Welcome, all. This is the first issue of the AOAI E-Newsletter, which will publish either the second or third Sunday of every month. Now and in the future I will deal with issues relevant to automotive enthusiasts in general, but viewed through the lens of one particularly interested in the Avanti. For this first mailing, I have decided to focus on the future of classic cars in the midst of increased government regulation. Much of the information provided herein comes from a presentation given in March of this year by McKeel Hagerty of Hagerty Collector Car Insurance; I am forever grateful for his insights into these issue and his continuing attempts to preserve our rights as automotive enthusiasts. Finally, please remember that opinions of past issues and ideas for future publications are always welcome.

Enjoy,

Peter Miller, 63R-4810

In July of this year I drove my ’63 R1 from San Francisco to St. Louis. It seemed perfectly natural to spend four days and 2200 miles with my girlfriend in a forty-seven year old car with 155 thousand miles on an engine still sporting its original valve cover seals. Still with an hint of disbelief I admit that the car performed most admirably: from the Oakland Bay Bridge at sea level to Granby Pass at roughly 8,000 feet, then eighty-five miles per hour past the corn fields all the way through Kansas our only stops were for gas, oil, a minor coolant leak. So wonderfully successful was the trip that we are already planning our next on to Gettysburg for the National Meet next summer.

Certainly there are others in this world with similar experiences in an Avanti, and no doubt there are others who have driven yet older and more significant cars on longer and more treacherous roads. But one must ask how common this story will be one hundred years from now. Will tomorrow’s owners of our beloved automobiles still recognize the same rights, freedoms, and accessibility to parts, fuels, and other peripherals that we do today? A minute to reflect reveals the reality that barriers to keeping an older vehicle on the road extend far beyond a blown tire or a malfunctioning fuel pump. Social, economic, political, and technological considerations tender these barriers, and the potential for our hobby to someday ‘go the way of the horse’ is rationale enough to probe deeper into pertinent areas.

Nearly half of the world’s six million cars recognized as classic or historic vehicles are located in North America. As far as government regulations are concerned, these have generally flown under the radar, re seat belt laws for pre-1965 vehicles and emissions exemptions for pre-1975 vehicles. Yet enthusiasts continue to bear the pains of laws that indirectly present obstacles to one’s interests in the field, such as preservation or customization. Once epitomizing the hobby, the near-draconian regulation of the lacquer paint and tri-chrome industries is accepted as common sense given the environmental impact of these obsolete technologies. Could the same reasoning, applied to our cars, also redefine them as obsolete and thus relegated solely to special, paved “horse paths”, or, even worse, solely to static displays?

The period of 1965 through 1980, wrought with recession, worldwide ethnic tensions, and strong anti-war sentiment, saw a vast increase in government power: a three-fold increase in regulatory statutes followed a two-fold increase in government regulating agencies in the United States. From this period arose Medicare, Medicaid, the EPA, and CAFÉ standards, amongst other public health and consumer protection laws. If the economic, political, and social conditions of a country are any indication of its inclination to pass more regulatory measures, then the collector car community should expect some degree of relevant regulatory change in the near term. With many states in the Union still running extensive deficits, some state taxes and fees are likely to rise, and given the growing social frustrations with pollution and the bias against privately-owned vehicles, it is likely that the collector car will no longer be so easily overlooked as a source for state and federal tax revenue.

And in very short time indeed the social norms regarding transportation in this country changed. Only ten years ago the GM Suburban line and the Ford F-series pickups were still top-selling vehicles in North America. Today, hybrid cars from Japan and diesels from Germany are enticing buyers with 50+ mpg- and low-emission-ratings from the EPA. Hybrids are now given free-reign in the carpool lanes in California and do not pay for parking in certain areas of Los Angeles. In taking the next step to reduce carbon emissions from privately-owned vehicles, the House Transportation Committee has appropriated tens of billions of dollars for public transportation in major cities throughout the country, and local and state governments are pushing the same initiatives to “coerce people out of their cars.” Although Americans will not transition to a public transport society overnight, one would be blind not to recognize the possibility in future generations.

