Thread: Are We finished?

Tweet

Depends on what you mean by "we". We old grey beards are more likely closer to the end of our lives than the beginning, and as time moves on there will be fewer of us who identify and remain loyal to the old cars we define as "hot rod". This past week while at Bonneville, a couple of visiting Kiwis parked next to us at the camp area. Great guys, and surprisingly we knew some of the same people (in many ways hot rodding is a small community). The younger of the two, my guess around 40 or so, kept talking about "old" cars. I finally asked him what "old car" meant to him. He said "something like a '65 Mustang". I smiled and said, well, I remember those new on the show room floor..........they're not so "old" to me! And we had a good laugh. It's all relative. This article is like so much the so called "mainstream media" does.........if it bleeds it leads. Having been interviewed many times I know that they tend to ignore comments that don't play to their preconceived story line. Whoever wrote the commentary on the lead photo doesn't know a '40 Merc from a '51! We have an affinity for the cars that were a part of our youth. Today's kids will likely follow a similar path. Just because the old fogeys who are quoted in this story think a late model Honda is a throw away car, doesn't necessarily mean the nostalgic folk of tomorrow will feel the same.

There are still some interesting cars being built today, and odds are some of them will become the nostalgic collectibles of tomorrow............assuming that over reaching government won't forbid such. Today the local lovers of the BMW built, late model Mini Coopers had a gathering. A pretty good turn out in spite of some iffy weather. These are fun cars, handle great, decent power, a very supportive aftermarket, and they get great fuel economy. The base model '09 gets a legitimate 36 mpg overall. And then there's the good ol' Mustang. Since '05 they've enjoyed a strong following and great aftermarket support. Below is a new '10 model called the GTR........if that don't get your pulse up you need a transfusion (or you're too anti Ford ).

I do think politics will be a problem for car lovers of the not too distant future, the elitists who feel the need to turn us into serfs are growing stronger and more bold, but for now there's still some hope.