Yep.....we are in a golden age of horsepower.....with the advancement of OEM fuel injection, low cost and reliable forced induction, and the availability of information.....there has never been a better time to go fast at a relatively low cost.
Is the modern car scene a reflection of income inequality....?
- Thread starter Mikej89
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I've been hitting swap meets and seeing some younger people mixed in the crowds. Many of them are about 10 years older than who I would see there that possessed an equal knowledge base as 10 or 20 years ago, but, they're starting to come out.
What a 16 yr old used to know, they're figuring out at 26 yrs old. BUT, at least they're making that effort
Can't turn back time, but when I was younger, all we did was talk cars, gather at a hamburger place with our cars and swap out car magazines. I have two collectable cars. Both my sons (in their 40s) never had or have interest in them. One of them built a car simulator, that is his car interest. I see plenty of gray hair at car shows and then a few little kids with the gray-haired grandfathers. A lot of "I had one of those" comments.
OBTW: The simulator runs from a laptop, the 1999 Pontiac GTP power bucket seat works, can either run it as an 8spd stick or automatic. Racecourse you pick is projected on the wall screen. Can pick any road course/car in the world to include 1/8th and 1/4 mile. I;m pretty good at the Ring in Germany and getting better at Laguna.
OBTW: The simulator runs from a laptop, the 1999 Pontiac GTP power bucket seat works, can either run it as an 8spd stick or automatic. Racecourse you pick is projected on the wall screen. Can pick any road course/car in the world to include 1/8th and 1/4 mile. I;m pretty good at the Ring in Germany and getting better at Laguna.
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This kid has spent more time building engines than 99% of YouTurd viewers and Instacrap commenters.
And has already driven more miles than any 9 year old city kid... and many adults for that matter.
This is the next generation of hot rodders.
And has already driven more miles than any 9 year old city kid... and many adults for that matter.
This is the next generation of hot rodders.
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Please don't think that back in the "muscle car" '60s everyone was tooling into the high school parking lot in a GTO, Mustang, Camaro, etc, because they were NOT. Those cars even in 1960's dollars were WAY above the lawn cutting income of the average high schooler. Sure, some rich kid's daddy bought them a hot car, and they usually wrapped it around a light pole. A very, very few knew how and had the means to get a couple-years-old muscle car and soup it up to where it was a real street performer. The other thing was, in NYC at least, insurance for a teen-ager with a performance car was astronomical. We were the offspring of Great Depression survivors and those parents did NOT waste precious income on a car for the kid. We had nothing, or maybe a hand-me-down POS and we did what we could with it. Unless your family was rich, we all were poor and if we drove at all it was our family car. So there was always "income inequality". We just called it something different. But once we managed to get our hands on a decent car.........
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I believe the main issue is a lack of hands on work. Look at all the pages on FB with people showing what "mods" they did to a car. Rims and tires, stickers, a different antenna, "debadging", running boards, LED bulbs. All stupidly simple bolt on stuff. No one wants to work any more. This is because we have beat it into kids heads that the only way they can survive is to get a college degree. It has become looked down upon to go to vocational school and actually use your hands to make a living...
That being said, I think we are on the cusp of seeing the pendulum start to swing back the other way. Unfortunately that will take years for it to happen. Think 15-20 years. Before it's VERY noticeable. People are realizing going into hundreds of thousands of $ of debt, and only getting a job that pays 50k just doesn't make sense.
Just my .02
That being said, I think we are on the cusp of seeing the pendulum start to swing back the other way. Unfortunately that will take years for it to happen. Think 15-20 years. Before it's VERY noticeable. People are realizing going into hundreds of thousands of $ of debt, and only getting a job that pays 50k just doesn't make sense.
Just my .02
I graduated in '09 from a school with with families of mixed income, I'd guess predominantly mid to low. So nobody had fast cars. A quick car was a big deal. And by quick I mean compared to everyone else. Numbers didn't come into it.
But you know what the video games were like back then.
And those games told us a number of things:
-Any car can be fast if you slap enough parts onto it.
-Muscle cars are magic and still relevant.
-Modding the ever living f*ck out of a car is commonplace.
-200mph is fast.
-500 horsepower is impressive.
-800 horsepower is huge.
-1000 horsepower is insane.
