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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Aug 2005
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      Hamilton, NJ
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      WSJ opinion piece on the end muscle-car culture

      Oh fun, many car articles in the WSJ. Sorry if too political, I just thought it was an interesting read. And I love Beach Boy car-lyrics.

      Obama vs. The Beach Boys
      Daddy's taking the muscle-car culture away.
      By DANIEL HENNINGER
      WSJ 5/28/09 pA13 Opinion

      How long before the midnight drag races return on dark and dusty roads?

      When Barack Obama announced that the government will use its fist to wave onto the highways of America cars that get 39 miles to a gallon of liquefied switch grass or something, he said, "Everybody wins."



      Everybody? What country has he been living in? This marks the end of the internal combustion engine as we knew it, and it is the way Americans have defined, designed and literally driven much of the nation's culture for as long as anyone can remember. Car culture is America's culture.

      Mr. Obama is fond of giving people iPods as gifts. I've got a playlist for Mr. Obama's iPod.

      Track 1: "Shut Down" by the Beach Boys. Clip: "Superstock Dodge is windin' out in low/But my fuel-injected Stingray's really startin' to go. To get the traction I'm ridin' the clutch/My pressure plate's burnin', this machine's too much."

      Track 2: "Little Deuce Coupe" by the Beach Boys. Clip: "She's got a competition clutch with a four on the floor, and she purrs like a kitten til the lake pipes roar."

      It's 2016. Imagine a Brian Wilson ever thinking to write: "And she'll have fun, fun, fun til her daddy takes her Prius away."

      At Mr. Obama's "Everybody wins" announcement ceremony in the Rose Garden, no one knew better how much has been lost than the cowed auto chiefs arrayed behind him. CAFE, the fuel-mileage standards Congress mandated 34 years ago, gradually squeezed the size and life out of America's cars. But something's getting phased out here other than gas-fueled cars.

      Some of the most famous celebrity converts to the politics behind this new, shrinking world of plug-ins once wrote and sang paeans to muscle cars and a more muscular culture.

      Track 3: "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen. Clip: "Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard."

      Time was Bruce Springsteen knew that "Jersey boys" mainly meant steel, chrome, rubber and auto tech. Check out the lyrics to "Pink Cadillac" ("but my love is bigger than a Honda") or the car-crazy "Racing in the Street," invoking Chevys with 396 Fuelie heads, Hurst speed-shifters and Camaros running "from the fire roads to the interstate."

      Track 4: "GTO" by Ronnie and the Daytonas. Clip: "Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out -- GTOoooo."

      We are being offered a different world now. One designed, defined and driven by a new set of un-fun obsessions -- carbon footprints, greenhouse gas and alternative energy. This large transition passes before us, barely seen, as the gray water of public policy. Hardly anyone notices how much is being changed.

      To put a stop to the new sin of spending too much time out on Highway 9, we are getting the mark-up hearings this week in Washington for the Waxman-Markey climate bill. It's 900 pages long, dripping with thousands of Mickey-Mouse rules to reorder how we live. A Senate Finance Committee document last week on the Obama health-care plan proposes "lifestyle related revenue raisers." Lifestyles like drinking beer. This is the "taxing bad behavior" movement. They get to define what's bad.

      Track 5: "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Commander Cody. Clip: "We had flames comin' from out of the side/Feel the tension, man, what a ride!"

      This tension over how we live arrived before the world began standing on its head over global warming. The guys in the hemi-powered drones used to mock the granola and Birkenstock crowd. Look who's on top now.

      "Everybody wins?" Not quite. What's winning is a worldview that goes deeper than the data beneath global warming. The gasoline cars they want to turn into scrap were about a lot more than the thrill of roaring on.

      The cars and their culture were a manifestation of what made the U.S. really different. The cars, like the country, were big, fast and unfettered. Their drivers were delirious with the possibility of finding something new in life. "It's a town full of losers, and I'm pullin' out of here to win!"

      When Americans grew up, that's just what a lot of them did -- win. Now, it looks like we're being asked to throttle down to government-approved survival. They're even running the car companies, telling them what to build, and then they'll pay people to buy the product. Save the planet and lose the nation's heart.

      The likelihood of resistance to this timid ethos from anyone in politics is remote. It was tough to watch former A-4 Skyhawk pilot John McCain try to outbid Barack Obama for the green lifestyle vote in the debates. We'll see what happens when people walk into auto showrooms (if they exist) and every car has a wheelbase of about 100 inches.

