Future Cars and Hot Rods.

Being a gearhead ever since I can remember, I'm a huge fan of the big V8 engines and stuff. But lets face it.. the combustion engine is a old and a tiring idea. Unless we find a way to make our V8s run on something other than fossil fuels, we're gonna loose them forever.
And when fossil fuels are indeed phased out, what are aftermarket companies like Edelbrock, Roush, Cherrybomb, etc gonna do?
I know I might be laying out a scenario that seems very unlikely for the next 50 -60 years, but we never know.
Going green seems to be the idea that makes profit these days and thats the reason for companies like Nissan to bring out cars like the Leaf and Chevy's Volt.
The idea of an electric car intrigues me, but honestly, how many of us would by a Ferrari that sounds like a monk...?
Electric cars are great, but the sports car would be completely pointless if you can't hear a roaring engine. Its all about the experience behind wheel.
I like companies like Tesla that attempt to give us a "Green" sports car, but has it worked???

The idea of getting our cars to run on something other than petrol (inclusive of biofuels) is a pretty good. We can still keep our Thundering V8s without worrying abt the environment.
I know that BMW did build engines to run on liquid hydrogen and Mazda wasn't far behind with a Rotary Renesis engine variant too.
But that still means we need oil in the form of engine oil, gear oil, etc...

As gearheads, what do you think is the best alternative for a performance motor.

I think the automotive future will be nonexistent as far as performance goes. Eventually a car will be an appliance to go to from point A to point B. Nobody will care how a car sounds or feels as long as it runs cheaply, quietly and has a lot of comfort content. Even today a lot of people do not care about performance or the thrill of driving. As each generation matures values seem to change, now so many people worry about their carbon footprint, and saving the earths atmosphere that many feel older cars should be crushed. The government seems to agree, so there will be an even larger push for electric cars in the future. Everyone I talk to agrees.

I don't think the electric car is viable in the near future . It still relies too much ( directly or indirectly ) on fossil fuels . The batteries are nowhere near the development stage they need to be be be viable in the near future .You still have to have large power generating plants to supply the power to the grid to charge those electric car batteries . The present administration is determined to eliminate coal fired power plants at the same time that many of their " environmental supporters " are hell bent on doing the same thing to the nuclear power plants ? So where is all the power going to be supplied from ? There are lots of details that need to be worked out before the fuel cell will become the norm but I see it as the best option . I know the U.S. has huge reserves of natural gas , perhaps the best short term solution is to phase in natural gas fueled vehicles as quickly as possible while working on the long term development of the Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles .The conversion to this system could be done much quicker than alternative options at this time . Just my $0.02 - " Worth what you paid me for it "

My question is, what is going to happen to marques like Ferrari, Pagani, etc...
Sure the hydrogen fuel cell car sounds amazing and is certainly the future. Honda has proven it with the FCX Clarity. But what we understand is that the perception of the car is going to be simply for the purpose of going from A - B. Well that's correct and that's what the car was originally intended to be.
But during the years, the car has become something a bit more than just transportation. Its a status symbol, a symbol of freedom & independence, when you get the keys for the first time as a teen, etc...
Marques like Ferrari, cashed in stirring the emotions with the whole experience of noise and thrill of driving.
Sure, put in a large electric motor capable of similar BHP and give is great suspension, even an electric car can be as cool as Tesla has proven, but part of the experience has always been listening to howling and roaring of the engines as you thunder along.
Whats motor sport gonna be like in the future without the noise?

I like what Jay Leno said on Top Gear when interviewed by James reviewing the Honda FCX. He sees the fuel cell car as the savior of the sports cars; in the same way the car was the savior to the horse. Now horses are viewed for their beauty & sports instead of the beasts of burden they used to be.

I wonder what happened to the stuff BMW & Mazda were working on in 2007? They found ways to make an engine run on liquid hydrogen. I think this should be a viable performance solution, after all it makes use of existing technology.

All good points guys, in truth we can only guess at what the future will bring, there is no easy solution really. but wouldn't it be neat to be able to see into the future 10, 20 100 years and learn what solutions automakers and scientists came up with. I won't get into whether or not the government should be involved in automaking or not. One thing I will say we enthusiasts have a very different way of looking at things than everyone else, to us cars mean fun, freedom and excitement, really one of the last still legal ways to enjoy oneself anymore.

Hydrogen is definitely the future and I now see us not just sticking to just one type of engine / motor design...
Have a look at this article... Hydrogen Cars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle)

As far as I see it, we could keep the fuel cell technology for cars that manufacturers sell the most... small cheap runabouts for city driving, etc..
For those of us performance hungry, keep the combustion engine around and make it run on hydrogen.
Sure, there are issues to be sorted out, but no more complicated than figuring out ways to drill oil from the bottom of oceans. We learned to do that fine; save the major recent disaster... why can't we find alternatives???

It would be more profitable for companies to get into the move now while its young and fresh, so that they rise as pioneers and leaders when the tech becomes mainstream.