With the recent news about Crane Cams going under and the general malaise that’s set in with regard to the economic situation of the world, I think it’s safe to say the world of hot rodding is headed into an era of shrinkage.
Admit it, we’ve been spoiled this last 10 years or so. The amount of power and ease of which it was attainable by the average Joe was unprecedented. Need a 1,000hp motor for your dragster? No problem, here’s a list of 20 places to score one in your region of the country. Looking for a scratch built car that’ll go 8s or a piece of ‘60s iron that’ll out-corner a Ferrari Enzo? Here’s a bunch of car builders that’ll do it for you, once they get to your spot on the waiting list of course.
Dem days is over, kiddies. If you are of the opinion that Crane is the only company in any sort of financial jeopardy, you are living under a rock that does not have internet access.
Even SEMA, the most optimistic of optimists with regard to the performance aftermarket, has backed down the throttle with regard to their announcements. They are touting the fact that several companies have already signed up for the 2009 SEMA show and they are asking others to get their pre-registration done now. By all accounts this year’s show had a kind of ominous feeling to it that has been absent for a long time.
Long story short, it looks like it’s going to be back to basics in a lot of ways with regard to the hobby. There just isn’t the money out there to support half a million engine builders, high-end chassis shops, and parts manufacturers. It’s certainly not that I wish anyone ill or want to see any of these businesses fail, but the math just doesn’t work.
What will the affect of this shrinking marketplace be? Will it drive people out of the hobby or will it foster a rebirth of the kind of mechanical and technical curiosity that has spurred hot rodders for generations? I certainly hope that it’s the latter because on some level we need it.
It’s weird, though. Hot rodding is all about going forward and advancing. It was four-bangers that gave way to flatheads that gave way to small-blocks that gave way to big-blocks, in the same way we went from carbs to EFI of advancing capability and complexity. It’s all about moving forward and this kind of economic wrinkle will probably force a lot of us to look backwards a little to go forward.
That in itself may be a problem though. Hit your local wrecking yard some time soon and go looking for a motor, hell, we’ll make it easy for you, look for a small-block Chevy, of any size. Chances are you won’t find one. Not because there aren’t any cars that were equipped with one from the factory, but because they were all probably yanked out and sold to a mass rebuilder. As it turns out, almost all of the yards local to me do this.
I’ve got faith that the lot of us will make it through this thing in one way or another. Maybe getting back to the basics of what got us here in the first place is a good thing. Getting too fat and happy is bound to drain the lifeblood out of this automotive world we all love to live in. The lean times will force us to look places and do things that we otherwise wouldn’t.
Legit, 1,000hp street cars used to be like unicorns. The few that existed were astounding feats of hot rod thinking. We then entered a period of time where every car show you went to had one or maybe more prowling the grounds.
It may not be a bad thing to see those unicorns again.
