I was born in 75, and from a early age, I developed a huge love affair with the auto... Growing up at my Dad's car dealership didn't help. In high school I always felt I missed the Golden Age of the Auto. Which I always felt was 65-72ish. The cars were faster, more affordable.

Well on a long run I gave this some some thought. And realized that right now, cars have never been faster. Affordable is another debate, but when the average new sedan could outrun a muscle car of 30 years ago, well I think we have it pretty good.

So my question is, Where do you guys think we will be in terms of car performance 30 years from now? To clarify, right now a new Z06 Vette will do 0-60 in 3.7 and the quarter in 11.7! Will a Taurus be doing that 30 years from now?

Ferg

In 30 years I will be 78...I just hope I can think, pee and poop....

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 30 2005, 05:58 PM)

In 30 years I will be 78...I just hope I can think, pee and poop....

that is the funniest thing I have heard (read) all day


and I agree with your wishes when I turn 78 as well.

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 30 2005, 06:58 PM)

In 30 years I will be 78...I just hope I can think,

You don't do that now. Why do you think you would improve in 30 years?

I just hope mike can still wipe when I am 78, because I refuse. (to wipe myself)


M

Sorry Ferg.....

Can't control the peanut gallery.....

Yes, I think we will look back and see these as the good old days as far as driving is concerned. I think that the future holds more and more traffic congestion. Toll roads everywhere you go. And traffic cameras that take pictures and send you a ticket whenever you exceed the speed limit.

Born in '45...30 years I'll be through smelling from rotting...they'll move my bones via a transporter beam and internal combustion will only be a memory of "Good Ol' Times".






Happy Mikey?

Nope....answer yer freaking email about the pre 75 VW.....

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 30 2005, 10:57 PM)

Sorry Ferg..... Can't control the peanut gallery.....

Already? It's not even been a 'solid' hour..

Try Depends.

The glory days of cars was ova longago.


M

We will all be driving electic cars that get their power from an organic battery that you power with household refuse. They will be very similar to French and Eastern-European cars of the late '60s and early '70s, except they will smell like coffee grounds and bad cabbage. They will have 40hp per tonne and do 0-50 in 13 seconds (they won't do 0-60 becase they won't go 60). They will be the size of a new Beetle but weigh 5,000lb due to DOT mandated anti-Darwin equipment. Expect around .6 on the skidpad. Hot-rodding your ride will primarily focus on how to get the most from your battery (ie should you use grape pulp or lemon rinds for best amp-hour performace).

-Ben M.

I figure that in 30 years the concept of a personal transportation device (car) will be considered anti-social and wasteful. There wil lbe examples in electronic museums but will be used to show the sins of the past, not to be desired or appreciated.

Transportation of people will be handled en mass by the corporation they belong to, as well as housing, food, and medical expenses.
In fact all living expenses will be covered by the employer. Instead of signing on for a paycheck, we will be signing on for a pre-determined standard of living. Reproduction of our species will have to be pre-approved by HR and that decision will be based on the employee's productivity and value to the corporation.
Government will not be by election but by appointments of corporate representatives.

There won't be much need to travel except to go from the housing dormatory to the office or workplace, which will prolly be in the same building.

Maybe I read too much Azimov and Heinlein when I was younger.

you know if it makes any of you oldtimers feel any better...in 30 years I will be only 50....

Sounds like an episode from Logan's Run or some other Sci Fi. I gave up trying to predict the future, live for the moment and enjoy life while you can.

Here's something dark and off the wall that I find very scary:
the knowledge (technology, understanding of physics, etc) of the human race is doubling exponetially. I read about this recently and didn't memorize the exact figures but it was something like this:
In the early years before recorded history it took eons for human's understanding of the world to double.
2000 years ago it took 1000 about years to double, then after the dark ages it started doubling every few centuries, and it kept speeding up.
Now it is doubling every 10 years or so and it isn't slowing down.
Problem is, our collective wisdom isn't keeping pace with our knowledge.
The way I see it we are already too smart for our own good and it's gonna keep going.
How much more can we actually learn before that knowledge leads to our own destruction? Can we as a race actually learn enough to be able to transform into something other than the physical beings we are? Pure energy instead of flesh and blood?
Armageddon!

I need to double up on the foil in my hat.

