The future

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383Scampman

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I was just thinking today and wondered what cars/trucks will be restored/hotrodded in the future ? So, I'm putting it out there for people to respond . I have some ideas but because I'm not a computer person my field of view is narrow . Right now I'm seeing 1,000 h.p. motors in $100,000.00 cars on one end of the spectrum and rats on the other . Neither one is my cup of tea . What say you ? Thanks , Tom
 
I think rat rods are a passing fad. Any low production car made will surely be sought out in the future.Which ones? I don't really care. I won't be around.
 
The hobby as we know it will go the way of wooden sailing ships. There will always be a diminishing crowd of enthusiasts shrinking to boutique size. Availability of cars, parts, vendors and hobbyists will not go away but shrink to a size unrecognizable to us as it exists today. The economy will change making it even more difficult than it is now and affordability will become a greater factor. The youth entering the hobby are not there to replace our generation in significant numbers. History shows that change is coming, either revolutionary or evolutionary doesn't matter, change is in the wind.
 
Internal combustion engines and the cars they come in will become museum pieces with placards telling how they and the industry that created them damaged the environment.... it will be illeagal to start and run one even if you could find gas to run it........in some respects, it will go down something like how the Confederacy is being treated now.....an ugly time in our past history no one wants acknowledge or talk about...........
 
No because someone will get offended by that to.
Its not about being offended. It is about reality. As much as I am a fossil fuel addict like the rest of you the reality is that in 20 to 40 years 80% or more of personal vehicles will be fueled by alternatives. Fossil fuels are finite, have a negative impact on our environment and will become reserved for air travel, home heating and large commercial vehicles.

EVs aren't necessarily the answer either for varying reasons. That being said there are some kits available to make awesome EV hot rods but they are fairly pricey, although if you consider what kind of money typically goes into a proper V8 build nowadays the EV kits offer significant bang for the buck.

I truly believe that the days of building a hot internal combustion engine at home are numbered. Like every thing else in history the time, they are a changing.
 
Rolling nostalgia dictates that whatever was cool but unreachable in a person's youth will be the object of their desire when they're able to afford to play with their money.

Right now, 5.0L Mustangs and their like (IROC-Z Camaros, etc) are hot as are many of the Japanese performance cars of the 80s/90s that people in their 40s wanted when they were poor students and minimum-wage earning workers. The next generation might be nostalgic for Mitsubishi EVOs and Subaru WRXs and seek one out to restore... one day even the lowly Prius could be a nostalgia kick for a middle-aged Millennial. Hard to say!

Unlike today though, government regulation and finite natural resources could dictate if a "modern" car could legally and economically be restored. It's a bit of a grey area at this point.

I don't see the car being vilified in the future by overly thin-skinned Liberals (like everything else in history right now) as, like fossil fuel itself, the popularity of being offended will dry up and disappear. I highly doubt that statues of Henry Ford will be knocked down in the future to appease the spineless...
 
I think in the near future restomods will be the hottest ticket as the big manufacturers continue to make more efficient and fast drive trains there will be those who will incorporate them into old cars (old being relative). Hard to say what the distant future (40+ years) will bring, however I personally believe that the "fossil fuel" thing has gotten way over blown and we (humans) do not understand it as much as we thought. I read that some testing of the oil in the gulf was showing that oil may be being produced naturally at a much higher rate than we thought; meaning it is not as finite as was expected. That said, the path has been laid to development of other energy/fuel sources and eventually there will be a break through that yields something else. Whether it will be better or not than oil remains to be seen. We as humans always seem to think that the latest discovery is infallible and perfect only to determine the error of our ways later. Perhaps hydrogen will be the next energy source or some other yet unidentified thing.

Regardless, there will always be hotrodders willing to push the limits and build something cooler and faster.
 
Well ya never know. Guys might be toolin' around in "engine swapped" (repowered?) rods with electric systems. NO THANK YOU. I will gladly be long gone!! What they gonna do, play engine sounds through the car sound system? Or just make their own "engine sounds" with their mouth?
 
Well ya never know. Guys might be toolin' around in "engine swapped" (repowered?) rods with electric systems. NO THANK YOU. I will gladly be long gone!! What they gonna do, play engine sounds through the car sound system? Or just make their own "engine sounds" with their mouth?

Hey, I do that with my son when we're playing cars and trucks. He loves it. We also make engine sounds when I stomp on it in the Barracuda or the jeep. I think he is gonna love it if I get some cutouts.
 
I asked the question on here 6-8 months what effect the modern muscle car has on our hobby of "old" cars. Most members said, they did not care about anything car wise but their old mopars! Majority had no interest in modern muscle, but a few had some of them along with their old ones. But go to a mopar show, half the cars their are modern and more and more show up as "restorods" with a junkyard modern hemi sitting between the rails. AS time marches on, this swap will be our hotrodding for many that can afford it, and have the ability to do the change over, or pay to have it done. Better power, and mileage, what they think is better reliability. (Fewer and fewer people relate to a carb, and are scared to death of points,. There will always be people that want the Original deal, be it a slant or 318 or whatever. AS people drive their restored "old" cars, many with the modern hemi transplanted restorod, to events like Mississippi's Oceanside cruise in, hot rod mag's road tour deals, etc. the interest in that kind of car will keep growing.
We all realize the Ford Model T has very few fans today, they are all dead. Like said, people relate to a car they wanted back in HS or when $ was short. Take the F body of 76-80. Their poplarity is slowly rising because people had one, or wanted one back then. That car was a used HS car in mid to late 80's. . That was 30-35 years ago. A kid that was 18 in '85, today is 49!!!! Just ripe to look for that model. Will the super coupe and/or kit car ever be worth what a 69 Charger or 70 Cuda is, NO way! In 25 years, the kid that is 20 today, will see the 2008 musclecar as a great resto project. Yes, gas will still ere here, and be legal to drive down the road!!! Alongside all the electric commuter puddle jumpers.
 
