WAR ON V8s: 37.8 M.P.G. CAFE AVERAGE FOR CARS BY 2016.

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It's official -- The dreaded EPA/NHTSA "Clean Car" regulations are geared to punish automotive freedom-of-choice by cramming down a draconian 37.8 miles-per-gallon fuel economy average by 2016. This will likely relegate V8 power to only a handful of hyper-expensive exotics and artificially-limited production muscle cars in less than four years time.

Blue-collar gearheads can kiss their chance at reasonably-priced V8 muscle goodby. Thanks, Mr. Obama. And thanks to the liberal wing of the U.S. Supreme Court, who misread the Clean Air Act in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, bought into a compost heap of junk science, and made this greeniac power grab possible.

According to the Detroit News, the bloated 1,469-page "final regulation" from EPA and NHTSA will extract a massive $51.5 billion extra over five years from new car buyers (assuming the cost estimates are better than what the Feds guessed for programs like Medicaid and Medicare). The "Clean Cars" market-tampering regulations will punish consumers an average of around $1000 per car by 2016 (before financing charges).

Of course the problem with averages is that bringing high-performance models within the 37.8 m.p.g. average will cost much more than $1000 per car. Get ready for $40,000+ Mustang GTs (if they survive in any recognizable form at all)

A 100,000 car cumulative loophole exists for makes that sold fewer than 400,000 vehicles in the States during 2009. So while American cars are immasculated on the altar of fuel economy, German and Italian luxury brands will be able to avoid some of the pain (but take more profits from their high-performance customers as their competitors' prices are forced upward).

Even the E-85 loophole, which has been a boon for keeping V8s in production by diluting their impact on CAFE, will close in 2015 unless the OEMs can show the vehicles are really being operated on ethanol.

The big automakers, who are all poised to punish their most loyal customers with huge jumps in the prices of "limited edition" high-performancee vehicles, all praised this fiasco through paid super-lobbyist Dave McCurdy. McCurdy said:

"America needs a roadmap to reduced dependence on foreign oil and greenhouse gases, and only the federal government can play this role . . . The national program announced today makes sense for consumers, for government policymakers and for automakers."

No, Dave. What America needs is FREE MARKETS, not thousands of pages of expensive, liberty-killing regulations.

Of course, the reason highly-paid appliance motorist shills like Democrat Dave McCurdy are so gleeful at the prospect of forcing Americans into expensive, less-safe economy cars is that the apparent alternative -- states following California's proposed greenhouse gas rules -- was even worse.

Of course the 2012-2016 "Clean Car" rules are just a start. Obama-appointed DOT Secretary Ray LaHood chirpped that "post 2016 work will begin as soon as the ink is dry."

Make no mistake, the radical greeniacs driving this bus will not be satisfied until muscle cars are banished, automotive liberty is stamped out, and everyone is stuffed into smelly public transit or tiny, sealed-for-your-protection, tamper-proof 50+ m.p.g. electric golf carts.

It's apt that the "Clean Car" regulations were announced on April Fools Day. Because only a fool would believe that this is the best course for automotive liberty.