There's no wrong or right answers here, and feel free to opine. But as I age into my end-of-life crisis (I managed to skip my mid-life crisis), I've decided a few things about what I'm going to concern myself with when it comes to "our hobby."
I recall back in the summer of 2011, we had our 2010 5th gen Camaro less than 2 years, when we took the car back "home" to Oshawa for the gargantuan all-years Camaro Homecoming they had there. Of course, GM was heavily involved with it, and they brought out the 2012 ZL1 there for all to see, plus an area to crawl all over the "new" 2012 Camaro lineup. In the Camaro-world, this was kinda a big deal. During the ordeal, I talked cars with a GM exec that I knew, and he told me that in the future, V8s were going to be "luxury" items and performance was going to cost more and more as it went along. That's when he asked me out of the blue what I thought about a mid-engine Corvette. WTF? If done right, I guess it'd be ok, but don't launch one tomorrow as not many would be ready for that. People don't usually take well to sudden changes.
As we walked around the North Camaro Sea there, I was amazed at the power capabilities of some, the originality of some, and how each owner made their car their own, whether it be performance, aesthetics, or a combo of both. This is what car ownership should be. Make it YOURS. Do what makes you happy. And just about every case, you could imagine all the $$ hours spent fixing, modifying, restoring, etc., their cars to make it theirs, regardless of budget. Some were finished, some needed more work, and most, as always, are never really "finished."
But all that leads me to nearly eleven years later, 2022. Our A/G-bodies (78-88) were generally all the turds in the punchbowl. The only one that wasn't IMO was the GNX. Even the GN's during that time were impressive when compared to other G-bodys, but not to the old muscle. Designed by GM to sell trillions, and try to meet everyone's daily driver needs. Getting from point A to B with a decent smooth ride and as much room as possible. I look at them as "right-sized" personal coupes, with RWD and full frame, if you want to call it a frame, but that's just me. From grandma to the mustached wannabe macho guy with the mullet and the oversized sunshades that were so prevalent in the late 70s and for the next decade, G-bodies fit the bill. With lackluster performance coming out of the gas crunches of the 70s, and questionable quality from car to car, these were the cars for whatever reason that has captured our imaginations of what owning one can do for our car addictions.
As a 60s-early 70s Olds aficionado, initially the A/G-bodies didn't wow me much when they first arrived in 81. The styling was more like a brick in comparison, just a sleeker brick than in 78-80. But after the 83
H/O was released, that got my attention. Still wasn't too sure. Had to grow into the G-bodies. After all, a 307 was no 455. Stuff I was used to. Looking back is easy to do, but when you're in the moment, it's simply living life. New car buying was still a big decision in life and the "weak" G-bodies weren't all that impressive. I almost bought a new 84
H/O vinyl interior leftover lot lizard (dealership had 2 of them late in 84) after my 85 442 order languished in Lansing, but backed out right before signing. I don't know if calling Oldsmobile and whining about it made a difference (probably not), but it wasn't a week after I talked to someone in fleet order scheduling I got word it was on the slate for production. FINALLY. At least I tell myself it did have something to do with it.
So now we play with our big boy G-toys, like everyone else. Modifying moreso than restoring. Restifying is fun as well. The newest G-body is 34 model years old. That's crazy. But parts aren't there anymore like they used to be. Like when people were looking for inside the rail Olds headers. Stuff is drying up. The aftermarket, and even the big box store auto parts places are starting to drop regular repair parts that used to be so plentiful. So if you don't gather up your parts now, you'll be scouring craigslist, et al, searching for used. It seems most junkyards are already void of good G-body selections. And when parts get too hard to find and prices soar, people just give up and move on. The G-body desire will fade, and hardly anyone will carry on the torch. It's not just with G-bodies, it's seemingly every older car. If you're not spending big bucks on performance parts to modify, you're going to be left out in the cold. Ever notice there is starting to become more and more "resto" aftermarket parts for G-bodies. Still not enough, but that seems to be the direction it's heading. When cars get to a certain age, they start focusing on restoring them instead of modifying them. It happened to 55-57 Chevies back in my day. Hot rodding them started getting stale, and more and more resto parts were coming into play for the 55-57 bodies. Better and newer bodies were available for hot rodding. Nobody takes a pristine example of a 55 Chevy and hacks it up any more. Nobody I know does, anyway. The further you get from the car era, the more charm it holds. One day you'll be an old 85 year-old guy spying an 84 Pontiac GP at a car show somewhere. "It was my great grandma's car"...it'll make you smile and long for those simpler times. Whereas today you're getting ticked off because you busted your knuckles getting that stubborn ball joint out of the front LCA on your G-body.
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In the near-term future, the push will be more and more EV. Unfortunately, it's policy/politically driven, and not organically grown demand. This will be its biggest problem. People are generally resistant to change, and when someone rolls up and puts an electric motor in a car, I just shrug and think about it having more in common with my refrigerator than a hot rod. Big deal. Yawn. Color me unimpressed. Appliances have electric motors. Nobody I know of will be willing to tear down an electric motor in a car and do mods to it to add power to it. It's not that they're "bad". They're just different for a different kind of driver, that's all. More like an upgraded electric golf cart. You'll never see anyone "proud" to show off their EV motors at a car show. No hoods will be up because what would be the point? Nobody like me will give two sh*ts. And repairs? Unless you're an electronic tech or minimally an electrical tech, you likely won't be the one fixing your EV. It'll be component replacement. You know, like your refrigerator.
The EV isn't without some pushback. Cadillac dealers around here are going to be turning in their license to GM pretty soon and you'll need to go far and wide to get a new Caddy when they go "all electric" soon. The deal is, if I understand it correctly, GM is forcing dealers hands by saying they must do all the dealership upgrading for servicing and charging Caddy EVs ON THE DEALER'S DIME before they get the first order of Caddy EV. GM will reimburse them if they comply, but that will be after the fact. In case anyone has been paying attention at GM lately, they'd notice they can't sell hardly ANY new cars at the moment because GM isn't building them!!! So how can dealerships afford to outlay that kind of cash to upgrade when they don't even have anything to sell to keep the money pump running? WTF? So, at least around this surrounding area far and wide, Caddy dealers are throwing in the towel. There's not going to be many people driving 100-150 miles to buy a Caddy EV. Another idiotic GM gamble.
Not even going to touch the electric grid. That infrastructure nightmare will come home to roost. I'm sure it will be a problem that will get solved eventually, but not before everyone and their brother has committed to building nothing but EVs, requiring LOTS more charging capabilities, and burning down more homes and cars, and other structures. I'm not anti-EV. But there's more important issues to solve much more pressing than trying to overload the electrical grid right now. Cart before the horse. Fly the plane while building it...dumb. It's going to cost more for electricity one way or another, and more for gas. Pick your poison.
If it doesn't have a camshaft, I'm not impressed. Have at it. For those that love EVs, go ahead. Enjoy your EV. They're always going to be looked at as appliances by me. Maybe they'll have a built in K-cup machine in the dash. That might be the only thing that may change my mind about owning one. Driving an appliance is probably different than having one keep your food cold or wash your clothes. And as more and more EV's replace the ICE cars, then it will make our cars more historic. The conspiracy theorists tend to flock to non-trackable cars, and G-bodies fit the bill nicely.
Summing up- it's going to cost us more to keep and maintain/build our G-bodies going forward. All due to a bunch of idiots forcing stuff down our throats whether you want it or not. I'm just glad I'm a part of it while it was still a "thing." Agree or disagree. It's just thoughts rolling around in my head about where we may end up as a G-body Nation.