      Maybe they'll bolt. Maybe the car culture will revert to where it began, when the whiskey runners in the South ran from the revenuers. This time the cars themselves will be bootlegged -- fat, fast and gas-powered -- racing through the night on off-map roads while the National Green Corps -- enacted by Congress in the second Obama term -- looks for them from ethanolic choppers overhead. Reborn to run.

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1243...ays_us_opinion

      I love this pic.
      Scott from NJ.

      Vent Windows Forever! ...

      Feather-light suspension, Konis just couldn't hold
      I'm so glad I took a look inside your showroom doors


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Feb 2005
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      Waunakee, WI
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      Country Flag: United States
      Sad, but I feel it's what's going to be taken away from us via legislation based on the popular "global warming" movement.
      Marty Koppes

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Mar 2007
      Location
      Los Angeles, CA
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      614
      It must be right. After all, when cars were invented, everybody stopped riding horses and horses went extinct and nobody could have them anymore, even as a hobby.

      Oh, wait, maybe this is just more fearmongering by the media.
      John B.

    4. #4
      Join Date
      May 2008
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      SoCaL-Pico Rivera
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      Country Flag: United States
      Sad but true.
      ---------Fabian Sanchez-----------
      71 velle Project Syckness ATS,Rushforth wheels,PRRC, Autometer,UMI, Hotchkis,QA1,hood-latches.com, comp cams,


      https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=43881

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Apr 2006
      Location
      Atlanta GA
      Posts
      7,477

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Feb 2005
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      Waunakee, WI
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      Incrementalism

      Quote Originally Posted by bigvegan View Post
      It must be right. After all, when cars were invented, everybody stopped riding horses and horses went extinct and nobody could have them anymore, even as a hobby.

      Oh, wait, maybe this is just more fearmongering by the media.
      It's been happening for the last 30 years via CAFE standard's. It's clear the end goal is too eliminate our "obsession" with the IC engine.

      This parallels anti-gun legsilation. Once again, Kalifornia set the template with the assult weapons ban. Guess what the end goal is???
      Marty Koppes

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Jul 2005
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      Mountain View, CA
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      Quote Originally Posted by bigvegan View Post
      It must be right. After all, when cars were invented, everybody stopped riding horses and horses went extinct and nobody could have them anymore, even as a hobby.

      Oh, wait, maybe this is just more fearmongering by the media.
      I understand where you are coming from on this and to some extent agree. Jay Leno also said as much on Top Gear when discussing the Honda FCS Clarity with James May.

      The wide dispersement of the auto allowed the horse to become a pet, a luxury and a source of recreation rather than a draft animal. That was a good thing for both humans and horses alike.

      The thing is that nobody was demonizing horses and their owners, blaming them for every ill from global warming (a bunch of hooey) to global terrorism (disruption of funding for which is easily solved by other means).

      In this case, the high horsepower or large vehicle is a demon. It's owner marginalized as a conspicuous consumer. Logic and fact are not a part of the conversation. "Feelings" are.

      We've seen of late an increasing number of attacks on personal freedoms, a blatant disregard for existing case law and routine trampling of the constitution. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine an arbitrary ban on V-8 engines in non-commercial vehicles (I mean nobody needs 400+ hp right?) or on carbureted vehicles (I mean nobody needs to have something so inefficient right?) or perhaps a blanket implementation of emissions testing (I mean nobody needs to modify a '67 mustang engine right?). Of course, none of us need the above. But we want them. But some folks don't care about what you and I want.
      True T.

      Whats new with Project 1/2-Trak?


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    8. #8
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      New Jersey
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      1,315
      Saw that today, but didn't post it. Very interesting OP/Ed piece for sure. I'll shoot him an email, he's a colleague.
      Camaro Convertible Build Pics - http://s447.photobucket.com/albums/qq198/rob07002/

      www.musclerides.com

      Rob Stevens

    9. #9
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      Hamilton, NJ
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      ^^you work at DJ? Man, I am not far from you.

      The author should have quoted Rush's Red Barchetta. The motor laws made him a criminal...
      Scott from NJ.

      Vent Windows Forever! ...

      Feather-light suspension, Konis just couldn't hold
      I'm so glad I took a look inside your showroom doors

    10. #10
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      New Jersey
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      Quote Originally Posted by BonzoHansen View Post
      ^^you work at DJ? Man, I am not far from you.

      The author should have quoted Rush's Red Barchetta. The motor laws made him a criminal...

