Ford Has Everything Already Thought Out for Us Collectors

saforwardlook

Old Man with a Hat
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Looks like Ford has new crate motors that are going to be available to keep our old junk still going down the road when gasoline vehicles are ultimately banned.

For me though, it just won't be the same.........................................

Maybe I will be checked out before this "solution" becomes needed.........................

 
I like that a major manufacturer has done this... it will hopefully be the beginning of this as an accepted practice vs the smaller companies piecing stuff together so far. As rooted in obstinate resistance to change that I am, this kind of kit will probably help save more old cars than it destroys (I hope). MUCH better than seeing a bunch of SBC's incorrectly transplanted.
 
GM is working on a similar conversion. A prototype being installed in the iconic Project X '57 Chevy.

Project X Goes EV! Famed '57 Chevy Gets Chevrolet Performance Prototype eCrate System

I have mixed feelings about using this particular car, but there it is. While I don't think you're gonna see a bunch of these next summer at cars and coffee at the Dairy Queen, I'm kind of impressed that the car manufacturers are doing this. It might make for some interesting street rods.
 
Ford has always been at the front lines of the auto industry.
Everyone else follows.
Not surprising at all.

I don't like the electric cars.
I feel that as a society we are making a mistake with such reliance on electricity.
I'm willing to drive across the country 20-27 hours at a time. Can't do that with any of the electric cars. I crash out in my car when I can't drive any longer and the heater is very nice when I am sleeping in my car. Can't do any of that with an electric car.
 
wish i was still in the industry and working on this kinda thing. :)

my hope is the teams assigned are REALLY car people who KNOW why our (at least my generation) love this old iron.

as discussed in other threads, there WILL be a day when our old iron stuff cannot be driven on the roads with ICE's .. either outright banned, OR you can't get gasoline, or some combination of restrictions we DONT have now.

dunno when, and no political intent with that comment so lets please try not to go there

i am happy to see the OEM's are trying to figure out stuff -- before George's brief case unfolds into a flying car one day (long after my bones are dust) :)

upload_2021-11-4_11-25-18.jpeg
 
Ford has always been at the front lines of the auto industry.
Everyone else follows.
Not surprising at all.

I don't like the electric cars.
I feel that as a society we are making a mistake with such reliance on electricity.
I'm willing to drive across the country 20-27 hours at a time. Can't do that with any of the electric cars. I crash out in my car when I can't drive any longer and the heater is very nice when I am sleeping in my car. Can't do any of that with an electric car.
Electric vehicles will never have the luxury of being able to ‘re-fuel’ in the 15-20 (or less) minutes that gasoline powered vehicles provide.
To me, that alone will never put electric vehicles in the front as my primary method of transportation.
 
GM is working on a similar conversion. A prototype being installed in the iconic Project X '57 Chevy.

Project X Goes EV! Famed '57 Chevy Gets Chevrolet Performance Prototype eCrate System

I have mixed feelings about using this particular car, but there it is. While I don't think you're gonna see a bunch of these next summer at cars and coffee at the Dairy Queen, I'm kind of impressed that the car manufacturers are doing this. It might make for some interesting street rods.
I think this is the perfect showcase for the project.
Had that car been loved and cared for by an owner, I'd not want to see his... but as a trophy for a publishing company that sits and collects dust in between them remembering they have it... may as well do it.
 
Had that car been loved and cared for by an owner, I'd not want to see his... but as a trophy for a publishing company that sits and collects dust in between them remembering they have it... may as well do it.
They hacked up errr... modified the car from its role as a car you could build in your driveway a while ago. Corvette suspension etc. Then it got changed back to something closer to the 60/70's version.

But, yea, it was just sitting around collecting dust. Popular Hot Rodding is long gone and the slicker mags now have to generate some interest somewhere. As I said, I have mixed feelings.... I understand it was built to show different mods and it's obvious that the mags used it to showcase new products and therefore sell advertising space. But it did become a real representative car of the "golden era" of car magazines.

Here's how it looked in the movie "Hollywood Knights". I think it's the best version.

001-project-x-hollyood-knights-danza-1957-chevy-210-hot-rod-movie-car-yellow-tubbys-van-nuys.jpg
 
Electric vehicles will never have the luxury of being able to ‘re-fuel’ in the 15-20 (or less) minutes that gasoline powered vehicles provide.
To me, that alone will never put electric vehicles in the front as my primary method of transportation.

Such batteries are already under intense development and we have only seen the beginning of battery technology development. While it is difficult to estimate just when fast charging batteries in terms of a full charge are going to be the norm, it is not wise to predict what cannot be done when technology is in its infancy. So called "metal-air" technologies are under intense development just for that reason.

The Hellcat engines today would have been hard to predict even 20 years ago wherein they deliver maximum performance, pass all legislated emission tests and can get decent fuel economy.

