Dystopian movies are entertaining to watch – when reality isn’t dystopian. We snickered when John Spartan – Sylvester Stallone’s character in Demolition Man – was honored by his hosts with an evening out at . . . Taco Bell. In the dystopian future of 2032 portrayed in the movie, Taco Bell is the fanciest, most exclusive and only restaurant left. To dine there is considered a very special treat.
And it was – for the people of this dystopian 2032.
Because that’s all there was.
Everything had been consolidated and homogenized; what remained was very “exclusive.”
That was on film – and 31 years ago – when such a thing was only plausible in a dystopian future time.
Well, here we are – almost.
It is rather interesting to observe that the date portrayed in the 1993 movie – 2032 – is precisely the date given for our vehicular dystopia to arrive. It is the date by which two thirds of new vehicles manufactured will have to be at least partially electric (that is, hybrid-electric vehicles) because such vehicles are the only ones that can realistically be manufactured since only such vehicles stand any chance of complying with the tightening corset of federal regulations that will apply by then. The chief one being a really sneaky reg that is designed to effectively outlaw vehicles that aren’t at least partially electric – and the rest entirely electric and very expensive – without saying that quiet part out loud.
The regs don’t say it’ll be illegal come 2032 to manufacture vehicles that aren’t at least partially electric; they merely say the vehicles manufactured by that date must average better than 50 miles-per-gallon, an impossible trick for any vehicle that isn’t at least partially electric to perform. And even so, the only partially electric vehicles that can manage 50-plus MPG are small hybrids like the Toyota Prius. The rest will be culled – leaving only fully electric vehicles as the alternative to small hybrids such as the Prius.
In other words, people who’d like a large vehicle – such as a truck or an SUV – will have to be able to afford an electric one. Like the “electrified” version of the Cadillac Escalade, styled the “IQ” – which will sticker for in the vicinity of $130,000 to start when it becomes available later this year as a 2025 model. If that’s a bit rich, you might be able to afford the “electrified” iteration of the Chevy Silverado pickup, which you can buy right now for just shy of $80k.
If you can’t afford to buy it, you won’t be able to own it.
Bingo!
See how that works?
The federal government isn’t banning cars that aren’t at least partially electric. Look in vain for the law. There isn’t one. The evil little weevils who nest within the apparat of the federal government have gotten smart, in the way that a cockroach is smart enough to scurry back under the stove when someone turns on the light in the kitchen. They know it might get people’s backs up if they were to read in the paper that the federal apparat had declared it would be illegal, come 2032, to buy a vehicle with an engine (and nothing else).
So they never say that.
They just say vehicles will need to average 50-plus MPG. Fait meet accompli.
This is how they silently got rid of the big (and big-engined) family sedans and wagons Americans used to routinely own – that Americans could afford in pre-weevil times. And liked very much. Combine the two and you have a reason for the manufacturers to offer them, which they did.
Lots of them.
They are all gone now. The last one of them – the Ford Crown Victoria, with space for six and a standard V8 – was retired after the 2011 model year. “Retired” isn’t really accurate, either. Ford stopped making them because Ford could no longer afford to continue making them.
Muscle cars – the real ones, which were really economy cars with big engines and a low price – have been gone for generations. There are still a few high-performance cars left, such as the Ford Mustang – but they are rich men’s cars now. 
The rip-tide effect of this weeviling has been carrying us along toward a very real dystopian future that’s already here. Witness the Taco Belling – so to speak – of engines. It is already a kind of special treat to find a six cylinder engine under the hood of any car.
It used to be common to find a six under the hood of modestly prices family cars such as the Chevy Malibu and Ford Taurus and Toyota Camry.
There are no cars left on the market that still even offer a six cylinder engine for less than $50,000. This includes luxury-brand cars such as the BWW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class and Audi A6. They all come standard with little fours.
Perfect for an evening out at Taco Bell.
. . .
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Control freaks think they can bring about utopia. All they bring about is misery. Then again maybe that is utopia for them. If it wasn’t for control freakism, theft, etc human civilization could be nice. But we can’t have nice things because others don’t approve and dedicate endless hours towards their disapproval.
