In an era of automation and silent purr of an electric engine whooshing past you, the question arises: what does the future hold for the roars and whines of the combustion engines that we’ve grown up with?
As a kid, engines used to make me feel like I was in utopia. I used to stare at engine bays for hours on end, listen to the idle growls and grin with the childish pleasure of hearing a working machine that vrooms as you push the pedal. The fact that such a machine was created by mankind and gives us such pleasure to even listen to the sound it delivers, it’s like nothing that’s ever been created. Hearing electric engines is similar to watching a movie, but without the audio. Looking through an environmental perspective, the concern is valid. However, life’s short, and tomorrow isn’t promised. Personally, I would give everything I have to drive out a proper combustion engine to over 5000 rpm and feel the soul of the motor. If you’re on social media, you’ll have seen all about cars and the edits and so on. According to me, cars are better than any of the various intoxicants in the world; they’re a part of our history and our legacy and how much we’ve evolved as humans (Yes, this was a Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear reference).
Growing up with cars as the most substantial part of my life. From crying because I missed seeing a loud car fly past my house to keeping up with the standard Hot Wheels collection any car fanatic kid owned, I used to gaze at cars as if it was a million dollar prize eye contact contest. I was devoted to Top Gear like a religion and as time passed I found myself driving those machines, and on everything I love, they were totally not joking around with how they described the grace of automobiles, it’s just a blessing given to this era of human evolution. With all due respect to the preservation of the environment and biodiversity, I do still feel a tinge of helpless regret that I wouldn’t be able to pass this passion onto my children. that I will never be able to experience the ‘Automotive dad dream’ of working on the project car with your children on the weekends and witness my kids messing around getting greasy and dirty making memories while catching a few laughs here and there. The fact that combustion engines will end up in museums in the same way a typewriter has as a “once upon a time” is somewhat disheartening.
To a non-car person, I might sound like I need to book myself an asylum bed, romanticizing a four wheeled machine used for commuting, but believe me, it’s got more love in it than you can possibly fathom. It’s one of the things where you simply have to experience it to understand the degree of emotion it holds. Cars were used as a symbol of freedom and passion when invented. The union of metal technology and art blended into one shell on four wheels, and voila! There sits the most exotic creation known to mankind. If ever a poet with a deep-rooted love for cars exists, the vast oceans that encompass earth wouldn’t suffice as ink for his pen.
What is more beautiful than waking up in the morning and walking up to your driveway to find a couple of motor weapons with engines that could make demons shiver sitting there waiting to be set free? Of course, Electric engines are regarded as classier, reserved and futuristic but there’s a saying in Arabic “الذهب لا يصدأ” which means “Gold doesn’t rust” and I second this totally, I’d give up using an air conditioner to prevent global warming and sit in the desert with the most powerful of internal combustion engines ever made.
I respect the idea of electric vehicles and protecting the environment and the way they’re somewhat safer for the biotic elements of Earth. However, it should be considered that manufacturing lithium is harmful also and lithium batteries are the most popular source of energy for electric cars. Many countries have taken the move to ban combustion cars slowly and encourage EV’s. I’d love to sit and talk more about how much combustion cars mean to me and how much I love them, but I have to go and enjoy what’s left of the time I have with them.
Out of all this, one thing is final; come drought or storm, my heart will always stay with the roars and growls of the most pleasing and exotic invention of mankind….
Until next time,
~ Mohamed
