Car Culture and Coronavirus

As you may have heard, there’s this little bug going around, you may have heard of it. This roided up flu has had an unprecedented effect on the entire world, we are truly in the midst of a historic event that will likely have the same effect on kids that the recession had on young people such as myself. The novel coronavirus has brought the world to a standstill, including the realm of the car. Car manufactures are struggling to make ends meet and get model units shipped around the world and get some cash flowing into the showrooms, as well as cars flowing out. The corporate side of the impact on the car is nothing in comparison to the impact this mess has had on the culture surrounding our beloved automobiles.

The car community, and the subsequent culture, has suffered massively from the worldwide shut down as well. Car culture is woven in with the car community, you simply cannot have one without the other, and are essentially the same thing. The car community is much more often than not a wonderful nurturing place for people to explore their interest in cars of all kinds. Everything from SUV’s to motorcycles, to sportscars originating from corporate empires to some guy’s backyard. It has had its sketchy areas, such as the hatred of the stereotypical Subaru vaping man children, to the hillbilly who drives a mustang or pickup truck, as well as the debate between domestic and Import cars which has been waging between the late 1980’s. Something all these sects have in common is that they are all more than willing to give their cars some extra flare. The Aftermarket is solely responsible for making this happen, it is where people get their massive spoilers, wheels, and more powerful engines. Without the community supporting such a wide variety of models, the aftermarket industry will simply sputter to a halt. Something that will surely keep the industry afloat is the fact that people are perpetually bored; therefore, the diehard car modifiers have more time than ever to work on their cars and turn them into something truly unique.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic started really picking up speed, the car community was flourishing, I could argue that we were in the middle of a golden age of car customization and production; so, I shall. Car meets were and are a mixing pot of different takes on what a car can be, pay a cars and coffee event a visit and you will see everything from modified Nissans, Cadillacs, and Audi’s of every genre and class of vehicle, as well as everything in between. It was not at all uncommon to see a widebody Honda S2000, parked next to an immaculate Lamborghini Huracan, which was parked next to a dare I say, riced Dodge Neon SRT-4 that was followed by, well, name it, and it has been at a cars and coffee. The car community is encompassing in terms of what can be achieved by a group of people that are passionate about a similar goal; to make cars truly something special and things of beauty. The aftermarket industry has been growing is size since the late 90’s and prior to the global quarantine, showed no signs of slowing down.

Currently, the car community, and therefore, car culture is in a bit of a slump, as is everything else. There is simply not much to report as nothing is currently going down, hopefully the aforementioned diehards will continue to devote their ample time to their cars. One thing that can come of this is that once we are all allowed out of our homes and share our love of things mechanical, greasy, and beautiful is that those diehards will have some truly incredible machines. Even if they do not legitimately modify their cars, at least they will have their visions formulated after having lord knows how many months to let them ferment. However, that is just hoping for the best, there is a much more unfortunate possibility.

So, lets talk about the bad one, because we the community should prepare itself for this potential drop in flourishment. That unfortunate event being that since so many people are laid off and out of work, modifying their cars will be the last thing on their minds for some time to come. As a result, we may see a but of a stutter in the car community, culture, and the aftermarket industry. If people are struggling to pay rent, they won’t be pounding at Garrett’s door to pay them thousands for a new set of turbos.

It is entirely possible that car culture will be rather stagnant for a while, what with the decomposing state of the economy, and therefore lack of something the car community is dependent on; money (do you have any idea what a good set of rims and tires costs?). Cars will always have a special place in many people’s hearts, but without any money, businesses are going to sink like a bag rocks, and therefore we will have no aftermarket industry, something that makes people’s automotive dreams come true; and isn’t that what we all really want? That being said, it will not revert back to where is was several years ago. We will still have lovely creations in the forms of diesel trucks, lowriders, and track toys that are able to warp time and adjust the Earth’s rotation with their incredible amounts of power and downforce.

IT’S OK, STAY CALM! We’ll all get through this together, the last time the country was in a situation even remotely similar to this it was 2009. Take a minute to think about everything that has changed in the last eleven years, go on, I’ll wait. Yeah that’s right, comping now to then is almost impossible, the same goes for the car community. In 2009, the peak of car culture was the coolest thing you could get straight from the showroom floor, most notably the now deceased Mitsubishi Evo or the Dodge Challenger, the dinosaur and mortal enemy of said Evo that simply refuses to die (thank God for that though). Nowadays, the sky is the limit, we have electric cars producing nearly 2,000 horsepower and the car community is more accepting now than ever. Until recently, everything was so segregated, every car group was its own thing. Trucks, Japanese Imports, Domestic Muscle, and anything European did not venture outside their respective clubs. Car culture now is willing to combine everything into one, I don’t know of an example of that actually happening, but if you have an idea and some resources, then do it, because that sounds amazing.

The car community and our culture will not be crumbling because of some little bug that makes us binge our 13 favorite shows in a row (lets face it, there could be worse consequences). The aftermarket industry, car culture and the community has spent way too much time and energy building what currently exists. In fact, I believe that once this is all over, there will be a resurgence of car culture and we will see some of the most incredible stuff in quite a while.