Can we decide once and for all who rules?

As a ahem...reformed greasemonkey I no longer recieve any of the usual magazines, partly because they offered little to no technical advice that I found usable, their articles were little more than thinly veiled advertisements for companies who already buy ads in their rags, and well the quality of the writing was just plain sub par. After saying goodbye to the likes of hotrod and sportcompactcar I never looked back. The magazines, much like the industry they are built upon are little more than the same old garbage reused again and again.

Glad to see I'm still not missing out on anything.

And for the record I don't believe the entire "hot rodding" industry is worthless. There are some genuinely innovative, and artistic people doing some amazing work. What bothers me is the cookie cutter nature that publications seem to engender. They prop up the latest trend and then the companies flood the market with parts for your Civic, 5.0 Mustang, Gen 1 Camaro, 32 Ford or whatever and soon you've spend a bunch of money so your vehicle can be unique, just like every other one out there.

Why did I feel the need to put this on a blog focused primarily on sustainability? Allow me a moment to explain. First, the "true spirit of hot rodding" is not just about making ridiculous amounts of power. When the soldiers came back from the World Wars and started chopping surplus army motorcycles, in the 50'swhen the teenagers bought up old beat up cars from the 30's and fixed them up, it was about making use of what was available (commonly a limitation) and transforming it with ingenuity and skill (a human surplus). Add in drag racing and you had a reason to push farther and innovate more. And it was done by individuals who had to put up or shut up, not some company thousands of miles away who became less concerned with what would work and last and more concerned with what would sell. It is not about trends, its not about trophies.

America is obsessed with the automobile, and we may never truly shake that obsession. But if we can transform the manner in which it expresses itself, we may yet tap into that aspect which truly gives hope for the future. Ingenuity.

And where's my damn flying electric car?