CORRECT
ME IF I'M WRONG! November 20,
2014
By author Bryce A Baker
Zombie Technology
When I started playing with big cars forty two years ago, I was immersed in a hobby that changed my life. I was a ‘greaser’, buried in a world of road thunder and speed; which brings me to this article.
In the course of my restoration builds, my projects were usually old machines that needed life and fire brought back into them. If it was mechanical, my hands and arms were covered in oil mixed with grease. If we wanted more horsepower, we modified the engine with mechanical parts.
Over the decades, vehicles have been substantially improved for driver and passenger safety, with air bags, reinforcement of the body and so on. BUT… we have entered an age of high priced disposable garbage supported on four wheels. I just finished rebuilding a '94 Suburban. Great body style, but a nightmare of computer driven, hair pulling entanglement of idiotic electronics.
There was a time when a simple mechanical part did more than a good job, and cost a fraction of what they are now. Has the buying public become so stupid that the manufacturers can coddle our wallet with equipment that is totally impractical as well as dangerous? If we have become so complacent with our driving skills that we depend on a computer to park our car or warn us of an impending collision, then we are in deep trouble. It is called ‘paying attention to our own driving’ as well as ‘grab some real driving skills’. Personally, I prefer to be in real control without the aid of a computer. Pretty soon the demanding public is going to want computer controlled grocery carts! That’s when all hell will break loose!
Now let’s figure the economics of the new vehicle. The average cost of the average wheeled computer is around twenty five thousand. Let’s also take into account it lasts five years as opposed to the decades of life thier mechanical ancestors lived. We are paying five thousand a year, plus fuel, plus past warranty repairs, plus, plus, plus. AND these vehicles cannot be restored because of the electronics! Now maybe some people have succumbed to the auto industry marketing but I haven’t.
Ironically, a properly restored vintage vehicle sells for more than a new car. The auto manufactures noticed, so they did retro designs of the old machines. The proof is in the statement. Unfortunately, these retros are laced with wire nightmares that make them impractical to expect to rebuild them.
OHHHH… and gas mileage!!!! My '66 Chevelle got twenty five miles to the gallon with old mechanics. The gas mileage of the new trucks and cars are offset by the extreme high cost of upkeep. My '89 4x4 gets twenty miles to the gallon and more power with a rebuilt pre 1984 V8. Most of the electronics were removed.
This body of mine is approaching six decades, with no electronics. Mind you, parts are now obsolete. But that’s another article.
Anyway…
As you drive down the road next time, consider this: The new car next to you, travelling at a hundred kilometers an hour, could have a computer crash or a psychological meltdown and fry some of its wires. Its sensors may consider you a threat. Then it passes its data through its computer link through the satellites causing other cars to malfunction. We will be in a world of zombie motor vehicles!... A new version of a zombie apocalypse!
No matter what happens… I think mechanical is forever, except when broke down.
Happy motoring.
Please... CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG!
Bryce A Baker
www.bryceabaker.com
By author Bryce A Baker
Zombie Technology
When I started playing with big cars forty two years ago, I was immersed in a hobby that changed my life. I was a ‘greaser’, buried in a world of road thunder and speed; which brings me to this article.
In the course of my restoration builds, my projects were usually old machines that needed life and fire brought back into them. If it was mechanical, my hands and arms were covered in oil mixed with grease. If we wanted more horsepower, we modified the engine with mechanical parts.
Over the decades, vehicles have been substantially improved for driver and passenger safety, with air bags, reinforcement of the body and so on. BUT… we have entered an age of high priced disposable garbage supported on four wheels. I just finished rebuilding a '94 Suburban. Great body style, but a nightmare of computer driven, hair pulling entanglement of idiotic electronics.
There was a time when a simple mechanical part did more than a good job, and cost a fraction of what they are now. Has the buying public become so stupid that the manufacturers can coddle our wallet with equipment that is totally impractical as well as dangerous? If we have become so complacent with our driving skills that we depend on a computer to park our car or warn us of an impending collision, then we are in deep trouble. It is called ‘paying attention to our own driving’ as well as ‘grab some real driving skills’. Personally, I prefer to be in real control without the aid of a computer. Pretty soon the demanding public is going to want computer controlled grocery carts! That’s when all hell will break loose!
Now let’s figure the economics of the new vehicle. The average cost of the average wheeled computer is around twenty five thousand. Let’s also take into account it lasts five years as opposed to the decades of life thier mechanical ancestors lived. We are paying five thousand a year, plus fuel, plus past warranty repairs, plus, plus, plus. AND these vehicles cannot be restored because of the electronics! Now maybe some people have succumbed to the auto industry marketing but I haven’t.
Ironically, a properly restored vintage vehicle sells for more than a new car. The auto manufactures noticed, so they did retro designs of the old machines. The proof is in the statement. Unfortunately, these retros are laced with wire nightmares that make them impractical to expect to rebuild them.
OHHHH… and gas mileage!!!! My '66 Chevelle got twenty five miles to the gallon with old mechanics. The gas mileage of the new trucks and cars are offset by the extreme high cost of upkeep. My '89 4x4 gets twenty miles to the gallon and more power with a rebuilt pre 1984 V8. Most of the electronics were removed.
This body of mine is approaching six decades, with no electronics. Mind you, parts are now obsolete. But that’s another article.
Anyway…
As you drive down the road next time, consider this: The new car next to you, travelling at a hundred kilometers an hour, could have a computer crash or a psychological meltdown and fry some of its wires. Its sensors may consider you a threat. Then it passes its data through its computer link through the satellites causing other cars to malfunction. We will be in a world of zombie motor vehicles!... A new version of a zombie apocalypse!
No matter what happens… I think mechanical is forever, except when broke down.
Happy motoring.
Please... CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG!
Bryce A Baker
www.bryceabaker.com
