Classic car future

[66fs]

I love the rumble of my Mopar but the quick electric cars are pretty amazing to drive. They will be the future at some point if for no other reason the number of components required to build them .
Take a modern engine with variable valve timing , multiple valve heads , fuel injection , engine stop start etc apart then take an electric car apart . 1/20th the number of components to manufacture and assemble .
And we havent even started on the transmission !

They may work for some, but we travel across the country a lot to visit friends and family. Plus we visit some remote areas. I have seen people at charging stations and the time it takes, not to mention the amps required to run an ev for extended periods. Definitely not for me. Our hemi Charger will get 30+ mpg at 70-75 mph and has a range of 500+ miles. It takes about 5 minutes to fill.

 

[HiPoVALIANT]

Two facts here:

1. There is no one alive today that will see the end of oil.
2. The vehicle manufacturers (publicly traded/for profit corporations) will not build products that consumers don't want.

 

[str12-340]

I'm looking for a video clip from Hurricane Helene. It is security footage from the inside of a garage attached to a house. Owners left their EV and evacuated. When the salt water got into the garage you can see the batteries spontaneously combust and the next shot is of the very expensive house before the hurricane and the smoking foundations that are all that is left. Guess who their homeowners insurance company is going to sue. If someone has a link please post.

 

[str12-340]

Another short sighted issue with EVs is the cost of recycling the toxic remains. Those who make rules about things see a well off individual buying an EV and using it up and then having the wherewithal to pay $1500-2000 to have it recycled. The cycle that we car folks all know will be a well off person buys the car, keeps it for a few years and sells it used to somebody with less money. When the car becomes less than dependable, it will get sold off to someone with even less money. It might even get a 4th owner and when the car dies and it costs too much to fix, they will look into recycling, get sticker shock and park the car in the woods, or dump it somewhere where it will slowly deteriorate until the toxic stew in the batteries leaks out into the ground water. Now do this a few hundreds of thousands of times and think of the results.

There is a simple fix here - Charge the original owner (the one with the most money) a recycling fee up front. The fee is linked to the VIN and put in a fund to pay for recycling. When the car dies the last owner contacts the recycling program and gives them the VIN. The money to recycle is already in the system and someone comes and takes the car away, no muss, no fuss.

 

[str12-340]

There are always some “false economy’s “ or unintended consequences to things .

This is key to the way our economy works. If you can externalize the consequences of your product - that is get someone else to pay for them - then you can make a lot of money. The tobacco industry and the petroleum industry are examples. Heavy industry did it and does it if they can get away with it. My Dad was a chemical engineer for Bethlehem Steel for 40 years. When he started (1956), all the effluent went up the stacks and into the air or was just dumped into the Chesapeake Bay. Guess who is paying for all that - families like mine (Dad died of cancer when he was 68) and those who breathed that air and depended on that water, and the taxpayers left with the bill for clean-up...

 

[mbaird]

This is key to the way our economy works. If you can externalize the consequences of your product - that is get someone else to pay for them - then you can make a lot of money. The tobacco industry and the petroleum industry are examples. Heavy industry did it and does it if they can get away with it. My Dad was a chemical engineer for Bethlehem Steel for 40 years. When he started (1956), all the effluent went up the stacks and into the air or was just dumped into the Chesapeake Bay. Guess who is paying for all that - families like mine (Dad died of cancer when he was 68) and those who breathed that air and depended on that water, and the taxpayers left with the bill for clean-up...

Yep…. Most people don’t take into consideration the accumulation of medical costs or loss to the workforce that hard labor or unhealthy environments cause .
I was thinking about that today wwhile someone was telling me about their father laboring so hard he was crippled by his mid 50s. WE paid for his longterm medical and inability to work .
In the long run large companies may be paying less for safe working environments? I mean a pallet jack is way less expensive than medical bills for the employee that used to move those crates by hand .

 

[BrianT]

My Swinger has a 408 W2 @ 500+ hp and a 4sp. I got say that “beating on it” on the street is not possible ( advisable) unless I am in the middle of nowhere on a wide street! And I don’t think I have ever hit 6000 rpm . Lol
Even with my M/T drag radials muchless my 14” stocker looking wheels . And my car launches pretty straight .
Maybe if I lived in the country ?

I live on the edge of the city and we have country roads and industrial parks that are almost abandoned on weekends and evenings (Mexico). Lots of street racers with more power than I plan on having run there on the weekends, not me but I can still use their "track". There is also a brand new drag strip (Flying H) 30 minutes away. So I guess it will technically be a street/strip car.