Hopper12

I had an interesting back/back ride today.......with our new car and then our C3.

We picked up our '72 about 2 months ago. Really good condition considering it's 45 years old. We decided to work the C3 so that it will be a reliable +/-2 driver - that way we can enjoy it and not get so concerned about this/that. So for the past 6 weeks the front suspension has been completely rebuilt, rear suspension bushings/etc., PS completely gone thru, full brakes including calipers/hoses/lines/pads, other stuff gone thru (it runs great, so I'm not touching the drive train at this time). It drives and stops straight and tight, really nice and I'm excited to move to other parts of the car now.

So today we decided to make a 'break-in run' in a new Caddy CT6 we picked up earlier this week. We ran it up the mountains for a couple hundred miles. We really like the car a lot. 400+hp TTV6, it'll park itself, it'll steer itself and keep the car between the lines, it will brake both front and rear if you're about to hit something, rearview mirror is a wide angle video camera, has 360 degree cameras for moving in tight spaces and looks like you're viewing the car from above (don't ask me how they do that - weird), has infrared night vision that reaches way out, adaptive cruise, 34 speaker stereo, deadly quiet, etc...... We got home thoroughly impressed and amazed at how quickly technology is changing in cars.

I went in the house and did a few things, and told my wife I'd be back in a while. She said, 'you're going to take a drive in the old Stingray, right?'.

So I dropped the top and went for a ride in the C3. A couple of speakers for the 'stereo'; 4spd row the gears; listen to the cherry bombs, I keep it between the lines myself, no cameras, cruise, night vision, etc. I get back and walk in the house laughing and a great big smile on my face. She says 'you love that old car, don't you?'. I tell her 'I have no idea what cars will be like in another 45 years (and I likely won't be around by then anyway) but I sure hope that drivers at that time still have a chance to drive and enjoy these old cars'. Kind of like the C2 in one of the latest Star Trek movies (without the cliff scene). Gotta love these older vettes. We're very blessed, aren't we???!!!

jr73

Back in the mid 70's they said performance was dead and we would likely never see another V8. Now we have Vettes with nearly twice the horsepower of the common musclecar of the 60's and get way better gas mileage as well.

The13Bats

In general and I will speculate a little,

I do not see hover boards flying around in 45 years but Cars will keep going in the high tech fashion of your caddy, because it's all cool and flashy right now...it will get crazy how much driving a car will do for you 50 years from now,

In 45 years I will predict "they" will use really high gasoline prices to force many people to electric cars, we moved from Orlando to Eustis not Mayberry but close, the post office has no vending of any kind in the lobby but this town has charging stations for electrics.

But I can also see at some point batteries for electrics will be replaced in some better way.

The move from gasoline to electric will be so smooth that we will forget to bitch,
the cat getting in his car in 45 years will tell R2D2 lets go to walmart and it will drive him there for the most part.

I do not believe gasoline cars will be prohibited just so hard to deal with the laws and fuel prices people will seldom drive them.

Torqued Off

The OP story says something to me about classic American cars and the base instinct nature of American male. As I drive the streets now with my restored 77, there are many people who rubber neck, wave and stare at the car. The boys with their slammed and spoilered and turbo'd Scions, Acuras, etc, don't really pay attention.....they have their own love, misquided as it may be! Of course, my generation connects to my car, women and young girls wave, but what astounds me the most is little kids, especially little guys, they always get excited seeing the car. Its cool, and suspect that there is something about a real man / boy instinct that loves raw American old school cars for some mysterious reason. I don't think its learned, its instinctive.

So you can fuel inject, rear camera, lane protection, air bag, blah blah blah, new cars....they still ALL look the same, have zero personality, and nobody pays one second of attention to them as they go down the street.....why, cause they are boring... Cadillacs included. And I am a Cadillac lover, learned to drive in a 65 Coupe Deville, and I have tried to like the new Cadillacs, but they do nothing for me, they too are not unique anymore like they were. I know for a fact, that in the 70's, a C3 Corvette ALWAYS got attention, and still does today. Its a thing of beauty and driving one is a unique experience of simplicity and baseline pleasure.

I do think electric cars will come to fruition, even if the liberal media and movement forgets to tell you the fact that manufacturing and disposing of batteries has an environment footprint. When some dillwad in a Toyota Prius goes up a hill and lets the car slow down to save energy, one way or the other, I proceed to pass him, and tell him to get the f*** out of my way. I hope your happy....bye. Sheez....I am sure glad I have not decayed into that. But, heh, I have been told I'm a dinasour.

trukatedave

I'm a bit pessimistic this morning .... 45 years from now? Wishing for a Red Barchetta?

vbgod1

In the same vein as not understanding why people are on Facebook all the time, I don't understand why anyone would want a self driving car. I bought mine to DRIVE (and work on).

If I get too lazy to drive, I'll take a cab or bus....

JohnnyQuik

As much as I hate to say it, in 45 years cars as we know them will be gone. Maybe even illegal on public roads.

