Why? “That Thing is Hideous!”
Well craparoo, it’s going to be another soggy Saturday, so once again we’re rained out for Saturday, May 4th. Regardless, May the 4th be with you wherever you are. We’ve also canceled Albanian Car Day.
Typically, every season we get between 20 and 22 shows in before we call it for the year, so there is really no reason to cry. That’s still very good. That translates into five months of car shows, and in spite of all that we still get different stuff every week, so don’t think you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Even us Thugs are surprised by what shows up.
We’re finally seeing a slowdown in the usual early season email where we get someone who wants to show their car at E@RTC that we don’t think is a fit and then they get all upset with us when we turn them down over criteria. Only then do they start the name-calling. It’s all words people haven’t called me in oh, I don’t know, maybe six hours or so, like they think that will leave a mark. Nobody has ever sent us a spring-loaded frying pan to the forehead.
Still, we can never reason with them. It would be like throwing a party with a theme and a guest demanding that you change the theme and when you don’t, they start calling you a lot of bad words that got you sent to the principal's office when you were a kid. Yeah, I remember those days when I had to write on the chalkboard five hundred times that I’d never again call Jimmy a f*uckhead with a ******* ******* ******* and a ********* for a brain.
Cybertruck!
We’ve had a lot of internal debate about the Cybertruck and why we are letting them in for now. For one, they are very interesting and unique. We are also doing it for the same reasons we’d celebrate the Tucker 48 if this were the '40s. If you’ve never seen the movie, it’s worth it. It speaks to the core of what we’re all about and I want to get into that a bit more because it says something about our stance on our automotive future.
The people who advance the automotive world the most are those willing to push the envelope regardless of the critics around them. It’s the same in almost every industry. These brave pioneers risk everything to do so. It’s the people who hate change of any kind who are the ones who hold back technological advancements and are critical of anything new. I’m often critical of products online, especially those that claim to be something unique but aren’t. I’m critical of them because they seem to have contempt for the end customer.
I was CEO of a company that worked on the original iPhone in secret and when it came out, critics were everywhere. Yet, that one device changed the entire course of the cell phone industry in a matter of days. Our point is, we don’t give in to those who hate change. We always want to support true advances in automotive technology and in spite of the haters, the Cybertruck is the single biggest step forward in decades. When you think about it, it’s technological advancements that poop out exotics in the first place! Who do you think everyone is chasing for 0-60 right now? It’s certainly not Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Porsche!
Regardless of your politics, Tesla has changed the course of all automotive and the Cybertruck is the biggest single move yet. It is everything from the exterior material that is strong, durable but difficult to bend, to the 48-volt architecture and full drive-by-wire combined with all-wheel steering.
Why does drive-by-wire matter so much? Because if you look at aviation, fly-by-wire can ultimately do things a mechanical drive can’t and more surprises are coming. Tesla is shifting into FSD (Full Self Driving) faster than anyone, and drive-by-wire makes for tighter integration and split-second reaction times.
FSD, when fully deployed, will change everything we think about cars once again, especially when cars begin to interact with each other. It is my prediction that Tesla will license out their FSD to everyone. We’ll also start to see empty cars driving around for the first time and that will get a little freaky at first, but we’re heading there.
We all love driving and there will probably be a designation of where you are allowed to drive on your own versus FSD. At first, I know it sounds terrible, but not if FSD only roads are twice as fast.
Get all FSDs on the road and we wouldn’t need stoplights or even stop signs anymore. I know that’s a terrifying concept to have cars seamlessly zipper through an intersection like a precision marching band on a parade field but without the shitty uniforms, but this is where we’re going regardless of who freaks out and poops their seat racing through an intersection missing each other by inches. Yeah, heart attacks may go up, but the good news is that your car will get your unconscious self to the emergency room.
The true value of FSD will allow more people to get out and about who can’t otherwise drive. We’ll see more blue hairs on potato walkers at the car show who are now out and about, which is terrific. We may be a few of them ourselves by then. The important point is that this Cybertruck may be ugly to you, but it’s a radical step into our automotive future.
Fifty years from now, you will be the one pushing the potato walker with no teeth talking about the car that changed it all. We’re all a part of automotive history so let’s just take it all in.
River dance around the kitchen for less rain next week!