The end run around this backhanded way of doing it is simply having the government penalties applied to the cars’ retail price. Of course that achieves the same goal. BMW has been doing it for a decade or two maybe longer. They pay the penalties and apply them to the cars’ prices.
The problem is only the German automakers have ever had the nerve to take this route they are now capitulating to the BEV nonsense due to impositions in Germany.
Were they eating bugmeat or fetusmeat in that flick? Your dystopia is a jew’s utopia. A better America only requires dealing with 1 specific sect of assholes.
I’ve probably owned eight Honda Odysseys over the last decade or so. Some have been totaled, some wore out, one we needed to upgrade from a seven seater to an eight seater to fit our growing family. We currently have two odysseys…. an ‘06 and an ‘09. Even the ‘09 has built in gps and the beginnings of the tracking stuff. The more I read of your articles, Eric, the more I want to keep my ‘06 going and never buy anything newer. I didn’t even know CD players are being phased out, but I should’ve guessed. Once enough kids have left the nest in three years I want to turn in my minivan forever and get an old bronco. Or 4Runner. No tech. Maybe I should buy one now and just hang onto it until then.
Every once in a while my parents tried to get me to drive their newer Subaru. I hated it… stupid lane assist and so many distracting beeps and screens. I just wanted to drive but couldn’t even figure out how to adjust anything while the car was moving. I’m one of the old dinosaurs “they” want out of my older cars.
Keep up the good articles.
Thanks, SJ!
I am driving a new vehicle – Lexus RX500 – with a “driver monitor” system. Stay tuned for a hopefully amusing commentary about this…
I have two “get in and just drive” rigs, the ‘03 V6 Escape, and the ‘91 Silverado. The seat belt buzzer in both inoperative, the lights on and key in reminder OK with me that’s it for “tech”. I must have the last Escape with NO antilock brakes, what a joy! Real brakes with no computer interference. And the CD player still works.
The ‘91 Silverado at 190k miles still has the original engine one trans rebuild about 12 years ago. The Commander towed a horse trailer for about the first 6 years so that hastened the trans wear. Anyway, now gets light use only and since it’s a 3/4 ton capacity all the stuff underneath is beefy which means it lasts about forever. I did the brakes 10 years ago that’s it for brake wear in 33 years.
Hang on to the old stuff! An occasional repair well worth it for hassle free annoyance free driving.
The mask crowd prefers Subaru.
Public Safety Power Shutoffs, comrades — a ‘for your own good’ inconvenience pioneered in Commiefornia is spreading like wildfire [pardon the simile] through the West:
‘A power company in Colorado announced on Saturday that it was cutting power to roughly 55,000 customers over wildfire concerns as powerful winds, some as high as 100 miles per hour, battered the state.
‘The company, Xcel Energy, said in a statement that it “made the decision to proactively de-energize lines,” which would affect customers primarily in Boulder County and small parts of Broomfield, Douglas, Gilpin, Jefferson and Larimer counties.
‘The shut-off was expected to start at 3 p.m. local time and last until at least noon on Sunday. The company said that “outages are likely to persist beyond that time frame because crews must physically inspect the power lines.” — NYT
https://archive.ph/6zLP3#selection-4439.0-4455.227
Likewise, Arizona Public Service has just notified customers in northern AZ that it may ‘rarely’ shut off the power on windy days.
What are customers to do when their towns go dark for 21 hours or more? Whisper it softly — the final ‘graf in the NYT article: “If using a generator, keep it outside in a well-ventilated area away from windows.”
‘At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain they will just take down the scenery, pull back the curtains, move all the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.’ — Frank Zappa
In what city do cops respond to a mayday call from a ship – a ship – & close a bridge within 2 minutes of receiving the call?
Via Webster: “The meaning of DYSTOPIAN is of, relating to, or being an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives …”
I was listening to Danny at Deep South Homestead on his Porch Time video, he pointed out that cops responding like that, that quickly,… it just doesn’t happen. Anywhere. …Without foreknowledge.
All the videos & commentary saying, “Look at the ship” or, “It was plastic in the fuel”… all of that was misdirection & slight of hand.
“What planet are we on?” says the Northerner.
Indeed.
Exactly – it’s not like cops are waiting on each end of the bridge for a call – that part of this doesn’t make any sense at all.
