Re: The Future of the Old Car Hobby?

[dlou <dlou@domain.elided>]

>Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:39:37 -0500
>From: Ron Horowitz <RonHorowitz@domain.elided>
>Subject: The Future of the Old Car Hobby?
>
>Think about the new cars. They are getting absurdly complex, the code and
>hardware are getting increasingly difficult to crack and hack, 

The hardware/firmware is difficult to crack and hack using TODAY'S 
techniques and tools but you forgot to consider TOMORROW's techniques and
tools.  Look at the Amiga computers.  In the mid-80's, even the big boys
like Apple and IBM couldn't reproduce a lot of their technologies.
Nowadays, a college kid in his spare time writes an emulator that'll
run on a Pentium III.  I'd be willing to bet that with the help of an
analog engineer or two, I could emulate an early-mid 80's L-Jet ECU with
a modern embedded microcontroller in my spare time.


>Imagine how much it costs to restore something like an Alfa 2000 Touring,
>i.e., more than the car's worth. Multiply that by two or three, and
>_nobody's_ going to be interested in restoring a 2002 Honda 2000 in 2042.

Perhaps but in 2042, all cars before 2012 will be exempt from bi-annual
smog tests so there will be little enforcement to keep you from installing
something like an emulated ECU .  (This is assuming current laws still hold)

IMHO, the greatest danger to the extinction of old cars is not the expertise
needed to maintain, repair or reproduce parts since new techniques and 
methodologies can replace the old.  If a hobbyist can keep a steam engine,
Stearman, B17, F104, PDP/11, Apple][+, Amiga1000 or Ms. Pacman alive
and running decades after they were discontinued, why not a 1994 Alfa 164?

I think what is more likely is that gasoline may be replaced as a fuel.
I also think that it probably won't happen in some (most?) of the lifetimes
of the people on this digest but if it does happen, gasoline powered
internal combustion engine powered cars will become museum pieces or
backyard curiosities rather than viable daily (or even weekend) transportation.

-Dennis
Sunnyvale, CA
'85 GTV6, white

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