mightymike

I have seen a few articles in the car magazines that are stating our hobby is in jeopardy. Other than joining SEMA what can we do. I doubt our elected officials could give a rat's ***.

bad_408_vert

iTrader: (6)

Keep buying parts! All the performance brands are legit businesses that contribute to economy and pay taxes.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

itll be fine. this is nothing new.


buy what you want and modify how you like. no one can stop you.

deelong4002

iTrader: (8)

This happened in the 80's it will happen again.

Starz T/A 17

iTrader: (6)

^ X2 and how alot of the performance industry is going, its not all about huge engines with big cams that get 8 MPG anymore. Even if emission laws do crack down there are still other means to get performance out of a car. Turbos, Superchargers, N20, with a good tune don't really mess with the emissions on a car. So I can see this hobby evolving, but Its not going anywhere.

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Our hobby is always in jeopardy bc its not a needed item. That doesn't leave many things safe realistically does it? Just keep supporting and encouraging it, it'll stay around.

NoGamesLS1

iTrader: (16)

Good idea! That way the government can spend out tax dollars against us

jts98z28

iTrader: (18)

its declining just like every other hobby, boat/jetski sales are going down too from what ive heard,and people are pinching pennies to get by when the economy turns around it will be fine

myk

iTrader: (4)

"Hobby" is kinda vague. Are we talking about 'modding cars, restoring cars, V8 powered cars, drag racing, or just American performance in general?

If we're talking about what goes on in public roads, garages, tracks etc. then I'd say that the car culture may have suffered a bit, but what hasn't in the last coupla' years? If it's one thing America loves more than contraversy, or large breasts on a thin girl it's cars. The car culture will always be a part of our lives in the States, for better or worse.

If we're talking about the industry, such as in new cars and whatnot, I'd say that despite bad economic times American performance is still running strong. If anyone doesn't agree I'm pretty sure the names SS, 5.0 and SRT-8would prove you wrong...

Element

iTrader: (5)

Modifying transportation is a hobby that's never going to end, regardless of what the means of propulsion is. Horse breeding was the start of it - making faster horses - and it'll continue going when personal vehicles are powered by things we can't even imagine now.

As far as modifying large-cube V8, RWD cars, yeah, it's slowing down. There's a lot more performance available from I4 and V6/I6 engines now, which has opened up a new group of vehicles for people to mod (and younger kids are increasingly more interested in small-displacement engine modding), and the amount of performance V8 RWD vehicles on the market is drastically reduced from what it used to be.

I don't think as an overall hobby car modding is going to go away, we'll just see a slow continued trend away from large-body, large-cube vehicles.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Hobby has been in jeopardy constantly since about
1967. Keep writing letters, get plugged into whatever
hobby-legislative-early-warning-system you care to
support.

SSmoken

iTrader: (26)

why would we need to join sema?

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I think he means the SEMA Action-Network. They keep people up to date on new anti-hobby laws being considered that we need to work against.

Overall, the hobby isn't going away. Interests will shift and cars will change over time, but modifying/racing/restoring/collecting won't end in our lifetime.

It used to be that, years ago, the vast majority of this hobby/market was built around V8 RWD domestics. Now, there are several other popular categories (import/FWD/4cyl/6cyl) that have broken the collective market into smaller sections.

This industry is the same as OE auto manufacturing; the car market isn't going away in this country, it's just that there are more major players now than there were 40 years ago.

Oh, as for laws ending this hobby, that won't happen either, except maybe for the people living in CA. The rest of the nation could have adopted CARB-style enforcement decades ago, but they never have. Laws may effect factory performance, but they do little to the aftermarket in general. There will always be ways around emissions & testing; we've all been doing it for YEARS already. In some ways, it's gotten easier. And in many places, the old cars are emissions exempt anyway, so there's always that.

imma_stocker

iTrader: (19)

Egg your local EPA office? haha jk

Its a cycle. Badass engines keep us happy for a while. New gov't restrictions make cars suck. Repeat

FST SS

I believe we are in the 2nd generation of the Muscle Car era. The first started around 1963ish and ended around 1972ish. During that time Detroit turned out some amazing RWD V-8 powered 4-speed cars. Every company made them, Chevrolet, Ford, Chrysler, Pontiac, Buick, Dodge, etc... It all ended when emission laws came out. from the early 70's to the early 90's there were no mass produced real Muscle cars made. Then in the mid 90's they started coming back. That's why we lost a generation of kids building American Hot-Rods, there were no used cheap real Muscle cars for them to buy and work on, instead they became " Ricers ". Today the kids are starting to buy and build 4th gen Camaros and Mustangs. Just look at the SR & K section, there are many 20 something year olds that are racing 10 and 15 year old Camaros and Mustangs.

How long will this 2nd generation of Muscle cars last, who knows ? We have come a long way in 50 years though, In 1971 I had a brand new 351 Boss Mustang. It ran 13.5 stock, had 11.5/1 compression, no power steering, no air conditioning and got about 7 mpg. 30 years later I bought a 2000 SS, it ran 13.5 stock, got 20 mpg, emissions legal, has power EVERYTHING and still just as fun to drive.

Asian LSX

iTrader: (4)

I guess I'm the odd-ball kid that never went ricer lol. I'm 24 and I've always seen stuff in magazines like this. I can see history repeating itself but theres way to many creative people out there for it to go away completly. Seeing FST SS's post is why I love 4th gens. Having said his 2000 SS is just as fun as his Boss 351 is pretty cool.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

The real "dark ages" of factory performance were from 1975 to 1984. In 1974 you could still get a SD-455 Firebird, which was really the last excellent performer. Then starting in 1985 performance returned to a mentionable level with the TPI 5.7L Corvette, followed over the next couple years with that same engine moving into the Camaro/Firebird and an intercooled version of the 3.8L V6 hitting the Turbo Buicks. The 5.0 Mustang became respectable again as well. Those cars all performed similar (or in some cases better) than your average run-of-the-mill base big block Muscle cars of the previous era. Not everything was a 454ci or a 440-6. Your typical Mopar 383ci or Chevy 396/325hp would have it's hands full with a stock '87 Grand National.

Point being, factory performance was really only dead for about 9-10 years before finding it's way back.

69camaross

iTrader: (4)

I think what the poster is referring to is the legislation to ban aftermarket performance parts from being installed on cars. Sounds crazy but there is a law up for vote in West Virginia that would make it ILLEGAL to have a performance exhaust system on your car.

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

We've had laws like this in IL for a long time. Any modification to the exhaust that increases it's volume is illegal. It's never stopped us though, nor is it an enforcement priority in most towns. Sometimes people get tickets for this, but it's rare unless you really **** off some cop.

Yeah, it sucks to even have that stuff on the books, but it certainly won't be the end of the hobby, nor is it anything new.

imma_stocker

iTrader: (19)

Legislation pulling a dick move to increase local gov't revenue?!?!?! NO WAY!!!





This is what happens when dumbasses vote.