the future is grim. or is it?

ok, heres my opinion. as you all know, due to new laws in effect as of 2011, there will be no new muscle cars , no more novas, no more challengers no more camaros no stangs cudas or cougers, there will be a time when they will all be beeond repair or destroyed in the stupid cash for clunckers thing.
but in this grim time we have to remember. when cars became the avalible to the public, (modle T) and afew others, they werent ment to go fast. so people fabricated things, biult things and mixed and matched parts from heavy trucks and such. my point being maybe were the last generation to here the thunder of a V-8, but we will not be the last to smell burning rubber. we will swap electric truck motors into our electric carts, we will stick bigger batteries in the back (or front), we will lighten them up to be only 300 pounds not the ridiculasly heavy 400 pounds it was when we bought it off the lot from crysfiat (crysler, but merged with fiat)  


HUMANS WILL CONTINUE TO GO FAST IN THERE CREATIONS  

please, leave your comment, i want to read them all  

Cash for clunkers didnt pass,  and where dose it say there will be no more muscle cars?  

o, i thought it did and cars from the sixties and seventies cant run forever  

I just read that a version of that motion did pass but still,  where dose it say that there will be no new muscle cars?

Keep in mind that very few cars actualy qualify for that program.

Most 4 and 6 cyl versions of the cars we build get better than 18 MPG.  Thats the maximum rated MPG your car can be rated at and still qualify.

Your old I6 Falcon?  Sorry thats a no-go.  Whats that?  you swapped a 347 in it with a blower and you currently get 11 MPG?  Too bad, the government goes by published figures.

In short the cars that qualify are valued and the ones that are not valued usualy wont qualify.

Also the program as it sits now is only effective for one year and will likely be ammended with SEMA's suggestion that there be a 25 tear limit.

Just howmany cars from 1983 on up actualy qualify?  Some of the TBI equipped B bodies and other full sized cars that most of you wont touch with a ten foot pole.

Some of the factory "musclecars" from the eighties might  qualify,  I know my 350 TPI T/A dosnt.


And who said that there can be no more performance cars at all?  It's just a list of minimums and maximums that the OE's must meet.  And thats corporate average numbers.

The same thing happened time and time again in the past and what did we get?  We were blessed with a the gen 3-4 SBC,  a new Hemi that blows the old one away in every respect not the least of which is the fact that it's much more affordable.  Dont forget the better versions of the Ford Mod motors, V6's that make V8 power and 4 bangers that run with almost anything on the street.

If the next generation of musclecars need to go from 24MPG to 30 MPG to fit in the lineup of 35-45 + MPH hyper-milers that'll fill out the rest of the car range then it'll happen.  

I wouldn't worry.  I heard the same sort of talk sometime last century (1972-1975).  Everyone was crying about how you couldn't even get a big block in Corvette anymore.  Today (at least last year) the Corvette was even faster than it was in the early days.  Gearheads will prevail.  Remember that a 200 cu. in. engine at 10,000 rpm pumps the same amount of air as a 400 cu. in. engine at 5,000 rpm.  A few years ago a national touring series allowed 4.3 Liter Chevy engines to run with the 358 cu. in. V8s as long as they paid a 200 lb. weight penalty.  That tells me that the V-6 was (is) a pretty stout engine.  Between multi-gear (constantly variable?) transmissions, power adders and so forth I think that the future of car crafting is going to be very exciting over the next decade or so.  I do believe that there will come a time when the trusty V8 is going to have it's lunch eaten by an electric drag racer.  Lead acid batteries will give up their life to supply amperage so methinks that someone will come up with a super-light super-fast electric car that will use up all the power in a battery in just a few seconds.  This doesn't even begin to address the fuel cell, small displacement high rpm internal combustion engines, newer battery technology or any as-yet-unthought-of technology.  Yep, I think that over the next 10-20 years the large cubic inch engine will be looked at something like a 409 is today, an interesting relic that was hell on wheels in its day but not competitive in the current day and age.  Jusy my two cents.  

i published this artical because one day there will be no V-8's or old muscle cars because far into the future there going to be to expensive for anyone but opra or bill gates can afford them. PLEASE this artical if for the future of car crafting NOT talking about laws but i did find issix's artical informative and that is and exeption so please no more talk about bills just predictions for the future

but thank you issix for the post  

I agree that what we recognise as the "musclecar"  ie V8 large displacement internal combustion engines mounted in RWD midsized sedans and 2+2 coupes will eventualy cease to exist. Likely through evolution and technological advance.

We have allready seen the displacement drop significantly over what was common at the peak of the original musclecar era and we have seen the cars them selves evolve from crude go fast implements to more well rounded cars cast in a similar mold as the traditional european grand tourer and sports sedan.

At every point the cars have better met the requirements of the general public while the devoted few have lamented the emissions equipment, electronic controls, new generation hardware and un-conventional platforms,  atleast at first.

