hot rodding in China

I’ve been slaking on getting another “real” article up here (getting the flu hasn’t helped.) Today I picked up the March edition of Hod Rod Deluxe, and was taken with the introductory editor’s note on “Exporting Hot Rod Culture”. I was appalled to learn that China didn’t allow private car ownership until the late-ish 1990’s and “until recently, China only allowed its citizens seven different choices of paint colors”!?! What?! Who knew!
This factoid surely makes me glad of my American freedoms and all that is available to me here. Not only that, but I flash pictures of the bright pink taxis in Thailand and the string of about 20 American classic cars I saw on a cruise in Bangkok in 2006. I think of the old patched together cars in Cuba. I imagine the creativity being harnessed by the devoted in China – seeking to transform their cars even under a government which doesn’t allow it.
Part of me cringes when I think of the China market opening up and all of the after-market retailers flooding in. Part of me yearns for the “good ol’ days” when guys had to invent this stuff themselves. Being a Gen X’er, I can’t even imagine what that was like, but it can’t be denied that “necessity is the mother of all invention.”
I love that we’re still finding ways to invent today, albeit not quite the same as in the old days. No matter what style of car you’re into, there are plenty of aspects of invention around. So cheers to our brothers (and sisters hopefully) in China who finally have availability of choice…may the spirit of invention get some added horsepower rather than being flooded with too much gas!