FUTURE SHOCK

HAVE we reached ‘peak street machine’? Why aren’t we talking about the future? Why aren’t car enthusiasts, as a collective group, in constant discussions with our government regarding our future?

With the recent announcement of GM going all-electric, Porsche only racing electric, most of Europe banning fossil fuel-powered vehicle sales by 2040 – the list goes on – what does the future hold for street machine enthusiasts and the aftermarket industry that supports them? A recent study indicated that the electric car industry could result in 90 per cent of the jobs in the automotive aftermarket industry becoming redundant.

Car events across the country are growing and are at record levels, but is this as good as it’s going to get, right here, right now? Throughout the years of Street Machine, how many articles have started off with: “My old man bought a <insert muscle car here> when I was growing up and that was our family car”? Well that whole generation and culture is disappearing. It saddens me that my daughters will most likely have to go to their high school formal in electric cars, and it infuriates me that I will never be able to walk into a Holden dealership and buy an Australian-made muscle car ever again, or quite possibly even a V8 car.

With the demise of Holden and Ford, the roots of our hobby are gone, and they’re not coming back, ever. That is a truly great tragedy; we should have done more. If there has ever been a time for car enthusiasts (no matter what you follow) to stick together, it’s now. If we don’t, we’re not going to get the chance to decide if our hobby lives on or gets forced from us by government policies. Damon Frizzell, email