A casual observer

[BMK]

Hi all,



I'm watching with interest as the latest policies roll out of the US there.

With the announcement that your Government will have the new car policy in immediately, with a major focus on the reduction of auto emissions by 2016, it looks like even more interesting times for the Californian's and the US as a whole.

I'm hearing 35% reductions on emissions from vehicles and the phase out of the SUV etc.



Guess with the Government bail out of the big players in the auto industry, the Government will not get much in the way of opposition from them. And the promise of more billions to head their way...

Will you - an then us - be driving around in small fours that return 35mpg in the near future..

The auto enthusiast has weathered a few storms over the years, but this one looks rather frightening as it approaches us. It will be interesting to see what impact it has on the car enthusiast and the kit car industry as a whole.

The SB100 in California looks as if it may go right across the States there... Is that the case or prediction..



Will BO see us all running around the lawn with our dogs for recreation...

[RedBarchetta]

My first thoughts about all of this pertained to my current daily driver ('02 Z06 Corvette) and my oldest son's future daily driver ('10 Camaro). Both cars have tremendous performance but would never get close to the new requirements. The new Camaro might end up being the last of its breed.

This is not to say that this spells complete death for new performance cars, but just to the kinds of cars we grew up on and what we're used to. Newer performance cars will eventually emerge that will blow away our mindset on alternative fuels and propulsion methods. In fact, internal combustion will most likely go away entirely in my lifetime (I'm 46).

SB100 is one (wacky) way of limiting the number of "exempted" cars from a smog inspection process that is all about raising government revenues and not so much as to reducing pollutants in the air. I haven't had a car fail a smog inspection for at least the past 20 years, yet every two years I am subjected to this and have to pay for one. Get the picture???

I think we would be nieve for us to think that internal combustion mileage standards will go up dramatically, yet the "kit car" registration process (that largely still uses good old fashioned gas burners) would go unscathed? At least in Oz they are already forcing you guys to run Gen III SB Chevies in your cars, so you're already well ahead of the U.S. curve as it pertains to that aspect of all this.

As for my car? Well let's just say that I am slowly becoming the "white haired uncle" that Neil Peart wrote in his lyrics. And I will gladly race the "alloy air cars, two lanes wide" to the "one lane bridge" on Sundays, too.

-Dean

[CobraDan]

GM has a 4 cylinder Ecotec engine putting out 290hp stock and gets 28mpg and at the drag strip this same engine with a 76mm turbo gets 1450hp, I see the day of the V8 ending.

[Sharroll Celby]

Yeah, What Dean said.

People forget that in our political system, it swings from right to left, left to right, etc etc etc. When Bozo Bush was in office, (with his GOP Congress from 2000-2006), the pendulum swung WAY to the right. Now with Bozo Obama (Bozobama?) in there, his wacko liberal "green" policies are swinging WAY back to the left.

I think CDC has said "We are screwed". But we have been getting screwed by politicians for years. NO ONE thinks long-term.

[computerworks]

Mod Note - moved to the Lounge

[Buzz]

Reading many of the other threads, I find it interesting that when the going gets rough, some choose to compound the agony with woeful wails and chicken little cries of impending doom instead of finding calm reassurance in the historic failure of these doomsday prognoses to ever actually materialize.

Remember how bad things looked for auto enthusiasts in 1974 when the Mustang II was rolled out? It was the end of the world as we knew it - the guillotine that was hanging over the head of the muscle car had finally dropped. Then suddenly - by the mid to late 80's, a TPI Vette could hit 150 mph and Buick GN's were smoking tires all over the place. Trans Am GTA's, IROC Camaros and Mustang 5.0's were kicking butts and taking names. Old school big block aficionados stubbornly resisted accepting the new EFI, TPI and turbocharged breed of performance cars, but like it or not, as the new tech evolved, cars were matching the performance of the old dinosaurs AND doing it with way less fuel consumption and cleaner tailpipe emissions.

Dean and Dan and Sharroll are absolutely right. Performance cars will never die. They will just be different, that's all. Today; Vettes, Vipers and lil' Japanese 4 bangers are posting numbers that the old muscle cars could mostly only dream about on a relatively frugal sip of fuel while (comparatively speaking of course) blowing rose petals out their exhaust pipes. Compare a new Vette's performance, gas mileage and emissions to those of a '69 427 or a 70's 454 C3 to put things in perspective.

I guess for some reason it's easier to succumb to paranoia and fear than to face the prospect of change with an open mind, a pioneering spirit and a resolute faith in the inventiveness born of necessity that has come through time and time again.

[HI Cobra]

Right on Buzz - I see your glass is half full too!

[Ron61]

I would like to see change also but not just some of the knee jerk stuff they are proposing. I do like one thing about the new proposals. Let the Federal Govt. set the standards for all states so they are the same, and at least the car manufacturers won't be trying to meet different car emission standards for every state. Also this will drastically limit the amount of cars on the highways as only the wealthy and politicians can afford to own one.
I like the 35 MPG standard but wish it could be achieved with a new engine and fuel combination as I think they have just about ruined the gas here as much as they can. With all of the anti smog additives, the mileage on my little Comet with the 289 has dropped over 5 MPG from what it used to get.
I do believe that given the incentive and some time they can build performance cars that will put what we have to shame and still meet the needed standards, but it isn't going to happen overnight.

Ron

[Buzz]

Amen Flip! It's never empty til it's empty.

Ron - sure it will take a while, but in the mean time we have our current crop of pretty decent performance cars to hold us over.

PS: Looking waay ahead here, but have you guys seen the eyeball-flattening acceleration numbers some of the prototype electric cars are churning out? If we go that route (and I suspect there will be more than one technology being deployed concurrently) it's just a matter of perfecting the battery technology and packaging. We will miss the big cam V8 bellow and the smell of hi-octane for a while, but 1000+ ft/lbs of torque from idle to unlimited redline churning through a continuously variable transmission just might help ease the pain. Warp speed, Mr. Scott!