up the $1000-$1200 for.

Nowadays, $1200 will only get you a rusted out and/or non-drivable shell of a once useful vehicle. So where did the ol' beaters disappear to? Was it due to market shift, or is it simply because newer vehicles hold their resale value so much longer?