10,20 years, and beyond

A crystal ball question?

What will be the fate of our cars in the foreseeable future in relation to the new technology we are currently seeing,hybrid,EV,etc?
Will they become dinosaurs(internal combustion)and in turn be emission tested and eventually be forced off the roads hugely effecting the value?

Is it just me or has anyone else pondered this same thought?

 

thought about it a bit and then......just driven the hell out of it, just as it was designed to be. Enzo never sold Ferrari's as an 'investment'

 

More and more that I have car - less and less I think of what it costs/ investment/ etc. I don't feel guilty about owning one and if/ when time comes to sell I had a great time with it considering and I owned a F-Car and that is good enough for me. As long as the Historic plates stay on older car and they don't make ispections necessary, then everything will be fantastic.

 

The last cars off the roads will be Ferrari's and other toy cars, the first cars off the roads will be A to B transprotation cars no matter what the fuel use. Think horse's, nobody use them as AtoB transportation but there still are a lot around shown, race, rode, by hobbist.

 

I think this is right. Internal combustion engines will be curiosities, but there are so many "collectible" cars that I can't see gasoline being made unavailable during most of our lifetimes. Expensive, probably.

Up through the 328/Mondial 3.2, I believe Ferraris are basic enough that they can probably be rebuilt indefinitely. The vintage Ferraris will be around forever due to value and simplicity. My bet would be that the newer stuff with the engine electronics, and especially the rolling video games like the 599/California, is probably headed to the recycle bin.

</crystal ball shutdown>

 

I had the choice of retarding the timing or buying the 100 octane unleaded for my '67 Corvette. At the time unleaded premium was ~$2/gal. and the 100 octane was $3.29. I used the 100 octane. The car ran better and was more fun to drive. I recall the following year the high octane fuel was well over $4.00/gal. I still put it in. As long as you can buy it, we will and continue to drive.

 

I think eventually cars will head for the skies. How this will effect use of the road networks I don't know. Would mean less traffic though, but with many other complications.

Wonder why the car companies are not involved in this area now, as the development is being carried out by small companies i.e. www.moller.com

 

I've thought about this question too. I think within the next generation or so, it is likely that the driver will be replaced by self-navigation auto-piloting. If you look at any new car today, steering/braking/acceleratiom is all going through some electronics interface. No one has an actual throttle cable anymore that pulls on pulley on a carburetor etc. Everything goes through some form of electronic device. Which means that those devices can be controlled externally by something or someone other than the driver of the car. If a wireless internet-style grid with GPS/road sensors/advanced vehicle placement system were in place (and we're already seeing the baby steps of this in Europe) the seeds are sown for the 21st century and beyond of how autos operate.

Like voice recognition software/hardware has evolved and is much better than say 10 years ago, so too will automobile self-navigation evolve to a point where it is seamless and safe. All you will need to do is program where you want to go, get it your car, and the car will drive itself where you want to go.

This means that future cars will depend more on branding, comfort, image, and entertainment (to either entertain you or make you more productive
while you are a passenger along for the ride). You most likely will be able to actually ''drive'' your car on secondary roads but we'll most likely see this technology operational on highways first. Your 2050 Ferrari will be more like Louis Vuitton while your Ford will be more like Target, different branding for different tastes and wallets. Driving ''feel'' will be replaced by what the design statmement will be as well as what the car says about you. Kind of like today but without the ''fun'' factor.

Older cars will continue to be allowed but may be relegated to non-auto-pilot lanes on the highway and secondary roads. Or maybe just be allowed on certain roads and race tracks. All cars at some point in history are considered antiques. The 599, 612, and F430 will be greeted with ''hey look at that old car'' in 30 or 40 years. History doesn't stop moving.

The cars we call ''old school'' today ie,308/328/Mondial backwards will be viewed with different eyes in the future than today. They will be appreciated for their simplicity and ''wow'' factor that they have a gear shift knob with that cool gated shifter. Future Ferraris from this generation onwards will not have those. So for the gold-chain crowd, the latest and greatest is all they will ever see (like their awful 6000 square foot houses with concrete-covered foam columns made to resemble an English manor house in Weston, Florida). Classic cars will be bought by people who actually own English manor houses or appreciate (ie can actually recognize) character.

Cars like the 456/355/348/550 will be on the cusp in that they will continue to be so expensive to maintain (maybe not so much the 348) and not have enough of an ''old-school'' cachet that their prices will actually dip below the 308/328/Mondial backwards. If in the mid 1980's you would have told me that one day the Dinos would sell for 3-4 times the price of a Testaross I would have said you were nuts, but the 308/328 is the Magnum PI generation's ''Dino''. Bold prediction: In 10 years an excellent, low-mileage 328 or fiberglass 308 will sell more than a good 550. Its all about psychology and perception and both will see the 308/328 ''survivors'' as antiques that are raw and fun to drive as compared to the more modern/complicated/not quite as fun 550. Today we look at the 550 as the spiritual successor on the Daytona. As the years rollon, that link will blur as it becomes obvious that those 2 are, in fact, very different cars.

In the same way that excellent low-mileage 328s today command the same prices as the much faster and much more modern 456, the older those cars become the more they exemplify another era, while 10-20 years from now the 456 will continue to be a complicated, expensive car to maintain relative to its value/rarity/rawness/excitement/beauty and most importantly ''antique-ness''. When you drive in a new Ferrari, car people think its cool, while others think you look like a dork. Drive in a classic Ferrari and everyone thinks you are a discerning collector with great taste. Drive in a previous-generation-to-the-current-one Ferrari and many will think you are a poseur that couldn't afford the latest generation (and you want one secretly anyway).
Just my .02.

 

Maybe there will be a floor-mounted hologram of a shift gate so you can pretend to drive.

 

Wow, great thoughts guys,nothing like a bit of reassurance from a forum of class acts!

 

In essence they do, its called Sequential Manual Gearbox.

 

If gasoline is no longer available, we can convert to liquid propane.
I have a friend in Miami that has a company that is converting gasoline to electric. Two years ago he converted his 911 turbo to electric and has done other cars.

 

Screw that, I'm putting "Mr. Fusion" in mine and going like stink!