The driving force behind EVs is simple - most manufacturers believe climate change is real (or they believe that most nations in the world at least do) and realize their path is set in stone going forward it appears. If you want a fuel that allows you to drive across country, then fuel cell vehicles are also likely coming for those needs - but they won't be here very soon since it would require large numbers of hydrogen fueling stations on our main interstates and an H2 fueling infrastructure will be really expensive and fraught with safety and licensing issues.
 
Friend of mine has a 89 Porsche 911 turbo with 2 engines ,one is original and the one he uses is modified and considered buying a Tesla. Went and test drove one and he said "I felt like I was driving a kitchen appliance "
 
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Such batteries are already under intense development and we have only seen the beginning of battery technology development. While it is difficult to estimate just when fast charging batteries in terms of a full charge are going to be the norm, it is not wise to predict what cannot be done when technology is in its infancy. So called "metal-air" technologies are under intense development just for that reason.

The Hellcat engines today would have been hard to predict even 20 years ago wherein they deliver maximum performance, pass all legislated emission tests and can get decent fuel economy.

The driving force behind EVs is simple - most manufacturers believe climate change is real (or they believe that most nations in the world at least do) and realize their path is set in stone going forward it appears. If you want a fuel that allows you to drive across country, then fuel cell vehicles are also likely coming for those needs - but they won't be here very soon since it would require large numbers of hydrogen fueling stations on our main interstates and an H2 fueling infrastructure will be really expensive and fraught with safety and licensing issues.
I agree except where it comes to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen has been touted as "the fuel of the future" for longer than I have been alive, and I think it will eternally remain that way. Possibly it will make sense for transport trucks, construction equipment and stationary generators, but for consumer vehicles I think we won't see hydrogen catch up to battery EVs. As you said, fast-charge batteries are coming, which will eliminate the biggest inconvenience with electric cars today.

The next problem after that will be the electrical infrastructure, not just due to more people plugging-in their vehicles, but with fast-charge batteries the instantaneous current draw will be high so you need electrical infrastructure that can handle high current. Perhaps we'll have a situation where people can plug-in at home to charge slowly overnight, and there will be fast-charge stations similar to today's gas stations that have very high-current chargers for quick charging on the road, in a comparable amount of time to filling-up an IC vehicle with gas.
 
A company called EV West makes a retrofit electric motor with 2:1 fixed gear reduction attached, which fits in place of a SBC with transmission.
EV West develops Tesla crate motor that fits LS, small-block mounts

120243391_3674689572588697_7811477781526949080_o.jpg


That would probably have been a lot easier to install, using the existing motor mounts and driveshaft. They may not have needed to even swap the diff because of the gear reduction either. But the builder of the '57 specifically partnered with GM for this build to show off GM tech. Perhaps GM should've copied this idea for their EV crate motor.
 
They hacked up errr... modified the car from its role as a car you could build in your driveway a while ago. Corvette suspension etc. Then it got changed back to something closer to the 60/70's version.

That's why I hate what they did to Project X. You can build a tri-5 Chevy from nothing but aftermarket parts, so why hack up an icon again (GM hacked it up the first time so naturally they were behind the second hack job), and push it further from it's roots as an "every-man's project car". I think these corporate ***-clowns will create more bad blood than good with this little venture.
 
I agree except where it comes to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen has been touted as "the fuel of the future" for longer than I have been alive, and I think it will eternally remain that way. Possibly it will make sense for transport trucks, construction equipment and stationary generators, but for consumer vehicles I think we won't see hydrogen catch up to battery EVs. As you said, fast-charge batteries are coming, which will eliminate the biggest inconvenience with electric cars today.

The next problem after that will be the electrical infrastructure, not just due to more people plugging-in their vehicles, but with fast-charge batteries the instantaneous current draw will be high so you need electrical infrastructure that can handle high current. Perhaps we'll have a situation where people can plug-in at home to charge slowly overnight, and there will be fast-charge stations similar to today's gas stations that have very high-current chargers for quick charging on the road, in a comparable amount of time to filling-up an IC vehicle with gas.

Regarding fuel cells, I actually agree with you but the one thing that keeps me unsure is the tenacity shown by Toyota, Honda and Hyundai to somehow make it happen. Despite the cost of infrastructure, hydrogen embrittlement of pipes, city codes that make permitting very hard for safety reasons attached to the former and more, it seems like a pipe dream.
 
While I started this thread, if it ever comes to banning our old internal combustion engines in our classics, I will probably just leave my restored cars as museum pieces for the generations of folks yet to come who might want to see what the automotive industry was creating in the past as it actually was.................

For me at least, it is the memories these cars bring back and the beautiful designs that I appreciate the most.
 
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