Car love outlasts industry trouble

By David W. Hill
dhill@modbee.com

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Chrysler is now owned by Italian automaker Fiat.

General Motors is negotiating its way through bankruptcy.

Both iconic car companies are shedding dealerships. The only member of Detroit's Big Three to avoid a similar fate is Ford.

Meanwhile, automakers around the globe are struggling with declining auto sales during the worldwide recession, which has produced massive job loses, tighter lending standards and reluctant consumers.

Against this backdrop, Modesto is celebrating America's traditional love affair with the automobile at the North Modesto Kiwanis Club's 11th annual American Graffiti Car Show and Festival this weekend.

The event began with a classic car parade Friday night through downtown Modesto and wraps up today with the conclusion of the auto show at the Modesto Junior College East Campus.

It's all built around Modestan George Lucas' hit movie "American Graffiti" and the tribute Lucas paid to the car culture in which he grew up during the 1960s. It was a time when cruising around Motown wasn't a sin, or illegal, and American automakers were flexing their muscle with cars.

Boy, how things have changed.

Today, two of the three American car companies will be exiting bankruptcy as much different automakers. Big hunks of American steel once powered by big-block and small-block engines will increasingly be replaced on the assembly lines by smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. It's been coming for years, but the bankruptcies and taxpayer bailout money accelerated the changeover.

This weekend in Modesto, though, horsepower is king once again.

John Sanders, who was chairman of the Kiwanis event for nearly a decade, said all the U.S. auto industry upheaval and the recession haven't put a dent in this weekend's automotive lovefest. In fact, he said, the event is likely to attract more show car participants, possibly 750, than it has in the previous two years.

"I'm sure every one of them is being affected by the economy," he said. "But that's not keeping them from getting out and doing what they love."

And what they love is driving their cars, showing off their cars and talking about their cars. Sanders said the love affair many people have with their cars won't change because of what's happening in Detroit or Washington, D.C.

He points out that automakers have struggled before, going out of business or eliminating brands. Remember Hudson, DeSoto, Plymouth, Oldsmobile and AMC? Shakeouts in the auto industry are nothing new and won't shake people's desire to own cars, Sanders said, especially those they enjoy driving.

It's all about that visceral connection people have with their rides. Cars, for better or worse, are often seen by their owners as an extension of who they are and what they're about. Whether it's a vintage muscle car, tricked out SUV, speedy import, huge pickup or old reliable family van, people drive what fits their needs and their personalities, stretching what fits their pocketbooks, as we've seen, to get it.

Sanders thinks the auto industry will emerge from its current mess to deliver cars the motoring public can get excited about. With reliability already as good as that found among imports, he said, the key for automakers will be coming up with designs that are distinctive, the kind that people can identify with.

"We're already seeing that," he said.

If owners have the ability to personalize these new rides with wheels, stereo equipment, graphics or paint schemes, they likely won't care much what powers their vehicles: V-8, turbocharged V-tech or electric.

In the same way that the graying classic car crowd embraces '60s muscle cars, youthful enthusiasts bring the same passion to small imports. Could hybrids and all-electrics be far behind?

Who knows, one day even fuel efficiency will be as important a marketing tool as crash test ratings are now. A U.S. auto industry that for so long rejected safety equipment and now sees it as essential might eventually feel the same way about fuel economy.

Sanders isn't convinced. He thinks alternative fuel vehicles will become so commonplace that calling attention to mileage, range or energy storage capacity won't be necessary.

"When's the last time you heard someone say, 'That car comes with a heater,' " he said. "They all do now."

But he doesn't see the day when those next-generation cars will replace muscle cars on Graffiti weekend.

He said they'll probably have the power to get down the road just as quickly, but will lack the cruiser's all-essential roar. But how hard would it be for Arc Audio or other high-tech stereo companies to give that rad Prius a high-decibel rumble? Not very.

Just what people will be driving in the future and how that drives the auto industry is anybody's guess. But one thing's for sure, "Americans have a love affair with cars," Sanders said. "I don't think that will end."

If you don't believe that, then you probably were out of town this weekend.

Bee business editor David W. Hill can be reached at dhill@modbee.com or 578-2336.