As it has been for decades now, emissions concerns will continue to be at the forefront of transportation policy internationally well into the future. Although other greenhouse gases – such as methane – are far more detrimental to the environment, the social fixation with carbon dioxide and the regulation of the automotive and manufacturing industries extant renders additional statues in these fields more easily passed and enforced than, say, the regulation of beef production. Many governments are passing evermore restrictive laws on higher-emission-producing vehicles. In fact, Arizona recently attempted to pass legislation that would have removed most collector cars entirely from Arizona roads due to their relatively high emissions outputs. Luckily enough, Hagerty Collector Car Insurance used an EPA study to show that collector cars make up only a very small percentage of carbon emissions in the state; this, coupled with hints of crippling economic ramifications, prevented passage of the law. In this case, the EPA aided the cause of the automotive enthusiast, but current events suggest this will not always be the case. Within the last year, as part of the Clean Air Act, the EPA gained the power to promulgate new emissions laws based on an Endangerment Finding that was not struck down by the Supreme Court; now the EPA competes with Congress to achieve the carbon emissions reduction goals of the current administration. While Congress admits that it feels itself in a better position to regulate in this realm, it recognizes openly that the pressure induced by competition between these offices is healthy insofar as it produces increased attention that will certainly lead to quicker resolution. Yes, there will be more regulation of our hobby, but how much?

Finally, in this new era of social regulation where social perception pervades government legislation and public policy, the future of oil also comes into question. With such chaos throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the American public displays an ever-increasing distrust of oil, oil companies, and the associated peripheral entities. This only exacerbates the public desire to implement alternative energies, particularly as international tensions from South America to the Middle East are unlikely to improve in the near future. In the long run, the mere availability of gasoline is in question, but today a more pressing issue centers on ethanol-based fuels. Studies show that our classic cars will continue to function sans difficulty even with fuels containing some small proportion of ethanol, but E-85 and even higher-proportion bio-fuel / gasoline mixtures are sure to pose a problem. One would be remiss to neglect the strong likelihood high ethanol content in gasoline becoming the norm in the mid- to long-term. One may be surprised, however, to know that a recent bill preventing the disclosure of ethanol composition in gasoline almost became federal law.  This stands in direct opposition to the concept of preserving older vehicles, as well as the right to drive them. It is seemingly minor regulatory actions such as these that pose some of the greatest hurdles for the enthusiast of the future.

But what does all of this mean, and what room is left for the enthusiast to effect change beneficial to the collector car community? First and foremost, it is high time for enthusiasts to hold themselves to a higher ethical standard than has been acceptable in the past. I am not sure to what extent this is relevant to members of the AOAI, but, in particular, falsification of vehicle identification numbers has plagued the hobby at all levels for decades – how many ’32 Fords actually rolled off of the assembly line in Dearborn in 1932? And which of those hundred or so Mercedes SSKs currently registered with the European Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens as authentic is one of the original thirty-one produced in Stuttgart by Mercede Benz craftsman? Deceitful actions of this nature breed distrust, particularly from persons outside of the community, and the hobby will be unable to afford this type of behavior for much longer.

I use the phrase 'collector car community' to suggest that, in fact, automotive enthusiasts have a lot in common and should continue to embrace the shared interest in prolonging the right and ability to drive their old cars. In the past, my relationship with my Avanti influenced my own dissociation from Mustang and Corvette owners, but I now realize this childish reaction to competition for the coolest American sports car of the 1960s is quickly surpassed by a more important need to come together under a common interest in collector cars; by uniting under this cause our voices grow louder and our political influence greater, perhaps to the extent that someday we overcome the most restrictive of state or federal regulations. This is precisely the direction of the Historic Vehicle Association (HVA), as the hundreds of thousands of collector car owners in the United States pose as a significant special interest group, and the billions of dollars spent annually in the aftermarket and restoration services industries grant them significant financial influence. That said, I encourage all members of the AOAI to peruse the HVA website and to decide for themselves what level of support they wish to offer, if any, both now and in the future.

If one resides himself to confidence in the power of numbers, then the continued provocation of an interest in old cars amongst younger generations must be a prime consideration of current members of the community. I am convinced that the preservation of the collector car lifestyle is contingent upon the preservation of this interest. But this also indicates a necessity for reevaluation of the purpose of the collector car community. Perhaps this becomes a hobby less focused on going fast, cruising, or buffing paint, and rather adopts an ideal of maintenance and preservation of historical artifacts paramount to protecting a heritage of innovation, design, and manufacturing for future generations. Although one may argue that there will always be a place for high speed on four wheels or perfect chrome under a hot sun, such a change in perspective may increase the accessibility of collector cars to an otherwise disinterested crowd, and in so doing grow the involvement in the collector car world.

Admittedly, I have painted a rather drab picture of the future of the collector car hobby; but, in fact, quite the opposite is true. The AOAI continues to grow, both in new members and local chapters; a younger generation is taking a more active role in the club; historically significant artifacts relevant to the Avanti are surfacing and made publicly available thanks to contributions from the AOAI. The club is poised for success and continued growth in the future, and members should relish this fact. But one should not be glib, and I implore all to keep in mind the issues discussed above. At the moment, the situation is far from dire, but enthusiasts throughout the world should strive to preserve both these cars and the right to drive them for the sake of future generations. After all, we are but caretakers of history.