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I totally get where you are coming from. Its nostalgia plain and simple. Better times ..of course, different times, so better in some ways and not as good in others - but we were happy, I think, in a way that people aren't today.
There was a sense of pride and accomplishment in being handy with cars, and it was something that was not just a hobby but a useful skill. Now, the days of changing out a set of points or a busted rotor on the side of the road are gone, and virtually nobody knows how to (or needs to) use a timing light (or even knows what engine timing even IS) or how to adjust the air/fuel ratio on a carburetor or even gap a plug. Few people change their own oil or brakes, and service intervals for modern cars are 3-5x what they were in the sixties and seventies.
Heck, half the time if you did have a mechanical breakdown in a modern car, you can open the hood but you're not gonna be able to even SEE anything, let alone do any roadside repairs.
It truly is a new era in terms of the relationship people have to their cars. I don't like a lot of the changes, but others are fine. I'm not a teenager anymore, and rodding around on a Friday or Saturday night, even if it was still going on - would be pointless. Remember how we used to make fun of "old guys" that would show up on the cruise ? Now that's us.
yeah i remember those days. back then i had a friend that worked at a used car lot as a detailer. he would bring me the occasional car that was having problems passing emissions, and i would work my magic setting the carb and the timing to get the car running as clean and smooth as possible. of all the cars he brought me, there was only one i couldnt get past emissions, and only because its motor was nearly dead, and even still it just barely failed the emission test.
as for changing my own oil, these days its far easier for me to run it by my favorite shop and have them do it, since i dont move around like i used to.
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Originally Posted by Katana49
I bought an ECU tune for our ML63 AMG.
Took 10 minutes to install.
Raised the horsepower and torque to 670hp and 734tq from 550hp and 560tq. That's all the souping it needed LOL
yeah, tuning isnt like the old days when you had to get into the guts of the motor to make that big of a change in power. but it also goes to show just how much these cars are held back by the manufacturer as well.
When was the last time you heard those words? Every car you see is stock. No more "free flow" mufflers, jacked up rears, lowered, wide tires, etc. etc. The street scene is a sea of humming birds.
You obviously are not looking around you to see theres a ton of modifications going on with cars.
In fact theres a ton of Facebook and instagram, and message boards for people modding their cars.
And they dont say "souped up" anymore, because its not 1976.
When was the last time you heard those words? Every car you see is stock. No more "free flow" mufflers, jacked up rears, lowered, wide tires, etc. etc. The street scene is a sea of humming birds.
There was another thread about the average car payment being in the upper $500's per month. I recently perused a few local dealers' websites, and sure enough, most vehicles hovered around $30-35k.
Nothing wrong with that, if you're getting what you want. But... every single one of them was as dull as dishwater.
Mostly in my area (SE US) trucks are often customized, or German imports. You might come across a Challenger or Mustang with an aftermarket exhaust. But - like you're saying - stock wheels, tires, suspension.
It is technically an engine. A motor draws is power from the outside such as electricity, water, hydraulics, etc. An engine generates it own power. Your windshield wipers use a motor. Under your hood is an engine unless a Tesla....LOL
The modification for performance business has probably never been better that it is right now.... Tuners (Performance shops) are everywhere and new ones are popping up left and right and they are busy.... waiting list stuff. Primarily LSX, Ford or Mopar with a big emphasis on the LSX market, which can be transplanted into about anything.... and is.
More 1000+ HP cars driving around the streets than ever before....by a wide margin.
Club scene is pretty good too... some good clubs that are active and get out and do things.
The modification for performance business has probably never been better that it is right now.... Tuners (Performance shops) are everywhere and new ones are popping up left and right and they are busy.... waiting list stuff. Primarily LSX, Ford or Mopar with a big emphasis on the LSX market, which can be transplanted into about anything.... and is.
More 1000+ HP cars driving around the streets than ever before....by a wide margin.
Club scene is pretty good too... some good clubs that are active and get out and do things.
That’s the exact negation of my personal experience. Locally, young people are either too busy forming families, or dealing with their opiate addiction (sometimes both). Those with spare time/money ski in the winter and golf in the summer, or play video-games year-round. Middle-aged people are fretting over their careers, 401Ks, or how to afford college for their offspring… or, in the lower social-stratum, workman’s-compensation injuries/lawsuits. The elderly meanwhile are coping with a lifetime of obesity and smoking.
Folks who “souped up” the used muscle cars that they bought with savings from their factory-jobs in 1976, are now too decrepit, too jaded or too apathetic to bother chasing performance. The die-hards still have those cars, sleeping perpetually in their garages, waiting for the pearly-gates drag strip, where 110-octane gas flows free, and traction is never lost. Others have donated their cars… the more conservative ones to Catholic charities, the more liberal ones to the local NPR station.
Just about the only sort of locals who still harbor smattering of interest in car-customization are the folks with preference for 22” rims and thumping stereos. They are, for obvious but unmentionable cultural reasons, not taking their cars to the drag-strip.
“Import tuning”? That withered away, during the Great Recession. Now when I hear an obnoxiously loud Honda, it’s because the muffler fell off, and not because some fatuous youth had Midas slap-on a 5”-diameter exhaust tip. Just about the last surviving aspect of “customization” is retrofitting a digital screen in the dashboard of a [somewhat] older car, complete with “Apple Car Play”. In essence, the whole becomes a carrying-case for the cell phone.
Neither is this parlous state entirely local. Look at online forums for car-discussion. I’m an active member of several… HybridZ.org, Miata.net, several BMW ones, and one for muscle cars. Activity flourished 2000-2005, and then began a gradual decline. Where formerly we’d get 10-20 posts an hour, now we’re lucky to have 10 per day.
Progress…
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