Uber is already rolling out self driving cars in Pittsburgh. In fact, they are betting the future of their company on self driving technology. Within 10 to 15 years, car ownership may start to disappear in many densely populated areas. Drivers will become passengers and cars will become commodity transportation appliances. The X factor in all this is the drivers of traditional cars sharing the road with automated cars. Eventually, the majority of people do not drive and don't want our traditional cars sharing the road with their autonomous vehicles. I hope none of this happens, but the snowball has already started rolling down the hill.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37117831

Richard454

YEP- it's already started-

"It’s especially pronounced for the teens—in 2014, just 24.5 percent of 16-year-olds had a license, a 47-percent decrease from 1983, when 46.2 percent did. And at the tail end of the teen years, 69 percent of 19-year-olds had licenses in 2014, compared to 87.3 percent in 1983, a 21-percent decrease."

I remember my Mom checked me out of school early on my 16th birthday to get my driver's license...

These days- you have to have "Driver's Ed" before you can get a license under the age of 18 in my state...and they no longer have Driver's education in the High School near me....

REELAV8R

I'll provide a different view. Future technology is going to allow for better and cheaper extraction of fossil fuels. There are going to be newer an more efficient methods of discovering oil deposits. That combined with better extraction methods will carry us well into the next century.
The barriers to the use of fossil fuels will be politically driven not resource limiting. It already is.
Population centers continue to grow and rural America continues to shrink.
This in itself drives the lack of drivers, the propagation of the thought that petroleum is the root of evil and the cause of global warming etc. Get a lot of people in one place and most will sway to the crowd think rather than buck the prevailing thought of the day.
More and more people become dependent of public transportation so there is less need for drivers and cars as a whole. Freedom of movement is not needed since all that is needed is within a few square miles of where they live. Public transport is easier and cheaper since parking, owning, and driving becomes very expensive and difficult as more and more space is taken by buildings and people.
So fewer cars are needed in cities and cities continue to grow.
Electric cars are staggeringly inefficient. Hydrogen powered cars, same deal. There is no efficient way to extract Hydrogen as of yet.

The petroleum infrastructure is in place. To change it would and or will take a massive amount of time and energy and several steps backwards in cost and effectiveness to move forward to a new form of energy. It would take many decades or longer to make these things happen. In the city where taxpayer money is high, less time.
Rural areas will be left holding the bag or left behind as they do not have the resources to convert quickly or seemlessly. What is a guy to do with his 2006 ford taurus if fuel suddenly is unavailable? How would a person get to work in a rural area where the commute to work is 35 miles each way? No commuter trains, or subways, or buss' exist in these areas. So much to do before we can convert wholesale to a new way.
Maybe instead gasoline engines will continue to become ever more efficient and that will keep the gas engine going far into the future. After all if you can get 32 MPG out of a 480 HP engine why couldn't you get 60 MPG out of a 200 HP engine? Hybrid doesn't seem like a bad deal. Batteries are getting better by leaps and bounds these days.

bj1k

When I'm sitting at a red light on the Harley and a car comes up behind me, That is the only thing that I can't control or avoid and why should I trust a computer controlling the car ( or someday 18 wheeler ) any more than I should trust the idiot that is texting . People just need to drive the car or stay off the road.

jr73

I will predict airless tires will replace all obsolete air filled tires

Faster Rat

Function over form...this is where we are headed folks! This is about as ridiculous as the Can Am instead of a real motorcycle...like a Harley.

bj1k

I think the only reason for these are that they are considered a motorcycle because they only have three wheels so they are cheaper to license and the Can Am riders would like them because it keeps them out of the rain.

leadfoot4

I'll be lucky to be here in another 25 years, let alone 45. But I highly doubt that cars, as we've enjoyed them for the previous 45 years, will be around, or even legal to drive. Either technology or "liberals" will doom them to obscurity.....

Torqued Off

Best thing we could do for the benefit of everyone is to eliminate the liberals first. Have you ever noticed that EVERYTHING they say the care about the most, are the things that function the worst....even after eight years of a liberal president. Wake up folks.

69monzacpe

If I make it another 45 years I'll be 104, so it's pretty unlikely that I'll be around to see it. I'm thinking certainly some type of gas/electric hybrid like they have in F1 for propulsion. I do expect more of the autonomous driven vehicles with little input from the occupants, certainly in the higher population area's. That way kids like my nephew can play video games while they are travelling to their job at the local fast food joint.

leadfoot4

I don't want to get too political HERE, as this is a C-3 discussion.

FINWOLF

One thing that will not change if Walmart is still around is the shoppers lol

LS4 PILOT

Hydrogen electric.

Gasoline transportation will be done away with in 50 years. It's what the liberals want . There is no stopping them.

Most likey private citizens will not own cars . That is the world order goal. That is too much personal freedom.

Everybody must use public or private automated travel service.

They will be fully automated . They will come pick you up......all run by computers . You ll pay for the car transportation service to take you where you want . An automated taxi service.

Between then and now .....we ll head towards cars that drive themselves. Do tell it where your going and it will drive you there. We may have to buy and maintain them at first. Then lease .....then pay like internet service to have a company send out automatic computer cars at our beckoning. Provided you have the income to afford all this.

Rescue Rogers

This is how it will be