Thread: Distant future of hotrodding

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Shamelessly swiped this post from our sister site Club Cobra

Originally Posted by Tommy

Several tech advances and news stories have been swirling in my head, making me wonder what the world of hot rods (including Cobra replicas) will be like in 30 years. I don't expect to be here to see for myself, so I thought some of us might speculate on how things will be. Here are the stories that got me thinking.

Lookheed expects to market 100 MW fusion reactors, small enough to fit in the back of a truck in about ten years.
The USA is expected to be the world leader in the production of both oil and natural gas by 2015. Saudis worried about dramatic falls in oil prices.
Automakers are steadily making cars more responsible for driving actions. Self driving cars that communicate with similarly equipped cars are expected to be the norm in about 20 years.


Falling oil and energy prices are plainly good news for hot rodders. Cleaner energy production is also good news for hot rodders who are currently more a part of the problem than of the solution. All this bodes well unless it accelerates the transition to electric cars to the point that gas stations become as rare in the future as electric recharging stations are now.

Can you imagine a time when hot rodders with powerful electric motors are as enthralled by the silence of their rides as we are of the rumbles and roars of our cars? Will it get to the point where the cars with the most powerful motors are so quiet that their drivers will look down on the pitiful guys still driving gasoline engine cars? Will there ever be a Cobra replica with a Mr. Fusion reactor in the back (ala Back to the Future)?

One of the anticipated benefits of computer guided and networked self driving cars is the ability to move more cars down the road in less time. For example, if there are 250 such cars moving down the freeway and a patch of open highway appears ahead of them, all 250 can accelerate simultaneously to the same higher speed without generating the accordion motion common in manually driven cars. They can also shuffle the cars that need to take the next three exits to the right places to do that without impacting the rest of the pack. But it only works if all the cars are networked AND self driving. So where will hot rodders fit into this world? Will the times and places that hot rods can be driven start to narrow? Will hot rods find themselves in the same category with golf carts? Will you have to trailer your hot rod to the next event behind your self driving truck? Will hot rods be as welcome and as rare on future highways are horses are on current roads?

So what do you think the future holds? Feel free to expand on the list of technologies you think may change the hobby.

Hotrods are going to become the mobility scooters of the future
OR
The mobility scooters of the future are going to be hotrodded

For how many centuries did the horse and carriage dominate as the transportation means, only to be pushed aside by the internal combustion engine. Bringing us to the automobiles we know today, and all of this taking just a little over a hundred years. Kinda makes you wonder how we got on the fast track?

i myself believe that it will take at least another generation before the electric and self driving scene takes over. there are too many factors that will slow it down, the biggest one being who will fund a project like this? Not the big 3... The U.S. Gov't is broke...

I think it is fun to speculate about the future. On the other hand i am also worried that 60 years from now, i may just be sitting in my hot rod with my grand kids explaining to them what a burn out is and the smell of burning rubber, rather than showing them because there is no more gasoline, only energizer bunny cars... the makings of a nightmare right there.

The Car, Truck and Bike Show I went to over the weekend showed no indication of decline or any change for the worst. I still saw the passion, innovation and pride that is ?usually? present so I'm thinking that as long as there's Iron out there the Rodders will take care of the rest.

"Self driving " One question who do you sue if hit by one of these ........?

Oh yeah they will all have insurance you can count on that one... right?

I will not be around to see the demise of the HotRod when it happens. So I am driving into the future with mine as far as I get to go.

Do not like new cars AT all they look the same and the driver has less control and is told when to come in out of the rain.

Think all these failsafe gee-dunks will make the drivers even lazier and less attentive, and will create a bigger nightmare in time......... No thanks I like to drive a car not ride in a car.

Off the topic or question as asked, just an opinion.

Hey when we were kids everyone had a gas guzzling high performance v8 in there car. Muscle cars and hot rods were what it was all about. The generation of today are all about Fuel injection, small displacement, and computers in their rides. Chip burning is their language now. The move away from what we know and think of as hot rods will only be seen in museums in the not too distant future. Unless we can get our hands around this world view that we are killing the planet I dont think there is much of a future for hot rods. They have been trying very hard for about the last 30 years to move us into the corner. Doubt if I see it but the big Checkmate is closer than many of us realize. Wish I was wrong but Ive watched the government all but eliminate the off road industry. They have closed everything down as far as land use to the point that the few areas left are over ran with off roaders. When you dictate a small piece of property for a bunch of users it only a matter of time before the Eco Nazis point out what is happening to the environment, it then gets shut down or so regulated its not worth the effort. That is how the Hot Rod Industry is going to be swallowed up in my opinion. Enjoy it as much as possible and document how the free used to live because our grand kids will only read in disbelief amazement. Of course I don't have any real opinion on the matter! LOL Just my view from So Cal.

Here in the US we're already seeing driver to road controls from a system that does lane searching and will slow down the speed of the truck with it's sonar. These trucks suck to drive in the winter and are dangerous on ice. Driverless cars sound like a great idea, but IMO it's just like the drones. Look how many states oppose them and the reasons as well. I'm sure in 100 years the driverless cars are definitely possible. I was sitting in a semi on Saturday with a load of corn wondering what the ag industry will do if the train lines keep getting restructured and removed? What new means will they move mass amounts of freight? It's crazy how far south the trains have went. I have no answers for this topic, but I fear my children and their children will see it.

Originally Posted by pepi

"Self driving " One question who do you sue if hit by one of these ........?



Think all these failsafe gee-dunks will make the drivers even lazier and less attentive, and will create a bigger nightmare in time......... No thanks I like to drive a car not ride in a car.

I think so, too, Pepi. There is a commercial on TV for Mercedes or Audi (I think) that says the car takes care of all the little stuff leaving you more time to drive - the idea scares the he-- out of me; that is, to use a new word, enabling and even encouraging inattentive, distracted driving - let the car drive while you play with your phone or pick your nose, or whatever other urgent distraction you have poking at you.

I doubt I will see too much of this long range stuff in my lifetime, and even my kids may not see it come to complete fruition, but I am pretty certain my grandkids will be saddled with it. Just getting the infrastructure developed and in place will take a decade or two, and there won't be any merging of the technology with the existing non-automated systems, it will have to be pretty much a "shut the old one down and clear it away, then put the new one in service" sort of thing. So sometime in the future, the government will deliver a cookie cutter type car to every driver that meets some predetermined criteria, and on some Sunday evening at midnight, they will find some way to disable all of the non-system-compliant cars, and connect the cookie cutters to the system; on Monday morning, you will go get in your cookie cutter and it will take you wherever you, or the government wants you to be. Dismal to think of.

Driverless Vehicles??? Jeeze, why not just fire up the old Railroads again and save energy at the same time, eh Charlie???

Can you imagine what the Indy 500 is going to look like in a few years ? Check out this video...
http://www.stuff.tv/audi/audi-heats-...ar-can-go/news