They also ignored what appeared to be at least four cars slide down one of the collapsed sections – those folks obviously died-drowned, but not a peep about any deaths except for “bridge workers”.
I say this was no accident.
Hi Diggy,
I wonder whether these container ships are “drive by wire,” like many modern cars? If so – of there is no physical connection between the control inputs and control surfaces such as the rudder then I could see how this might happen. Even more so if the control surfaces can be remotely controlled.
I was thinking the same thing a few nights ago. I kept asking myself why there weren’t any barriers (or whatever they’re called) protecting the support pillars from a vessel strike. If you look at Google maps or any photos of the FSK bridge prior to the “accident” (I’m using that word loosely, just in case), you’ll notice plenty of protection around the nearby utility poles crossing the channel, but none around the bridge. Hmm…
Walked into a Taco Bell, it was a pit, turned around and walked out.
McDonald’s fries were good in the beginning when they used beef tallow to fry the fries.
The vegetarians didn’t like that, now all McDonald’s fries are the worst, inedible, throw them in the garbage.
When a Big Mac was 79 cents, it was a good burger back in 1989. Now a Big Mac is for show, can’t eat it. People do crave fast food, and are in line to order all day long.
For $7.00 you can buy some ground chuck and make four burgers.
One good-sized Russet potato will make a large order of fries.
Bibi and the motley crew, a gaggle of ghouls, have targets on their backs.
It’s just a matter of time.
“They should have thought of that the day after Trinity.” – J. Robert Oppenheimer, Manhattan Project Big Guy
“We’re all sons-of-bitches now.” – Frank Oppenheimer
You can’t just vaporize Hiroshima, you have to vaporize Nagasaki too.
Those were just for practice.
A Conehead massive quantity dose of gamma rays will more than likely make your brain cells go neoplastic and you will have a malignant glioma.
What planet are we on?
Sandra was so amazing in 1993.
Earlier in my career, I used to rent Crown Vics or Town Cars whenever I traveled. I never owned either but I loved the damn things.
I saw an EV Hummer yesterday. It hurt my soul.
How is that even a thing. It must weight literally what, 10,000lbs at least? EV -cars- weigh 5,000lbs so an EV hummer I would imagine is at least double that. Crazy.
I looked it up. Weighs in at just under 10K lbs and starts at $100K. WTF?!?
Welcome to the brave new world. Where a FIVE TON electric behemoth is considered “greener” than a 125cc go-kart.
[…] Guest Post by Eric Peters […]
I remember watching Demolition Man in the theater as a teenager with my friend. Upon exiting, he told me that if that future was like that, he’d cry. Well, get out your tissues, my friend, because it’s getting awfully close.
Demolition Man was PRESCIENT in so many ways.
However, the idea that Taco Bell, itself having been, for a long time, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, and later bought by Yum! Brands, a UK-based company, was the sole survivors of some “franchise wars” is a nod to the much ballyhooed and misunderstood “Cola Wars” of the 1980s, which never provided an existential threat to Coca-Cola nor PepsiCo. If anything, it helped their duopoly regain some market share lost to the “also rans” like Dr Pepper/SevenUp, Royal Crown, or Shasta Beverages. Most that decry the free market have bought into this utter nonsense that a single provider can utterly wipe out the competition, but if it did so due to having better products and/or value in fair and open competition, what of it? However, a “monopoly” that arises when a single player dominates its industry has typically had a short life, as there’s always some “upstart” trying to “muscle ya out”…just ask Bela Oxymyx (ST: TOS, “A Piece of the Action”).
It is also possible that this fictional version of a future Taco Bell simply had the “juice” with Dr. Cocteau, accounting for why it operates ALL the restaurants? After all, Edgar Friendly’s principal complaint is that Cocteau more or less tells everyone how to lives their lives, IAW HIS ideas. He’s even taken away folks’ “right” to be ASSHOLES, according to Simon Phoenix.
One of the compliments of “the free market” is that it is so efficient.
One of the complaints of “the free market” is that competition is inefficient.
Fact is, it’s both.
