pbailey wrote:
> Could it be that cars are now considered anti-social and the downfall of
>humanity by the likes of Al Gore > and the media? I don't know but with the
>exception of Kai I haven't seen too many young
> enthuiasts on the net,I'm afraid we may have already seen the golden age
> of automobiles pass and now we are in a downward turn until they are
> just utilitarian vehicles with no more soul than a metro bus.
Lot of truth to what you say. The automobile as art is definitely
passing. Too much government control and bureaucracy. Kids are
interested in computers which offer more challenge for them at very low
cost. One long term trend of cars, ie 2020 era, will be seen here in San
Diego in August when an 8 mile section of car pool lane will be used for
a driverless car experiment in which magnetic sensors every four inches
will guide cars on the road untouched by human hands. It will be
interesting technically, but not exactly car buff material.
The July issue of Wired magazine has a long and thought provoking
article called "The Long Boom". It looks at a 40 year period from 1980
to 2020 and makes many interesting projections based on what has
occurred from 1980 to the present, then projects out from there. In the
automobile scenario, the "hybrid" electric car is envisioned in which a
small IC engine drives a generator which powers independent electric
motors on each wheel. I first heard of this idea in the fifties, but
maybe now the technology is there to make it happen.
In summary, IMHO I don't believe that the 21st century will be the
century of the automobile as it was in the 20th.
Bill Harkins
Fallbrook, CA
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