So, I'm a pretty old gearhead, brought up sniffing leaded premium fumes most of my life. Past 15 years with a Hemi Daytona, and still have a '69 with a 440 Magnum, along with many other muscle cars in between. We went through a very dismal, dark time from the early 70s until about the mid 90s. We weathered that storm, and out of that change came some fantastic vehicles, up until today. We are currently re-living an era circa about 1971. The heydays of the Hemi, and internal combustion engines in general, are nearing an end. Like it or not, this is an inevitable FACT.
While Dodge may not be the 1st to join the electrification process, I think there are some positives to that. I have watched over the last 10 years or so the slow, and often painful progression of manufacturers perfecting better cars, better electronics, but most importantly, better batteries, charging systems and range. Dodge will have an opportunity to jump into the ring with a lot of the technology issues already ironed out, or under way.
Yesterday, after the presentation, I actually wrote to Tim Kuniskis some of my thoughts on all of this. Bottom line is I feel that not having to worry about emissions and eking out every ounce of fuel for MPGs, there will be fewer constraints on designers to have to make everything as aero as possible. That being said, with the right platform and underpinnings, you are freer to slap on a multitude of body stylings. See where this is headed? My comments to him, especially after seeing the Fratzog, and what appeared to be a lighted outline of a very familiar body style from the past, was make models with all of the modern "stuff", but with retro body styles, aka '68-'70 B bodies, 70s E bodies, or even older 50s or 60s body styles. You can stamp body panels pretty much into many shapes and install on maybe a couple different chassis sizes. Plus, with AWD, you have quicker acceleration, and vehicles you can now drive even in inclement weather. I was shocked when I actually got a brief reply back from him last night, hinting I was on the right track, alluding to the throwback Fratzog and outline shown.
Do I prefer the smells of premium gas, the sounds of a thumping cam in a Hemi, a loud exhaust, or the whine of a supercharger? HELL YES! But, if a guy like me who's older than dirt can accept this change, then I think the future of performance, although looking and sounding radically different than today, will be alive and well. We thought once we got past the early 70s, the V8, and all performance as we knew it was totally dead. Then came convertors, low compression, and all sorts of power robbing emission equipment that made cars amenic, and quite frankly, an embarrassing joke. Then, slowly, towards the 90s, we started to see a resurgence of higher compression, higher horsepower, and more V8s. Then even the tiny motors got in on the party. Turbos, superchargers, all helped by computers. I'm a sucker for a high horsepower car with NO computers. The simpler the better, but I actually have learned to work with computers in business, as well as dabble in tuning them some in modern cars. I see the glass as 1/2 FULL - the future being bright for a new era of car entusiasts!
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