The Communists and Nazis thought that by eliminating competition it would open up a world of efficient production. For a time there’s an element of truth to that idea. Until someone else comes along with a revolutionary new way of producing products, or better yet, a revolutionary new product that replaces the old one. Then that single monopoly or state-owned factory is obsolete and the only option is to outlaw the new competitor. You freeze your society in a point in time. The USSR had the best vacuum tube manufacturing facilities in the world, and Russia still has tube manufacturing plants today. The rest of the world moved on to transistors, aside from audiophiles, nerds and recording studio engineers.
The problem is, all that parallel development and production isn’t at all efficient. There’s obvious waste in producing failed products, and despite the claims of the speculative investment advisor class, there’s no one who can tell what will sell once it hits retail.
Thing is, today’s CEO wants to play both sides. They want someone to make them produce a single product because standardization drives efficiency. But they also want to innovate, inasmuch as an old fossil of a company might, only if it is on their schedule. And most of the innovation of established companies is over how to make the product more cheaply or with poorer quality raw materials, not in actually making a better product.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” -Not Henry Ford.
But old Hank did keep building the same old Model T for decades, constantly refining the process and driving down the cost through efficiency gains. Something possibly reflected today in Elon’s folly. Only after GM introduced variety did Ford have to play catch-up. Now if everyone was required to produce essentially the same product, that might be the ultimate scapegoat for bad leadership from the C-suite. “It wasn’t my fault, I was just acting on government orders!”
https://hbr.org/2011/08/henry-ford-never-said-the-fast
Look no further than the DDR’s Trabant, a clunky little vehicle, virtually obsolete from the day the first models rolled out the factory in Saxony in 1957. It’s puny, 18-hp two stroke, air-cooled engine, made principally of aluminum, was smoky and relatively fuel-inefficient, despite its small size. There were initially no fuel gages nor turn signals, but with a top speed of perhaps 80 kph (about 50 mph), and that with a decent tailwind, and travel restrictions (an East German subject didn’t just travel wherever he wanted, even though privately owning a “Trabbi” meant he was probably a KPD or at least SED member and had “juice”), one didn’t necessarily go far anyway. Most of these little *ahem* cars were for the NVA (there was even a pickup truck version that was never made available for private sale), the ever-present Stasi or the Volkspolizei, DDR civilian government agencies, or some of the DDR-licensed companies that were about as much “private industry” as could be had under Communism, even the Trabant’s manufacturer, VEB Sachsenring. The operator had to mix gasoline and engine oil in the tank, mounted under the hood next to the cowling, like old-style Ford Model As, and there was no gas gauge…one had to use a dipstick!
Intended for a planned ten-year production run, with a “refresher” after the first five years, IAW a DDR “Five-Year Plan”, the type was in production for 33 years with only minor modifications. While certainly it was soon ridiculous compared to even the ubiquitous West German VW AG’s “Beetle”, itself updated over the years from the original KDF model rolled out in 1936, blessed by none other than Der Fuhrer himself, the “Trabbi” got the job done! It was designed of a special material dubbed “Duroplast”, and indeed the composite plastic material proved VERY “durable”, which was mainly of cotton fiber waste from the Soviet clothing and fabrics industry, as well as other Eastern Bloc countries. The Soviet Army hadn’t “liberated” EVERYTHING out of the parts of Germany they occupied, so there was still somewhat of a chemical industry in Saxony, principally around Chemnitz, and the DDR traded their dyes, paints, and solvents for the raw materials needed to make the Trabant and similar vehicles. It’s often forgotten that what few steel plants weren’t in the Western zones, and by 1957, the Federal Republic of Germany, or in the parts of former Silesia ceded mainly to Poland, but also Czechoslovakia, had been either shipped off to the Soviet Union, along with much of their workforce, especially the engineers, were occupied with production for military (i.e. Warsaw Pact) purposes…there simply was little steel available to make car bodies! The Trabant, employing much the same technique of a steel undercarriage, lightweight, with a unified, lightweight body bolted to it, was actually a brilliant design, considering the resources the DDR had.
