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Part of me doesn’t care what this book is about. If the future means I get an egg on wheels to whip around town, I’m so in. BUT the part of me that does care reveals that Reinventing the Automobile tackles the green aspects of future transportation as well as the ideas of city planning and overcrowded areas, providing examples of the need for a smaller, environmentally-friendly vehicle. It’s awesome either way.
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It is hard to imagine the era of the modified muscle car being dead. Perhaps it is easier for some, but I have friends that built Camaros piece by piece. The fascination with big, powerful cars is, today, almost an insult to the environmental concerns of many. We’re even watching the American auto industry capsize due to its seeming inability to keep up with foreign hybrids and fuel-efficient alternatives. Now, we’re within a year of the promised date for the Chevrolet Bolt, and we’re wondering if Chevrolet will make it that long as a company.
Regardless of the long-term effects, it is still easy for some to look at the era of the muscle car and marvel at the creation. Today’s book, Business of Speed : The Hot Rod Industry in America, 1915-1990, recollects this period of time when power was achieved by any means necessary. But it does go beyond that: Hot-rodding, or modifying cars for enhanced performance, isn’t just about being wasteful, and author David Lucsko addresses this. It will be interesting to see where emphasis takes this in the future: for fuel efficiency, for alternative means of achieving power… Nonetheless, this historical perspective of what once was is unique peak into a culture that will have to change with the times.