Since the time of the Automobile it went from being a wealthy privilege status symbol to a mainstream source of transportation to do away with the horse and train. It's indepandance helped more folks develop more options and opportunities for themselves and their families however once the car became affordable to the middle class it was only a matter of time when a young buff would want to modify his car and the birth of the aftermarket industry was born.
From the early 1940's to the late 50's was the hotrodding generation were young guys mostly in their late teens to early 30's would often take something like a 57 chevy, a 40's ford roadster and either put a larger engine, supercharge it and even turbo. Cool crazy flat black paint jobs with red and white wheels were often the look to achieve. Flat head V8's and iron blocks set many land speed records during these years and were very successful in motor sports in European racing in which caused world famous car designer "Carroll Shelby" to stand up and take notice.
The 1960's brought us the Muscle car age with the appearance of the Pontiac GTO and Ford Mustang of 1964. Followed by the appearance of the Chevelle in 65, Chevy Nova, Camaro/Firebird, Challanger along with many other soon set the standard of the automotive generation from the early 60's to the late 70's. American muscle was growing very strong at that time with different type's V8's offered in these road warriors that offered performance that are even impressive by today's standard's. Sadly with the oil crisis of 1976 and the later economical issues the muscle car tread ended and the baby boomers by then were fresh out of college typically with a mortgage, a wedding date with a child on the way which meant it was time for more economical cars.
However during the 1980's and 90's we saw the appearance of the sportscar generation starting with the famous 1984 Corvette which thought to be the most advanced car on the road and could even rival the performance of the Lamborghini Countach which also was later proven false. Cars like the Dodge Daytona Turbo, Toyota Supra, and the later Dodge Viper of the 90's soon became the cars to own. Many wanted exotic cars like the Countach, Testarossa and Esprit however during those day's it was tough and very diffcult to attain a Supercar so the best alternative was to spend $45,000 and have a 3000GT VR4 with identical performance to match a Porsche 911 Turbo. As the 1990's progressed so did the aftermarket indistry along with the street racing scene and soon many of these cars started seeing dealership sold tuner cars such as the Corvette Callaway Supernatural, the Mustang Saleen or the Dodge Viper Hennessey Venom. Although very expensive most were very fast more than capable of catching their 200 thousand dollar european counterparts.
With the aftermarket indusitry beginning to grow like never before and kids as young as high scholars buying and modifying honda's it was only a matter of time before the next automotive tread began with the street tuner scene. Mostly consisting of high school to college age many of these kids will take their first car and modify them with turbo's, superchargers, body kits and wild paint jobs. Very similar to the Hotrodding day's from the 1940's however instead of using power from a V8 engine most of them are using 4 cylinder motor's backed by Turbo chargers or Nitrous injection. With the 2001 movie "The Fast and the furious" and the Playstation 1 video game "Gran Turismo 2" we saw the tuner market explode in the early 2000's making the Toyota Supra and Nissan Skyline not only instant modern classics but they very car to own and modify today.
In 2011 it's been over 10 years since the import tuner market has taken off and has had influence even over American made cars like the Chevy Cobalt SS. It continues to grow strong today however like the Muscle car age we yet face another oil crisis that threatens our hobby and with "CAFE" laws in force after 2012 it will make it harder for cars that produce big horsepower to pass admissions or even be street legal.
What does the future Automotive tread and Supercar industry face beyond 2012?
Fuel Economy is going to be the key to survivability here. Emissions would be the secondary issue as they must be low however making any Tuner car, Muscle car or Supercar "Eco Friendly" is simply cutting its balls off. We can't imagine a "Go green Ferrari" or even a Go green Nissan GTR however with cars like the Tesla Roadster being electric and offering performance that rivals almost any gas powered supercar we could only guess thats were the future of tuning will be along with Supercars.
The up and coming "Generation Green" must continue to be the same basic tread since the early 1940's and offer something to it's consumer that has never been offered by previous generation in order to catch our interests for the future and I'm not talking about pimped out smart cars with lambo doors or a $70,000 Aston Martin Cygnet & Colette.
One thing's for sure It will not be easy to innovate a new tread with were things are headed I suppose we could design a fuel cell chassis and build interchangeable body panels to were we can simply design our own cars at the dealership showroom but that won't happen. The bottom line is we have been brought up to think a certain way about our hot rods and supercars and by breaking a tradition may very well put the car hobby back in the closet for a couple of years during this technological transition. When it becomes mainstream in the near future we can only guess that the same way current old school muscle car enthusiasts that view Import cars will soon be Import guys will often look down upon these go green cars.
I hope to look back on this in 15 years from now and see if my wild guess becomes a reality. Stay tuned folks the truth is coming in the near future.
VF1Skullangel with Acceleration Media
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