Also what’s forgotten is that the Soviets had notions themselves of building a large civilian car industry, and their adaptation of Volvo, Ford, and later Fiat designs, ruggedized for the harsh Russian winters, were actually fairly sturdy, if visually unappealing, vehicles. Especially after Nikita Khrushchev’s 1959 visit to the USA, Soviet planners hoped to put not only Russian motorists on the road, but also sell Volgas and Ladas to the Eastern Bloc. Never mind that both Poland and especially Czechoslovakia had quite viable auto industries themselves; the last thing the Soviets wanted was their former enemy beating them out in the auto markets, especially in their own country! Something maybe we AMERICANs ought to have been on guard for!
“The rest of the world moved on to transistors, aside from audiophiles, nerds and recording studio engineers.”
Real guitar players with a taste for tone!
For the last 5 years or so I’ve picked up trash along a 1/4 mile stretch of road in from of my house. Last summer, right after I’d picked up, someone threw a bag with stuff out. It was a few days before I could pick up again. When I did reach the contents that had be out there for several day I found it was a Taco Bell meal of some sorts, completely untouched. Raccoons didn’t eat it. Ants didn’t eat it. Possums didn’t eat it. Rats didn’t eat it. Feral cats didn’t eat it. Even the buzzards that live in my barn didn’t eat it.
I don’t know what they use to make that crap but, I sure as heck ain’t eatin’ it.
It was terrific post bartime back in the 80s though.
Actually, all fast foods were better then. McDonalds fries and Pizza Hut personal pizzas were stupidly good.
Walked around a local car show this morning & was fixated on a mid-60s GMC. Made me sad to think how far we’ve allowed the fed gov to manipulate the auto industry.
Taco Bell was still halfway decent when that Stallone flick was made. Now it’s tasteless garbage.They seem to have devolved in direct proportion to the way vehicles have.
Someone once told me that the only thing a business should do is market. Everything else is just there to feed into the marketing. I countered his thesis with “what if the product sucks?” to which he replied “then you better be a good marketer.”
Kind of like Red Bull. I bought one of their drinks once, took a few sips and thought it was basically that red stuff that goes into hummingbird feeders. Couldn’t finish it. But they put their logo on everything, and I guess they make a lot of money selling their elixir at a massive markup. Basically a marketing company that happens to sell sugar water.
Much like the Ford Escort: It was “America’s best selling car”. Trouble was, Ferd never made a profit on it because the reason it was America’s best selling car was due to the huge (and expensive) marketing campaign. So what did they accomplish?
Remember when businesses actually used to make products that people actually wanted without being prodded? And when the companies that made the best products prospered?
Many of those products, decades later, are going for much more used than they did new. You can find hundreds of old tube radios on Ebay every day -many of them nearly 100 years old- and still working fine or easily and cheaply repairable. Imagine a 909 year-old Iphone?
Much as I loathe the Orange Man I’m hoping he will repeal all of these BS “rules” and perhaps get rid of a few three letter agencies. Not holding my breath though, since he had four years to do it last time but was too busy pushing his “warp speed” clot shots.
Under Thursday’s ‘Future of Transportation’ essay, I posted an article asserting that EeeVees are the archetype of class warfare. California has 37% of the national EeeVee fleet. The average EeeVee owner is a Democrat with a $150,000 annual income.
Republican polling indicates that EeeVees are one of the most potent wedge issues out there. Trump knows this too. EeeVees are an updated version of Hillary’s ‘basket of deplorables’ snark — except that middle class wage slaves are subsidizing a stunning, disgraceful $48,000 per vehicle all-in subsidy for EeeVees, including federal grants for battery plants and charging stations.
All this so rich toffs in Malibu and Los Altos can silently whoosh about at our expense.
I will award a prize to the first Republican candidate who douses a Tesla in gasoline and sets it alight as a campaign stunt. Burn, baby, burn! 🙂
Hi Jim,
Exactly. If we take the premise that a “climate crisis” is imminent as granted – for the sake of discussion – then there is no excuse for encouraging people to drive vehicles that are gratuitously wasteful of raw materials and energy in order to tout gratuitous attributes such as quickness. If there is a “crisis,” then the order from on high ought to be nothing more than the least consumptive, least wasteful vehicle possible – and who gives a flip whether it takes 30 seconds to get to 60. So long as it can get to 60 or so. That’s enough for anyone’s needs, eh?
