great read (from autoExtremist)

[Stinger1982]

This was a great break from the PC, tree hugging socitey we have to put up with on a daily basis and it relates cars.

Sorry I know it is long, but I promise its worth it.

They Shoot Old Car Guys, Don't They?

Austin, Texas. Well, sir, I do believe us car folk out there - that includes car guys and car gals - may be on borrowed time. We're getting hammered from all sides, it seems. The Green Movement wants us all turned into Soylent Green (don't know the plot of that old movie? look it up), the thieving parasites want to auction off our souls and our memories, and the touchy-feely police are outta control and want to dumb down our lives to the lowest common denominator. As we like to say around here at AE - not good.

First of all, let's start with the Green Movement. Do I have a problem with taking care of our environment? Absolutely not. And I know no car guy or gal who has a problem with it either. I mean, we're not stupid - we know it's all of our responsibility to not only care about it, but to do our part in caring for it too. I do have a problem, however, with the incessant bleating of the do-gooders out there - the "shrill minority" as I like to call them - who have managed to paint an entire movement as being one built on rigid intolerance. I know these few people don't speak for the majority of the Green Movement, but they sure as hell have managed to spoil it for everyone who thinks having reasonable discussions is preferable to labeling every auto enthusiast as a borderline criminal lunatic.

I am disappointed that the cooler heads in the Green Movement don't do a better job or at least make an attempt at doing a better job of presenting their views - minus the constant drumbeat of the virulent minority that casts such a negative pall on every cause they embrace.

Not that I'm exactly offering a revelation here, but this country's descent into the constant cacophony of the polarizing rhetoric of hatred and intolerance is the most troubling aspect that I see happening day-in and day-out in our media, on the Internet and everywhere else.

I don't get it, and I guess I never will.

As for the rise of the auto auction movement, I don't get that either. And spare me the "laws of supply and demand" crap, too, as one reader suggested. What is happening to the car hobby today has absolutely nothing to do with the laws of supply and demand, I can assure you. It has everything to do, however, with greed, pure and simple.

I mean, come on, folks. I loved muscle cars just like everyone else. And I had the good fortune of ridin' in damn near most all of 'em that were worth ridin' in back in the day. 289 and 427 Cobras and Shelby Mustangs, Fuelie and Big-Block Corvettes and Chevelles, you name it, and I either rode in it or drove it, or both. And it was an era that deserves all of the glory it gets, because it was a fleeting moment in time when America kicked ass on race tracks all over the world and when our own domestic auto industry was on an upward trajectory with no cool-off in sight.

But then it went all to hell in a handbasket in about ten minutes. Ol' Shel' started selling his cars off for scrap prices because he saw no hope in the face of the auto insurance industry's crackdown on muscle and performance cars, and that pretty much was the beginning of The End. And that was quickly followed by catalytic converters, unleaded gas, 165HP Z28 Camaros - and our first nation-wide gas supply crisis.

But we survived somehow until we arrived right at this very moment - at the absolute peak of the Golden Era of high-performance motoring. Who would have thunk it that we'd see the day when 500HP would barely even merit an acknowledgement? I mean, come on, folks - 500HP! But now, there are several production cars regularly delivering that figure, and super cars deliver much more. Or, you can go out and buy a crate motor with 700+ real live horsepower that you can bolt up into anything you have a hankerin' for. Frickin' amazing.

So when I see these pristine muscle cars being pushed up the ramp at Barrett-Jackson I just cringe. Those cars were never that good. Ever. We're talking the 60s in Detroit - do you actually think the quality was all that great back then? Or the paint jobs? Or the interior bits? Nah, that wasn't the point. It was go fast, go hard, and worry about steerin' or stoppin' somewhere down the road.

Muscle cars are about memories. Hell, all old cars are about that - what you were doing, what you were feeling, who you were experiencing it with, etc. But do you know what? You can't go back and do that again. You can't capture that fleeting moment for real, because it will never be as good as it is in the theater of your mind.

Muscle cars were about burnin' smells and splattered bugs and midnight rides to nowhere. They were about the baddest rumble in the drive-in and a girl's smile as you lumbered on by. They were about snapping your head back when you nailed the gas pedal - and that unholy moan from big-ass carburetors with four barrel openings as big as the end of a baseball bat. They were about pure, adrenaline-fueled speed and getting off the line faster than the guy next to you. And anyone who was there and who experienced that sensation first hand knows exactly what I'm talking about.

It had nothing to do with "matching numbers" or "one of 20 built" or "rotisserie restoration" or autographed trunk lids, or six- and seven-figure prices. Nah, that stuff is for the people who are buying commodities, the people who will go on to the "next big thing" in collecting as soon as the muscle car "bubble" bursts.

As for the rest of us? You can't put a number on a car's soul. And you can't put a number on those fleeting moments in time because as we all well know by now - they're priceless.

Which brings me to my final missive for today - and that is the fact that this "touchy-feely" mindset that's runnin' rampant nowadays is damn near screwin' up everything in this country.

Nobody wins or loses anymore, especially if you're a kid. No, it's a group hug and a "nice try" and everybody plays. Ah, excuse me, but as I recall, even in Little League you had to try out. Now? It's somehow "detrimental" to the kid and reinforces his or her "deep-seated feelings of rejection" should they not be allowed to play. I'm surprised there's not a social worker required at every game these days, it's gettin' so damn ridiculous.

And this attitude is everywhere too. Don't get good grades because you're a lazy ass and play video games all day? Wait long enough and someone will come up for an excuse for you. Is the test too hard? Well, don't worry about it, you'll do better next time - and if you don't, we'll talk it through and pass you anyway.

It's nobody's fault for anything anymore. We're unleashing mindless automatons on society who have never been accountable for anything in their lives since pre-school. There's always an excuse or a "oh, it's okay" or some sort of nonsense ready at the drop of a hat that absolves everyone from everything. And if that doesn't work, well, we'll just sue somebody because it's not my fault. How can it be? It's never been my fault for anything ever since I can remember.

Burn the house down when you were a kid because you were playing with charcoal starter and matches? Don't worry, "He had a traumatic incident befall him as a child, and it has scarred him for life. He doesn't take to harsh words very well." In other words, nobody kicked his ass from here to Sunday for being an irresponsible idiot.

What happened to teachin' kids that there are winners and losers in everyday life and that nobody gets a free pass for just showin' up? That there is no practical substitute for hard work and that no one is just going to just hand things to you. That you're gonna get knocked down once in a while and that you're even going to get your ass kicked now and then. And yes, that you might even lose. That, as weird as it may sound, you might end up in a work environment reporting to a boss who doesn't like you and really doesn't give a rat's ass about what you're "feeling" on that particular day - that you better get your work done or you're going to get your ass fired.

Sad to say, it seems to be the New American Way - no accountability, no hard feelings, no harm and no foul. Hug it out at the end of the day, and we'll all be better off for it. And if someone is being particularly difficult, well, we'll just sue their ass. Or, if you get yourself in particularly deep shit, you can always get a free pass to seek counseling.

In the immortal words of Vince Lombardi, "What the Hell is goin' on out there!"

I don't really know. All I'm hearin' these days is the din of people shouting at each other. Greens shouting at car enthusiasts for having the nerve to enjoy driving cool cars. Auctioneers selling our High-Octane souls to the highest bidder - and a bunch of people shouting America's new Pledge of Allegiance: "It's not my fault!"

It's enough to make an old car guy cry. What's next? Are they gonna take us out back and shoot us for not bein' "enlightened" enough to see things their way?

I wouldn't put it past 'em.

After all, they shoot old car guys, don't they?

Adios until the next time.