| Since 1974 the burning question of how much oil the | | | | usable oil left. They almost unanimously believe that |
| world has left in its reserves has never fully vanished | | | | production will peak around 2010 or so and that the |
| from my thoughts. At that time I was a sophomore in | | | | supply will dwindle rapidly thereafter. In fact there are |
| high school, Richard Nixon was President, our country's | | | | those who say production has already reached its |
| involvement in Vietnam had come to a close, and | | | | peak. This could make the nearly $3.00 in some |
| eight-track tapes defined state-of-the-art audio | | | | locations we currently pay for a gallon of gas triple. So |
| technology. This was also the year that those of us in | | | | much for my old textbook. |
| the U.S. experienced an oil shortage. Because of an | | | | This raises some questions. I'm confident that |
| embargo that I didn't fully comprehend, gas prices | | | | carmakers will produce vehicles that run on whatever |
| suddenly skyrocketed, resulting in long lines at service | | | | fuel eventually replaces gasoline and diesel, but |
| stations reminiscent of the days of rationing during | | | | thousands of classic and vintage cars have survived |
| World War II. A few years before this, I was in grade | | | | into the twenty-first century and there is no reason to |
| school and recalled reading in a science textbook that | | | | believe that many examples of these won't survive |
| was probably ten years out of date even then that in | | | | indefinitely. Will clubs devoted to the preservation of |
| the United States alone, there was enough oil to last | | | | vehicles from the past be limited to trailering their |
| for about five billion years. My family used to take | | | | prized possessions a few decades from now behind |
| frequent trips to Oklahoma and Texas in those days, | | | | hydrogen or solar-powered trucks to shows only for |
| and indeed there were oil wells down there as far as | | | | museum-like displays? If there is no fuel left, |
| the eye could see. I was a ten-year-old kid and had no | | | | enthusiasts could no longer drive them. Cruises would |
| reason to dispute my science book, even if it was | | | | be limited to new models of whatever make is |
| written before Sputnik was launched. | | | | represented and whatever propels them. Vendors |
| But by 1974, during the "fuel crisis," as it was dubbed, | | | | who specialize in mechanical parts for old classics |
| suddenly there were geologists and others with | | | | would no longer serve any purpose except for those |
| expertise who claimed that the world's oil supply was | | | | dedicated few who would continue to perform 100% |
| limited and would be depleted in a matter of decades, | | | | correct restorations despite the knowledge that they |
| not in five billion years. As a teenager I scoffed at | | | | would never be able to be driven. Will we see classic |
| these dire predictions, still relying on my science | | | | cars modified to run on a different fuel? It's one thing |
| textbook from fifth grade, and in fact, around 1977 or | | | | to put unleaded gas into an old car originally intended to |
| so, when the price of a gallon of gas reached $1.00, | | | | run on leaded gas, but quite another to change to an |
| there was no more talk of shortages. Johnny Carson | | | | entirely different means of propulsion. Will this mean |
| even made a joke about it. I dismissed the whole thing | | | | that previously Stock Class cars would be considered |
| as a greedy ploy by the oil companies to increase | | | | Modified at shows? If not, then the current definitions |
| profits. So did a lot of others. | | | | of Stock and Modified will have to be, well, modified. |
| But now as we fast-forward some thirty years there | | | | Let's not forget the later model cars that would |
| are thousands of pages devoted to the subject of the | | | | become obsolete as well. |
| world's finite supply of oil. There is much debate and | | | | I may not be around to witness these possible |
| speculation regarding the amount we truly have left. | | | | scenarios, but I pity those who are younger. If there |
| There are those who say that there are vast | | | | are still billions of potential barrels of oil under the |
| quantities thus far untouched while others say the cost | | | | ground, we need to find a feasible way to extract it. I |
| and energy requirements needed to extract these | | | | can't imagine a car without an internal-combustion |
| untapped sources is prohibitive, and their most | | | | engine. But I do have some eight-track tapes if |
| optimistic guess is that we have about forty years of | | | | anybody's interested............ |