But the truth is that EVs are encouraged to be gratuitously wasteful on purpose – in order to make them appealing to the very affluent (mostly Leftist) clientele that wants to “preen green” while pushing everyone not in their class onto the bus.
“climate crisis”
Did anyone notice how all journalists started to use climate crisis instead of climate change like it was decided by some unknown central committee. Whoever came up with it doesnt sound very bright and the whole premise is ridiculous but the way everyone had to use this slogan really shows something.
They all do this: “Our Democracy” is one of the latest chants from the demon-inflicted class.
Hi Logan,
I don’t know if you’ve seen it before, but there’s a video montage of “journalists” repeating narratives ad nauseum such as “Our Democracy!” & “Stopping the flow of misinformation”.
‘the premise that a “climate crisis” is imminent’ — eric
On the other hand, if the premise is false as you and I both contend, then ‘Biden’ is establishing a Soviet-style command economy, in which Big Gov decides which consumer goods get produced, and dictates their design.
As the shabby state of the USSR demonstrated before it cracked up in 1991, a command economy is a road to ruin. Useless battery plants and charging stations impoverish Americans. It’s a tragedy, and a crime.
I believe it was none other than Hermann Goering that said that the surest way to get people to fight was to convince them they were being attacked, else, most folks were not inclined to join the military, with the best hope being to come back to their civilian life in one piece. Why would anyone accept that? But put FEAR into them, and they can be MANIPULATED, and, according to Goering, it doesn’t matter which country or political system.
‘vehicles manufactured by [2032] must average better than 50 miles-per-gallon, an impossible trick for any vehicle that isn’t at least partially electric to perform.’ — eric
That’s what the CAFE fleet mileage standards say. Meanwhile, the teeth of the EPA’s new greenhouse gas (GHG) rules for light and medium-duty vehicles consists of limits on CO₂ ’emissions’ [sic], expressed in grams per mile.
Obviously, CAFE mileage standards and CO₂ ’emissions’ limits are going to interact, overlap, and quite likely conflict in unpredictable ways. Red guard Michael Regan has no earthly clue what the vehicle mix is going to be in 2032. He just extruded his 1,100 pages of GHG rules like a fresh turd plopping on the front porch of the auto makers. ‘Deal with it,’ he commands, airily waving his hand as his executive assistant serves him a fresh caramel latte.
Meanwhile, the NHTSA, which administers the CAFE standards, is a different agency within Pete Buttigieg’s Department of Transportation. Jenny Granholm’s Department of Energy also is in the mix, having just announced a phaseout by 2030 of the notorious fuel content factor, which currently counts EeeVees at 6.67 times their true weight in the fleet CAFE average.
What a bureaucratic mess! Three agencies, thousand of pages of overlapping and probably contradictory rules.
One would almost sympathize with the impossible compliance task facing auto makers, if they weren’t such supine Wokester quislings. As Rhett Butler memorably said to Scarlett O’Hara, ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.‘
Hi jim,
Once you start banning Co2 you can ban everything. Breathing running, having plants, making bread, beer etc. They wont stop at cars they will ban everything. Even if co2 is harmless they need it as a reason to ban all small buissnesses and prevent self sufficiency.
It also increasingly appears we’re living that dystopian movie from 2006 called Idiocracy. There are actually people who STILL belieeeeeeeeeeeeve that the draconian COVID measures we were forced to endure 4 years ago were about protecting public health. They also STILL believe the narratives about face diapers, COVID, Trump-Russia collusion, January 6th, the COVID jabs, cliiiiiiiiimate change, Trump, EVs, meat eating, etc. They probably also think Joe Biden is a Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat President, and that the REAL threats to democracy are NOT Biden, who has increasingly acted in an “Anti democratic” manner, but Trump, RFK Jr., and anyone who stands up against the establishment regardless of their political beliefs.
The poor slaves are living in their cars….when they ban cheap old cars they will sleep in a tent….under a bridge….
The slave owners took so much tax from the slaves they can’t afford to live….
Automobile ‘Brandonvilles’ Are The New Shantytowns Amid US Housing Affordability Crisis
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/automobile-bidenvilles-are-new-shantytowns-amid-us-housing-affordability-crisis
We spent time in New Orleans this week, and, while walking around the city, I noticed that a lot of the cars scattered around side streets in the warehouse and business districts showed signs of people living in them.