      Yup, ol Mr. Jones
      Camaro Convertible Build Pics - http://s447.photobucket.com/albums/qq198/rob07002/

      www.musclerides.com

      Rob Stevens

    11. #11
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      Hamilton, NJ
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      LOL, Mr Jones. You should come out & grab beers with us one night.
      Scott from NJ.

      Vent Windows Forever! ...

      Feather-light suspension, Konis just couldn't hold
      I'm so glad I took a look inside your showroom doors

    12. #12
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      Aug 2004
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      New Jersey
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      Quote Originally Posted by BonzoHansen View Post
      LOL, Mr Jones. You should come out & grab beers with us one night.
      Where?
      Camaro Convertible Build Pics - http://s447.photobucket.com/albums/qq198/rob07002/

      www.musclerides.com

      Rob Stevens

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Aug 2005
      Location
      Hamilton, NJ
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      Quote Originally Posted by rob07002 View Post
      Where?
      Some of us in the Hamilton area go out for time to time. Definitely 2nd Tuesday of every month, usually in the Hamilton area. Plus we try to get out here & there, take a long ride, whatever. Actually hitting hooters in Bensalem pa tonight - they have a big cruise night last Thursday each month. A good reason to go out. Although I’m sure the weather will kill the crowd. The Z is staying home.


      Is it ok we hijacked my thread, lol.
      Scott from NJ.

      Vent Windows Forever! ...

      Feather-light suspension, Konis just couldn't hold
      I'm so glad I took a look inside your showroom doors

    14. #14
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      Aug 2004
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      Quote Originally Posted by BonzoHansen View Post
      The author should have quoted Rush's Red Barchetta. The motor laws made him a criminal...
      Soooooooo true.

      I'm not worried about what the automakers will be forced to make. I won't be buying anything new anytime soon with the intent of it being more than a commuter. My passions will lie in my old hotrods and muscle cars. I'll keep them alive. I'll even run high flow cats from Random Tech on them if I have to. Good thing I am a dealer for them and get good prices
      Trey

      "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
      ~ Jon Hammond

      1979 WS6 Trans Am stock LT1/T56 drive train out of my Formula. BMW M-parallel rims. C5/C6 brakes

      build thread https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=begins

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Jul 2005
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      56
      Quote Originally Posted by WS6 View Post
      Soooooooo true.

      I'm not worried about what the automakers will be forced to make. I won't be buying anything new anytime soon with the intent of it being more than a commuter. My passions will lie in my old hotrods and muscle cars. I'll keep them alive. I'll even run high flow cats from Random Tech on them if I have to. Good thing I am a dealer for them and get good prices
      I believe there are many people that will refuse to buy something like a Prius. Once the economy comes back people will still want full size trucks, no smaller than medium SUVs and reasonably sized sedans. Sure, there will be a percentage that will be all over the 50 mpg cars and good for them. *Somebody* will sell full size trucks, etc, and in my opinion their sales will be brisk.

    16. #16
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      Sep 2007
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      Southern California
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      Quote Originally Posted by Desert68 View Post
      I believe there are many people that will refuse to buy something like a Prius. Once the economy comes back people will still want full size trucks, no smaller than medium SUVs and reasonably sized sedans. Sure, there will be a percentage that will be all over the 50 mpg cars and good for them. *Somebody* will sell full size trucks, etc, and in my opinion their sales will be brisk.
      That would be what I have to buy. That would be the only vehicle I could fit in! 6'4" in a smart car? No.

      Jon
      Jon U.

      1968 GTO - SC&C Suspension, Forgeline SO3 Wheels
      Build Thread
      1967 911 with a few mods

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Washington, MO
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      2,363
      They are starting to legislate away the new IC cars... after that, what makes anyone think our old junk will be safe from legislation?

    18. #18
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      Aug 2004
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      Dunwoody, GA
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      I'm ok with being an outlaw
      Trey

      "The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
      ~ Jon Hammond

      1979 WS6 Trans Am stock LT1/T56 drive train out of my Formula. BMW M-parallel rims. C5/C6 brakes

      build thread https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=begins

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Dec 2006
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      oshawa ontario
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      An application for a membership to SEMA should be at the top of this sites homepage.....
      Nascar 69 Chevelle project, 1999 Hutch Pagan Nascar chassis, 69 Chevelle body,700hp, Penske's, slicks, roadrace track day https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...le-Cup-project
      89 Iroc 406 Fitech 5 spd
      01 chevy 2500HD 4x4 8.1 Allison
      31 Scarab 2 x 454





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