Regardless of Technology, Tinkering With Cars Will Never Go Out of Style
As the top shop on the internet to buy genuine BMW auto parts and a vast array of other luxury car parts, AutohausAZ is all about balancing technology and tradition. We celebrate advancements in the industry we love and have devoted ourselves to it for 40 years and counting. We also champion the timeless art of tinkering with classic cars.
This is an interesting time for car enthusiasts. Cars are not just “smart,” they’re bordering on genius. If the headlines are to be believed, we’re edging ever closer to autonomous vehicles that don’t even have steering wheels or brakes. Auto manufacturers are figuring out how to evolve in an era of ride-sharing, when younger generations choose not to own cars at all.
But you know what they say: The more things change, the more they stay the same, and a recent article in The New Yorker called “The Fight for the Right to Drive” really caught our interest. The article discussed a car festival in Philadelphia called Radwood, a celebration of driving held in the fall of 2018 that was restricted to vehicles made between 1980 and 2000.
The people at this festival were what have always been called “gearheads,” brought together by a shared love for the ins and outs of cars. They appreciate how cars used to be made, before electric-powered motors, touch screen navigation panels, “infotainment” systems, and hands-free parking capabilities. They want to be involved in the process of caring for their car, and as manufacturers continue to modernize how cars are made, that process has become more difficult.
The article explains a growing “revolt” against the autonomization of automobile operation, not because autonomization is a terrible idea or because all in the revolt have a general distaste for the new, but because it puts our freedoms at risk. Radwood provides car enthusiasts with a community of like-minded individuals who love driving and employing the practice of meaningful work. They, along with other groups of car lovers worldwide, support the idea that car owners should be able to drive their own cars and fix them, too. Unfortunately for them, the influx of electrical devices, autocontrols, and technochauvanism are making it more challenging (if not impossible) to work on their cars without a doctorate in Computer Science. What’s more, society’s expectations for the future seem to confirm the inevitability that humans will lose control of their own travels as well as their own freedom and abilities to repair or tinker with their vehicles.
Interestingly enough, the gearheads at Radwood and the members of the Human Driving Association (who are petitioning for a new amendment for the right to drive) are not opposed to advancements in the auto industry including autonomization. They hope for cars to have self-driving capabilities, advanced technology, and a steering wheel, giving drivers the choice to drive themselves. We would only be passengers otherwise.
The important thing to take away from this is that there is joy and freedom in driving where and when and how we want and putting in the work to repair and improve our cars ourselves. The thought that our autonomy would be taken away is a depressing one. That’s something we know AutohausAZ customers can relate to.
Whatever your thoughts on technological advances and the coming of autonomous vehicles, we know you come here because you have a passion for the finest cars in the world, the highest level of car maintenance - and saving money. Whether you want to buy Jaguar parts, Mercedes parts, Porsche parts, Volkswagen parts, or whatever it takes to keep your driving machine lean and mean, we’re glad you chose AutohausAZ to help you scratch that itch.