Old cars go against the 2030 agenda for 15 min city/prisons…
You can live in and drive around in an old car…..the slave owners have to stop the slaves driving around and take away their housing options for 15 min cities to work….
Stopping slave’s mobility….
Even if you could buy a car there might not be anywhere to park it…..including an EV….
Cities are building tons of apartment blocks, some with very little or no parking, another indirect way to ban cars..including EV’s……no parking…
Cities are blocking off and narrowing roads to put in bike lanes, car free zones etc…..it is just another front to attack cars…restrict/ban cars….
Zoning changes make it harder to have gas stations, car dealerships or repair shops…they are all being squeezed out…
Very appropriate demolition man analogy. In the future they all had crappy self driving EVs and only Dennis Leary had a 70 442 that he hid in the sewer.
The Chevy Traverse used to have a non-turbo 6 cylinder under the hood but now for 2024 it only has the 2.5 litre 4 cylinder turbo motor.
Slowly the walls are closing in on us. Writing to your representatives will do no good as in my are they are all in on the “climate change thing”. Plus the representatives here are all for saving the migrants, the hungry people and the homeless people.
Is there any new car out there that has a CD player or an option to order a CD player? I have a CD collection that I love to listen to but it seems that every car these cars has the streaming apps. I did find a External Portable Car CD Player that can be attached via USB. I might buy one. I already have a camera and a Garmin NAV unit hooked to my cigarette plug but my USB plug is available. At least they still have the cigarette plug available.
https://www.amazon.com/CD-Player-Car-Connection-Accessories/dp/B0BGK6PYQM?th=1
Hi Euro,
Yup. And – as regards CD players: A handful of older models (ones that haven’t been”updated” yet) still have/offer a CD player but they are going away fast. The idea is to eliminate physical ownership of things and replace that with “services” you pay subscriptions to use.
Toyota’s “infotainment” system has a capability to play digital music files from a USB flash drive, but a lot of voodoo is involved in arranging the ripped CD tracks so the system will play them in the correct order as they exist on the source material.
I still haven’t mastered the process after owning the car — 2018 Camry — for nearly six years.
At one time, people bought albums, not singles, and the artists understood this concept. Imagine.
Roscoe, took me a while to figure it out too. As I do not ‘hook’ up my phone w/android auto or that crap. I open my music files in microsoft media player, then download all to a usb. The truck (ram) plays the music off of the usb pretty well, you just don’t get the convenience of the organization.
And there are 3rd party apps that do the same to put the music on the phone, which also can connect to the car via bluetooth. Works good.
I have a midsized CD collection that I’ve accumulated over the years, but these days I use Apple Music service. Yes, I don’t own it, but I also actually use it. Most people who use streaming services listen to the same pablum that used to be broadcast over the airwaves in the form of “top 40” or “oldies” or “classic rock,” the same 20 or so artists they’ve been listening to for decades, over and over again. Why bother? Just buy a box of CDs and be done with it. Rip ’em to your computer and copy the files to your phone. Done. Enjoy.
But one reason why my CD collection only takes up a few boxes instead of entire walls of my listening room is because I used to borrow CDs from libraries. Most music isn’t really worth owning but might be interesting for a few listens. That’s why I really love streaming services. If I want to listen to the top French Jazz saxophonist for 2006 I just start listening. Maybe he’s great, maybe not. There’s no way I’d ever accidentally discover obscure K-Pop stars or Indian musical legends in a typical music store, and even less known genres like jazz and classical were hard to find in most record stores.
That said, you have to seek out different music. Apple pushes their “recommended” playlists out based on what the record companies are selling, and that’s the same old commercial garbage that should have died decades ago. But then again, it doesn’t require any effort to listen to Tay-Tay either.