Now fuel injection is common and easy to work with,  a lumpy idle is a fashion statement when done on purpose and a sign of bad tuning when not.   Modern thin wall cast alloy blocks after a short period of doubt have shown to be much stronger than the trusty old iron antiques.

Now there is no excuse for single digit mileage even with a real 500 wheel HP.

And all the OT advances spurred on by the government have led to un countable advances that can be applied to older machines to bring them up to modern levels of refinement while beating the best that could have been offered "back in the day".



Performance cars in the future will proabably lose displacement,  and even a few cylinders.  But I dont doubt that factory performance will live and that hotrodders and tuners will continue to do what they live to do.

Yeah it wont be the same.  But it hasent been the same since 1970.  A new Vette will blow away the biggest baddest Vett of 1970 in any arena.  But it dosnt provide quite the same experence as the old brutal 454 LS6 despite the better numbers and actual feel in the steering and brakes.

So if the world never sees another LS7 ZR-1 Vette it wont be the first time things have changed,  but you can bet that there will be something faster, quicker and stickier than anything available today.  And if that requires that we give up some of the intangible qualities we hold dear and open our minds to new qualities then thats what'll happen.  Ofcourse a few people will chose to be left behind but that just means more fun for the rest of us  

what about the aftermarket,SEMA,and all the smart ones that can build what they need??ingenouity has been the brain behind car crafting and hotrodding since forever...

just buy stock in Dynacorn...  

i am not worried...


al  

oh yeah...

no it won't be "the same, cuz we are older (i am 41)an dwe APPRECIATE more,now that stuff is harder to come by and the BJ influence on our hobby  

i remember when we use to practically spit on brown,gold,green cars,four doors,column shift or 6cyl cars...all of a sudden,(2001 or so) everyting is now worth an arm and a leg (at least around here....)


(sigh)ah well

i should of never sold ANY of my cars....

times have changed for sure...but we can still have fun....  

JUST WATCH THE CRUSHERS!!!! The Muscle Cars and the Classics, Street Rods, etc... will never really die out. These Politicians just open more opprotunities for Aftermarket Companies to produce parts. HOPEFULLY IN THE US!!! Look at a Tri five Chevy? You can liturally buy the whole car now. Performance parts will always be made and sold, bought and used. Even if they go to E85, old cars can be made to run on this with little changes. In fact, cars will gain Horse Power on this stuff. People will even find ways to make these vehicles electric should this be the case. We are an innovative people. Electric cars are a move now type vehicle when set up certain ways, which means the vehicle moves NOW!!! and fast. Speed innovations have been happening almost since the beginning of the automobile. Look at the Hemi? You can buy a brand new Hemi 426, or ?. The end of the muscle car era did not end the muscle car, just the factory production of it or the ability for manufactures to call them Muscle Cars. Todays drive-trains which can be adapted to any vehicle are very fast, put out a lot of torque, etc...

The problem at this time is keeping all the old cars from the crushers. This is the big problem in the Classic, Muscle, etc... car world today. This is driving up the cost to restore a classic muscle car and makes them expencive for the enthusiast to have one. Even the rust buckets need to be saved as they too can be restored, street rodded, customized, etc... I have no choice but to look at things in a positive light, because I love my classics, muscles, customes, etc... Fun can still be had!!!!! Always will be!!!! At least in my life time?

If the GOOOOONS on Capital Hill get their way we will all need a wheel barrow of money for a loaf of bread, because you can bet that a few of them have stock in wheat!!!!! Gangsters didn't stop running things, they just got Elected??? HaHa!  

"A new Vette will blow away the biggest baddest Vette of 1970 in any arena." not nessacerally. in hot rod last month or 2 months ago they had a zr1 vette run a low 13 sec et. kinda slow for a 638 hp supercar. take for instence a zl1 vette would be quicker. may not handel as well but about every where else its just as good.  

it isn't about whether the new is as good as the old or vice versa...it is about whether or not there will be either left after the green goons crush them all thinking that the sheet metal itself is damaging the planet

there is a whole bunch of people out there that think that if something is a few years old that it needs to be destroyed and replace by something "new and improved", mindless idiots that follow the leader because they aren't taught to think for themselves...to bad the leader isn't going into the gas chamber

it is called consumerism...to an extreme, like anything else, it is not good for a body  
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the red-headed step-child of the mailing list

fuzzy dice, air shocks & N50's rule

I'm with ya 68scott385. I'm one that believes that if it isn't broke don't fix it.
New is not always better as for old. I'm not sure about the gas chamber though?
We, in this country are loosing choices. we just get the crap stuffed down our throats. Whether we want it or not?

This is a little off the path, but Automobiles Have taken the most beating on regulations. They are literaly being regulated out of existance, at least the US cars.

They are being blamed for climate change.

I have one question to ask all these Green idiots. Didn't I hear something on the new about that sunaumy and the earths axes changing degrees alittle. If i'm not mistaken wouldn't this cause climate change? Just though I would ask?

Stop blaming the automobile, ya danm green heads.