by Wallace Wyss –
If electric cars pretty much take over American roads by 2030, ICE (internal combustion engine) cars will be no doubt relegated to a lower status. Or even outlawed as Enemies of the State.
Here’s why-the electric cars will have the capability of communicating with each other…a Tesla in 2028 speeds up…the Tesla sends out a signal to the EVs ahead that it’s coming through and they obligingly move over. Millions of accidents will be avoided.
But then the EV activists will ask what about the danger represented by those remaining ICE cars on the road. They aren’t communicating with the cars around them, they’ll argue, not getting the electronic messages broadcast by EVs. They are, except for that all-too-fail-able human driver, operating deaf and blind.
That will be why they get outlawed as public safety nuisances. Which will kill off the car collecting hobby because 99.999% of collector cars are ICE (except for the occasional steam engine or gas turbine or 19th century electric cars owned by Jay Leno).
Which means all the car collector auctions will end. All the car clubs, there will be no modern or vintage racing, no car club conventions, no swap meets like Hershey. No concours d’Elegance or Cars ‘n Coffee. Even car museums may be closed, as they celebrate internal combustion cars, which of course are Evil on Four Wheels.
The only hope for enthusiasts is getting a law passed something like the Bill Gates-sponsored law that allowed gray market cars into the US. I’m thinking a Collector Car Protection Act, allowing ICE cars to be driven to events, displayed, vintage raced, shown at car shows, etc.
I don’t know how to word it, but would such a law have a chance against the Greenies? I have heard speeches by the most vociferous of them on public radio stations, and believe you me, they will not be happy until the last ICE car is tracked down, confiscated and crushed…..maybe at public “executions” (“Hey come on down to the Town Square– they’re gonna crush Ralph Lauren’s Ferrari 250GTO….”).
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss talks cars as co-host of Autotalk, a weekly radio show broadcast from KUCR FM Riverside, CA.
Big Daddy Ed Roth’s Rat Fink – Enemy of the State?
Rat Fink Rides by Mark Grace.
Impeccable Timing: A couple days ago I was clued-in that Matthew B. Crawford– who wrote the exceptional book, “Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work” — began publishing regular pieces on a site he calls ‘Archedelia’ on the Substack platform when a three-piece series in December – January was highlighted by another Substack writer, Matt Taibbi:
1. A $5,600 tail light repair? Complexity leads to cascading failures, DEC 5, 2023
2. Old cars and the logic of dispossession. Big Green wants you to offer a sacrifice to the gods, DEC 11, 2023
3. Spiritedness and self-reliance. Or why the automatic bathroom faucet makes you want to punch something, JAN 9, 2024
In the related interview of Crawford by Taibbi there was this exchange:
Racket: What’s behind all these “cars for clunkers” programs? Is there a scam there that the public isn’t aware of?
Crawford: These began in the 1990s, first as a PR project by petroleum companies who were facing mandates to reduce emissions from their refining operations. Instead they proposed to destroy thousands of old cars, on the premise that older cars are “gross polluters.” This was never empirically established, but it is how we got the concept of pollution abatement credits that can be traded. Today, perfectly serviceable cars are being destroyed to usher in the EV future. The renewable energy sector is a curious case of an industry lobbying operation that sprang up and claimed massive subsidies before the existence of an actual industry to support.
One result is incentives to turn in a “clunker” that may get 35 mpg and be serviceable for another ten years. Nowhere in the calculus of this kind of “energy Lysenkoism” is the environmental cost of making all these new cars taken into consideration; it is the throw-away mentality dressed up as Green piety. And of course, there is little political will to upgrade the electrical grid and increase generating capacity, as one would need to do to accommodate all these EVs, even in California which has mandated their adoption.
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I was reading something else either Matthew wrote, or that was written in response to something he wrote about the perils of self-driving cars (https://unherd.com/2023/10/the-motorists-are-fighting-back/) and the loss of independence and self-reliance that painted an interesting picture of the trajectory we’re on in a world where government has become more intrusive on our lives, to the point where George Orwell’s 1984 wouldn’t even need to send out ‘The Thought Police’ they’d just need to input the destination to your steering-wheel-less, self-driving car into it’s navigation system as the local ‘social credit enforcement station,’ lock the doors and have your car bring-you-in for re-education. It’s an interesting premise.
By the way, great anecdote on Bill Gates and his quest to gain access to his 1987 Porsche 959 and the creation of the “Show & Display” imported car provision. Sadly, the urban legend that ‘Porsche didn’t want to destroy 4 cars in order to get it federalized” persists to this day; it just decided NOT to federalize them to give themselves an out on sales to a few well-heeled U.S. buyers made when the car debuted in 1985 and before the actual cost to build the car was fully realized, never mind the devaluation of the U.S. dollar that would have essentially allowed those U.S. buyers to acquire the cars for 1/3 of the cost to Porsche.
Sadly, that’s a very possible scenario. I’m all for proactively protecting the environment. After all, future generations will depend on what we do today. However, the government-forced, headlong rush into electric (and ultimately) self-driving cars is being orchestrated by a government is well known for being self-serving and highly inefficient. For government, it’s all about controlling the masses so those in power can stay in power. The ideals of government by the people, for the people has been lost to greed. It’s not too late to stop this madness.
The automotive landscape will certainly change radically over the next couple decades, just as it has over the last century and a quarter. Let us not forget that most vehicles are essentially appliances and becoming increasingly more so with their evolving sameness of design, performance and appointments. The majority of the population is just fine with that. Those of us who appreciate unique design and visceral driving experiences are in a minority. However, just as there are people who raise and keep horses, despite their practical uselessness in the modern world, there will always be a group who will nurture the traditional ICE automobile as an important part of history and a special experience.
We also must recognize that the internal combustion engine in it’s various forms has been a primary contributor to the rapidly deteriorating condition of our planet’s climate and our reliance on it can not be sustained. This has been recognized by governments of all forms around the world. Our auto world will change and most of us won’t like it, but the alternative is not viable. However, comments like “That will be why they get outlawed as public safety nuisances” and the rant from RobM bring to mind the old saying that “even paranoids have real enemies.”
Let us of course never speak of the devastating environmental impact of constructing electric cars, nor the fact that the charging infrastructure, that is woefully inadequate… The lambs are being systematically lead to slaughter, by mostly well meaning folks who are poorly informed…
The Greenies are similar to bored people in the 17 and 1800’s who used to delight in going to public hangings or executions in France , where women would knit a stitch for every head that fell into a box . It was their type of sport , where they would cheer when ( the enemy ) was executed . Wake up people , before it’s too late , coz these electric cars are not green at all . Look at the child labour in the mining of all materials to power these EV’s and left wing governments in the world are controlling your every move .