Oooooooooooohhhhhhhmmmmmm......Oooooooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmm......Oooooooohhhhhhhhmmmmmm........become one with the universal flow my children......Oooooooooohhhhhhmmmmmm :severepainsmileyfromlotus postion:

QUOTE (skline @ Aug 31 2005, 06:44 AM)

Sounds like an episode from Logan's Run or some other Sci Fi. I gave up trying to predict the future, live for the moment and enjoy life while you can.

today is yesterdays tomorow,Plan for the future,live for the now,(i was born in the 60s )and 30 years from now ill be 68
james

To answer the initial question, yes I think right now is the golden age of cars again. There have been a few of them already. Pre WW2 cars, the war stopped that. I think the 50's through the very early 70's which the oil embargo stopped. And now we are here again, cars with stoopid power, big tanky SUV's with horrible mileage some stlyish to own (hummer, cadillac etc.). I think the recent trend in rising gas prices will most likely change all of this once again.

QUOTE (Travis Neff @ Aug 31 2005, 11:17 AM)

To answer the initial question, yes I think right now is the golden age of cars again.  There have been a few of them already. Pre WW2 cars, the war stopped that.  I think the 50's through the very early 70's which the oil embargo stopped.  And now we are here again, cars with stoopid power, big tanky SUV's with horrible mileage some stlyish to own (hummer, cadillac etc.).  I think the recent trend in rising gas prices will most likely change all of this once again.

It's all cyclical. Remember "Necessity is the mother of invention"

Or maybe that was Lee Iaccoca

QUOTE

tdgray Posted on Aug 31 2005, 09:56 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QUOTE (Travis Neff @ Aug 31 2005, 11:17 AM) To answer the initial question, yes I think right now is the golden age of cars again.  There have been a few of them already. Pre WW2 cars, the war stopped that.  I think the 50's through the very early 70's which the oil embargo stopped.  And now we are here again, cars with stoopid power, big tanky SUV's with horrible mileage some stlyish to own (hummer, cadillac etc.).  I think the recent trend in rising gas prices will most likely change all of this once again.   It's all cyclical. Remember "Necessity is the mother of invention" Or maybe that was Lee Iaccoca

I think it was Lee Iaccoca and P Diddy

QUOTE (airsix @ Aug 30 2005, 09:27 PM)

We will all be driving electic cars that get their power from an organic battery that you power with household refuse.

Like the Delorian from Back to the Future?

QUOTE (Sammy @ Aug 31 2005, 07:32 AM)

I figure that in 30 years the concept of a personal transportation device (car) will be considered anti-social and wasteful. There wil lbe examples in electronic museums but will be used to show the sins of the past, not to be desired or appreciated. Transportation of people will be handled en mass by the corporation they belong to, as well as housing, food, and medical expenses. In fact all living expenses will be covered by the employer. Instead of signing on for a paycheck, we will be signing on for a pre-determined standard of living. Reproduction of our species will have to be pre-approved by HR and that decision will be based on the employee's productivity and value to the corporation. Government will not be by election but by appointments of corporate representatives. There won't be much need to travel except to go from the housing dormatory to the office or workplace, which will prolly be in the same building. Maybe I read too much Azimov and Heinlein when I was younger.

No, sounds like you listen to to much News.

QUOTE (Sammy @ Aug 31 2005, 08:01 AM)

The way I see it we are already too smart for our own good and it's gonna keep going.

Wow, I never thought I'd be too smart for my own good. Cool!

I remember how the future looked from 1975, today looks alot more like then than the predictions of the day. I'm guessing that 30 years from now is going to look alot more like today than most of the predictions listed above.

I'll turn 75 in 2035, the world had better look more rural or wild from my veiwpoint, if I'm still working in the corporate subrban sprawl, I'm gonna be pissed....

Eric

QUOTE (Sammy @ Aug 31 2005, 06:32 AM)

I figure that in 30 years the concept of a personal transportation device (car) will be considered anti-social and wasteful. There wil lbe examples in electronic museums but will be used to show the sins of the past, not to be desired or appreciated. Transportation of people will be handled en mass by the corporation they belong to, as well as housing, food, and medical expenses. In fact all living expenses will be covered by the employer. Instead of signing on for a paycheck, we will be signing on for a pre-determined standard of living. Reproduction of our species will have to be pre-approved by HR and that decision will be based on the employee's productivity and value to the corporation. Government will not be by election but by appointments of corporate representatives. There won't be much need to travel except to go from the housing dormatory to the office or workplace, which will prolly be in the same building. Maybe I read too much Azimov and Heinlein when I was younger.