I'm going to say no. As said before the world is changing. Most people today only care about Bluetooth and heated steering wheels. If we like it or not the hobby is dying.
 
A lot of the future of this hobby depends on the parents of these youngsters. If the parent of the kid rather just take him to team sports, buy him the latest video game, etc. than help him have an old car to learn to work on, and spend time helping him!!!! then it will die.
 
I asked the question on here 6-8 months what effect the modern muscle car has on our hobby of "old" cars. Most members said, they did not care about anything car wise but their old mopars! Majority had no interest in modern muscle, but a few had some of them along with their old ones. But go to a mopar show, half the cars their are modern and more and more show up as "restorods" with a junkyard modern hemi sitting between the rails. AS time marches on, this swap will be our hotrodding for many that can afford it, and have the ability to do the change over, or pay to have it done. Better power, and mileage, what they think is better reliability. (Fewer and fewer people relate to a carb, and are scared to death of points,. There will always be people that want the Original deal, be it a slant or 318 or whatever. AS people drive their restored "old" cars, many with the modern hemi transplanted restorod, to events like Mississippi's Oceanside cruise in, hot rod mag's road tour deals, etc. the interest in that kind of car will keep growing.
We all realize the Ford Model T has very few fans today, they are all dead. Like said, people relate to a car they wanted back in HS or when $ was short. Take the F body of 76-80. Their poplarity is slowly rising because people had one, or wanted one back then. That car was a used HS car in mid to late 80's. . That was 30-35 years ago. A kid that was 18 in '85, today is 49!!!! Just ripe to look for that model. Will the super coupe and/or kit car ever be worth what a 69 Charger or 70 Cuda is, NO way! In 25 years, the kid that is 20 today, will see the 2008 musclecar as a great resto project. Yes, gas will still ere here, and be legal to drive down the road!!! Alongside all the electric commuter puddle jumpers.

I personally have no issue with modern drivetrains being transplanted into vintage Mopars. Heck, every time I drive my 5.7L Hemi Ram, I fantasize about having that engine in my Dart! The truck pulls so hard that I can't help but wonder how it would feel with 2-2500 less pounds to haul around. A 392 Hemi swap must be amazing in a light a-body!
 
I met a member of the San Anton mopar club at their show this summer. . He had transplanted the modern hemi into his A body. He and his wife had driven to all kinds of long distance mopar and musclecar gathering all around several states. No doubt a comfortable and strong car. Great ride!!
Back in the late 90's, I flew to Ca and bought a restored 383 67 cuda. The PO had put 10,000 mi on it himself. I drove it back to Missouri over 2 1/2 days. 1200-1500 miles??? Yep points ign. Perfect ride home. No issues. 2:94 gears and 18 mpg gal with a thermoguad.
Point is, hotrodding is what we make it. Be it the resto rod, or just getting that SM Dart going and driving it!!!
The deal is enjoying our passion for automotives. Be it building a resto rod, OR ( forbid!!), tuning the Jape ricer. .....and enjoying the fruits of our labor.
 
I truly do not think the hobby is dying, I think it is changing (some may say evolving). What it will be in the future is anyone's guess but there would not be 5000 car shows on TV if it was a dying or niche issue. As I think the point was made, in the 30's no one would have guessed at what the 60's or 70's would be and those of us that were around then could never have guessed at what it is today. There was a time when the "experts" said no one would every go 200 mph in the quarter, Garlits proved them wrong. I think hotrodding in one form or another will be here for a very long time. Just watch Star wars; they have hotrodded the crap out of the Millennium Falcon and every "speedster" you see :rofl:
 
I truly do not think the hobby is dying, I think it is changing (some may say evolving). What it will be in the future is anyone's guess but there would not be 5000 car shows on TV if it was a dying or niche issue. As I think the point was made, in the 30's no one would have guessed at what the 60's or 70's would be and those of us that were around then could never have guessed at what it is today. There was a time when the "experts" said no one would every go 200 mph in the quarter, Garlits proved them wrong. I think hotrodding in one form or another will be here for a very long time. Just watch Star wars; they have hotrodded the crap out of the Millennium Falcon and every "speedster" you see :rofl:
Sure, but that was a long time ago in a place far, far away...

:D
 
Well,we will approach 1000 hp vehicles and it will slowly diminish to 1 or 2 hp....We will be back to riding horses !!!
 
The future? How far into the future? The expanse of the future is indefinite.

20 years?

40 years?

100 years?

More?

The question asked is unanswerable unless the period is defined.
 
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