Here's how that list matured in my own head:
-A car is a tool.
----There are many types of tools.
----The tool's function can be changed, but eventually it becomes something unrelated to what it was.
-The term muscle car is a marketing ploy.
----Old cars look good and sound like our childhoods, but they are obsolete no matter how much our dads love them.
----New muscle cars are either bulky sports cars or large cars that are surprisingly fast.
-Modding cars is only commonplace in our internet echo chambers, and at our car shows and cruises.
----Modding takes a lot of money, but it also takes a f*ck ton of tools and a good work area.
----A rich kid's Tesla is no different socially than a previous rich kid's Ferrari Modena, but you can see the Tesla 5 states away 24/7 on your phone now.
-200mph is still fast, but 250mph is faster.
-500 horsepower is not impressive online.
-800 horsepower is almost impressive online.
-2500 horsepower is not unheard of.
And lastly, here's how I like to put the list into personal perspective:
-All that your car has to do is capture the spirit of your passion.
-Muscle cars were only ever about looking cool and going fast.
----Going fast was only ever about feeling fast.
--------Feeling fast gets your adrenaline up.
-We have lived through the golden age of I.C.E. car modification and are literally drowning in online information.
----Our dads only had word of mouth and Hot Rod Magazine.
----It doesn't matter who is or isn't doing it. The reality is that if YOU want to do it, the door is open for you to achieve things.
----Aftermarket support is so high that many of us have never needed to really fabricate.
-25mph is fast on a bicycle, 115mph is too fast for my daily.
----It's not the top speed. It's the journey to top speed.
-500 horsepower is impressive.
-800 horsepower better have a competent driver behind it.
-Do you even know of anyone in your area by name with 1000 horsepower?
Go have fun with your car. Make it identify with you. Figure out what you really need. And beat that thing like a rented mule! ...or wash it up and park at a car show; that's fine too.
But you know what the video games were like back then.
And those games told us a number of things:
-Any car can be fast if you slap enough parts onto it.
-Muscle cars are magic and still relevant.
-Modding the ever living f*ck out of a car is commonplace.
-200mph is fast.
-500 horsepower is impressive.
-800 horsepower is huge.
-1000 horsepower is insane.
Here's how that list matured in my own head:
-A car is a tool.
----There are many types of tools.
----The tool's function can be changed, but eventually it becomes something unrelated to what it was.
-The term muscle car is a marketing ploy.
----Old cars look good and sound like our childhoods, but they are obsolete no matter how much our dads love them.
----New muscle cars are either bulky sports cars or large cars that are surprisingly fast.
-Modding cars is only commonplace in our internet echo chambers, and at our car shows and cruises.
----Modding takes a lot of money, but it also takes a f*ck ton of tools and a good work area.
----A rich kid's Tesla is no different socially than a previous rich kid's Ferrari Modena, but you can see the Tesla 5 states away 24/7 on your phone now.
-200mph is still fast, but 250mph is faster.
-500 horsepower is not impressive online.
-800 horsepower is almost impressive online.
-2500 horsepower is not unheard of.
And lastly, here's how I like to put the list into personal perspective:
-All that your car has to do is capture the spirit of your passion.
-Muscle cars were only ever about looking cool and going fast.
----Going fast was only ever about feeling fast.
--------Feeling fast gets your adrenaline up.
-We have lived through the golden age of I.C.E. car modification and are literally drowning in online information.
----Our dads only had word of mouth and Hot Rod Magazine.
----It doesn't matter who is or isn't doing it. The reality is that if YOU want to do it, the door is open for you to achieve things.
----Aftermarket support is so high that many of us have never needed to really fabricate.
-25mph is fast on a bicycle, 115mph is too fast for my daily.
----It's not the top speed. It's the journey to top speed.
-500 horsepower is impressive.
-800 horsepower better have a competent driver behind it.
-Do you even know of anyone in your area by name with 1000 horsepower?
Go have fun with your car. Make it identify with you. Figure out what you really need. And beat that thing like a rented mule! ...or wash it up and park at a car show; that's fine too.
Any one can make this a cheap or expensive hobby, just depends on how you approach it.
Forget hot rodding. How many people do you know that even maintain their own daily driver?!? If it isn't leased then it is "in the shop". Sheesh!
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