Freaky!

In 30 years,, somebody will post a question to this site about fitting a hydrogen ICE conversion into the 914 rustbucket they will be saving.

Don't even bother looking for a good MPS for your original injection because they'll be worth more than their weight in gold by then.

My project car might be off the jack stands by then,,,(hey rotaries burn hydrogen!,, hmmmmmm )

But back on topic,, I do think we are in another "golden age" of autobiling, let's hope the gas prices don't kill it like last time. I'm looking forward to watching "world on wheels" in like 30 years.

-Rob

Let's go back 30 years This is what it was like in Orange County:

Computers? Sure, in a big office building but not in the home.
Scientific calculators cost big bux and didn't have much capability.
Microwaves? Nope.
ATM machines? Nope, we cashed checks.
Cell phones? Only in Dick Tracy comics.
Orange groves all over the place in Orange County, now they are all gone.
Dirt fields where we could ride our bikes, all gone.
Kids would go out and play in the neighborhood and be in before dark, now they can only go in the back yard if the parents keep an eye on them.
Cars so big you could sleep in the seats comfortably.
Seat belts? doan need em.
Air bags? whasat?
Law suits were still reasonable.
Medical insurance paid for all medical needs and didn't cost much at all.
People worked in manufacturing instread of the service sector. We built stuff in this country.
New houses came with back yards and side yards and were actually big enough to play in. now you can mow the yard with scissors.
Gang fights meant you got a black eye and skinned knuckles, not shot.
White people were still the majority.
Everything was in english.

Anything else?

In 30 years I will be 58 and probably wont give a shit.

(Hope they still have ExLax then!)

QUOTE (Sammy @ Aug 31 2005, 12:47 PM)

Anything else?

girls in the OC had real boobs

the Angels were from California, not los angeles, and they sucked

Los Angeles still had a pro football team, hockey was inconceivable in anaheim

My 914 was born

the 5 only had 3 lanes on each side (not 8) or whatever ridiculous number of lanes they have now.

a 1500 square foot house didn't cost $1,200,000

it didn't take 45 minutes to get from costa mesa to newport beach

Gas was about, well gas was cheaper

Disneyland didn't have to have riot teams on standby

Knotts Berry farm wasn't the knifing capital of SoCal

You could race sports cars from Whitter to Laguna Beach via Laguna Canyon Road and not see a cop

FM Mono Radio was really cool....FM Stereo was really stylin'

Yuppies weren't riding Harleys

A-aron's parents wanted a child called Lurch

In 30 years will Mrs. K still have a nice butt?

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 31 2005, 08:36 PM)

In 30 years will Mrs. K still have a nice butt?

From the looks of it. YES and nice hooha's

QUOTE (tdgray @ Aug 31 2005, 05:38 PM)

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 31 2005, 08:36 PM) In 30 years will Mrs. K still have a nice butt? From the looks of it. YES and nice hooha's

Well I will dance until I can't anymore...ergo....should keep the butt and legs in good shape!

I am definitely motivated....thanks to you guys' compliments!

Lisa

Good list, Sammy.

I think about this one quite often:

Medical insurance paid for all medical needs and didn't cost much at all.

WHERE IS MY CODDAMNED HELI-CAR!? I WANT MY DAMNED HELI-CAR! NOW!



In 30 years, we'll be paying $90 a gallon to light up the tires on our teeners.

Minimum wage will be $6.18, and Mexico will extend all the way to Ontario.



M

I'll be 81.

I'm pissed the Dick Tracy Mag/lev cart isn't around. Of course I live in Denver so these fruitcakes will be smashing into each trying to secure another 20 feet. Most erratic drivers there are; OK maybe Brazil.

One hundred years and they’re still using crappy hydrocarbon fueled internal combustion engines and running on rubber wheels. What a joke.

And it looks like the old Doc Mollers skycar will never be done. I’ve been watching this cars development for nearly twenty-five years. And it still isn't happening" I remember when he wanted $50k for them.

Check this out Moller

And God we need more nice asses too.

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 30 2005, 08:58 PM)

In 30 years I will be 78...I just hope I can think, pee and poop....

I just dont want to have to return to training pants