Ethanol, the new fuel. Ethanol, the future of fuel. Ehtanol and your classic car? Not going to happen. Ethanol as a replacement fuel, get ready for it. Unleaded gas at astronomical prices per gallon, the day is coming. The impact on the classic car market – huge. Fossil fuel will survive as long as the market demand warrants it. Lately we have seen the suppliers raise their prices simply to push the envelope on supply vs. demand; a concept applied to many markets yet never monopolized in the petroleum market openly as it has been this year. In short, expect to pay big bucks for fuel to enjoy that Sunday drive.
Where is this going? Well, quite simply, we need a fuel replacement to save our natural resources. The classic car guys need those natural resources to last so we can enjoy our classic cars. Think about the day when there are no more fossil fuels as we know them today. Your $2.5 million collector car is now valued at what? It may decline in value when fossil fuel prices have reached astronomical levels at a time when market turnover is at a lower rate than it is today. At a minimum they should maintain their value but from an investment perspective the rate of return should diminish.
Think about the alternatives – just think about a world without unleaded 87-92 octane gas. We use to cringe thinking about putting Unleaded gas into our Regular gas guzzlers. We have adjusted. But can we adjust to putting a chemically brewed concoction of vegetables, alcohol, and oh what the heck, seawater into our classic cars? The contraption on top of the engine is no longer a carburetor as we know it; is now a ‘black box’ converting a chemical mix into something similar to what used to be petroleum. “Hey buddy, nice hood scoop on your 1946 Ford to hide that ‘black box’”. Then of course, until the fuel is refined through improved formulations in the test labs, engine performance is diminished. Remember each time Uncle Sam steps into to enforce design restrictions? I remember clearly when gas mileage far outweighed performance that we had to drive our vehicles with 4-cylinder engines producing 160 horsepower. Remember, you were there….1978. It took 10 years before we started to see the marriage of lower cubic inch engines and engine performance. So, when we are told to use an alternative fuel, expect a LONG delay until performance technologies match the new petro.
So, as always, the good ‘ole die hard classic car guys will find a way to survive through this mess. We just hope it is not late nights in the barn cleaning off grandpa’s old moonshine equipment to produce a fuel compatible with our old cars. Think about it this way, hey at least the roads have not changed in 100 years! Envision a day when the roads are half as wide because we sit one person wide in a vehicle so roads can equally accommodate motorcycles and cars – our cars won’t even fit on the roads! Are they out to improve our daily lives or kill off the classic car guys?
John Shelton
NutLugs.com |