I could see where the very operating system of the vehicle itself is “licensed”, not owned, much akin to how one buys a PC or laptop, but doesn’t actually OWN the operating system, usually the latest (and not necessarily greatest) version of Microsoft Windows, the hardware owner has a LICENSE. Worst of all, if you read the “EULA” (End-User-License-Agreement), not only do you have to agree to let them “data mine”, but also, you MUST accept any “upgrades”, and also allow MONITORING and the release of information to Government agencies, especially law enforcement. Can you run your machine on a different OS, like Linux? It’s “possible”, but there are features in the ROM that are tantamount to viruses, designed to frustrate that! It takes a clever programmer to work around those “Linux killers”.
Likewise, you can’t simply substitute an alternate program, even if you have the know-how, as such modifications are highly ILLEGAL under Federal law and most states. The EPA usually goes after “tuners” that sell firmware performance upgrades, which is a clandestine cottage industry. Something that I doubt even “Tricky Dick” Nixon, himself an attorney by profession, had in mind when he signed the act that established the EPA in 1970.
It goes w/o saying that the tech exists to make it so law enforcement or other bureaucrats can disable your ride at will; it’s just a matter of the political “gravitas” to make it happen.
[Slowly the walls are closing in on us. Writing to your representatives will do no good as in my are they are all in on the “climate change thing”.] europeasant
That is why most ‘teachers’ in corpgov training camps are feminists and in general real man haters. They turn little boys into girly men that,,, like them,,, would never consider what needs done. There is a reason for everything corpgove has done.
Hi Eric,
Add to the fact that the new cars of today are their own tracking devices. Even if government today allowed a V8, or god forbid, a V-12 engine and made the cars of yesteryear…would we want them? They eavesdrop on us, photograph us, track us, and report us.
If Ford brought back the Crown Victoria with all of the “bells and whistles” that manufacturers have on cars today I still wouldn’t want it. The same thing can be said for a Chevelle or a Dart.
Now, if a Chevelle can be built and installed with the same equipment as in 1970 I am all in, otherwise, no thanks. I have no wish to be monitored or catalogued by my government or some vendor who thinks it is okay to invade my rights and my privacy. Until they fix that I have no interest in buying any car made after 2014. I don’t care what they build.
Ditto that, RG –
Even the new cars I like (for example, the Mazda Miata) have a touchscreen and are “connected.” You cannot opt out. So I will opt out – by never buying one of them. My truck is beautiful to me, because it has no touchscreen, no “assistance” technology and a manual transmission. If Toyota were to gift me a new Taco, I’d sell it – and use the money to get my truck repainted and the interior re-upholstered!
At some point, though, either the parts for the old Nissan became “un-obtainium”, either by market forces , but more likely by bureaucratic diktat, or the older rides are simply outlawed for use on public thoroughfares. When a ’73 Newport with a 400 four-barrel is outlawed, I’ll be the “outlaw” that drives it ANYWAY.
Ford came very close to putting the Crown Vic back into production after the Orange Man relaxed the Obama CAFE regulations, but Impeachment and, later, sickness kabuki put a quick end to that plan.
I have pictures which I took personally of a Crown Vic prototype rolling around Chicago in March of 2019, which makes me think that the new version of the car would have been based on the rear wheel drive Explorer platform manufactured at the Ford plant in that city.
Yeah, not a Panther Crown Vic, which was capable of running 400,000 miles while being maintained by morons who only did oil changes, but a vehicle without the visibility problems of the Explorer.
Yes, saw that too. I was hoping that new crown vic was coming back
The cops wanted the Crown Vic back. Beyond the visibility problems, the 2011-18 Explorer is very expensive to maintain, with the water pump alone running about $3000 in labor to replace.
The Panther platform was one of the last great RWD bodies, itself having the Windsor (302 cubes) V8s, by then 30 years old, for its first few years. Even the “Modular” V8 that it had for most of its life was still tough enough and fixable.
I’m with you, Raider Girl. Frankly, I’d rather have an electric car without any kind of “connectivity” or the rest of the nanny devices than have a gas-powered car with them. Of course, that isn’t an option, so I’ll be keeping the car and trucks I have until the day I die, if possible.
I’ve come to admire the simplicity of my diesel-powered backhoe. Simple electrical and mechanical parts. There are no computers. Most parts can either be rebuilt or fabricated in a machine shop. It has been kept alive for nearly 40 years, and can probably be kept working indefinitely. Too bad that’s so hard to find in a vehicle.