>You think that's funny? Try finding ECUs!
I think you just hit the nail on the head.
>The computerization of cars will make running old, not just vintage
>cars, difficult (and expensive) if not impossible. Try finding
>electronics for a older car and you'll freak out. The SAE is trying to
>develop standards so the cars share basic electronic systems but with
>different programming, but it will be years before it gets implemented.
>If I weren't already up to my ears in an entrepreneural biz, I'd look at
>replacement electronics and start advertising in Hemmings! But 50 state
>emissions certification would be very costly...
Given the disparate ECU designs out there, the lack of standards, and
the cost of replacing them NOW (try $900 for a BMW ECU), I think there
are only 2 possibilities. Most likely, all the cars of the 90's will be
scrapped in favor of whatever they're selling in the 2010's, OR we'll
all be living like Mad Max. ;=(
Between certification, no standardization, and component costs, I think
there won't BE any cars of the 90's in the future. It's a losing
proposition. You won't be able to restore one of these pigs for love or
money. Only the cars already considered collectible will exist, IMO.
Only somebody who owns a $250,000 car would think nothing of shelling
out $5000-10000 for an adaptable ECU that can control anything. Any car
where the ECU costs more than the car is dead meat. These bloody things
control more than the motor now. There's the dash, the windows, the stupid
little buzzers and beepers, ABS, and let's not forget those *(&#$*&^#$
AIRBAGS!
I was ready to push the wife's Benighted Motor Wagon into the bay, and
it's only an 86. But for the fact they came down on the ECU price, it
would be a home for fishies as we speak. ;=)
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