Hot Rods Went to a car show today....

Mosey’d on over to the annual car show our town holds each year. I normally don’t do car shows...but it was nice out..so why not see what’s up today. It’s a small town in rural Missouri , but there were some really nice cars and hot rods. Nice ones. Then I stopped and noticed all the people standing around the cars and the car owners. I’m 60. I was clearly the on the young end of the spectrum at the show. Dawned on me that this car gig probably won’t be much of a big deal in 10-15 yrs. what’ll happen to all these cars??

 

I often wonder the same thing. Most of us are getting older, so when we get to the final car show in the sky there won’t be many to keep the shows alive

 

I believe that is why there are so many cars for sale.

 

Saturday car show? Most people younger than 60 have things to do. Some work. Some have kids and have to do kids things such as sports or school events. Some have grandchildren and have to do those things because the parents have to work. Some are working on their cars because they work during the week. Ect!
Sunday car shows generally have a better mix of ages. That being said us car people are a dying breed. Cars were an important part of our youth. There was excitement with cars. There are very few new cars I can get excited about. Very few coupes. I am 60 and I pretty much will not have a 4 door car for a daily driver. Todays kids do not seem to understand the difference between a coupe and a sedan.

 

The younger folks are all buying new Mustangs and Challengers. Half the cruise nights by me look like traveling new car lots.

I can see their reasons for buying these cars though, they're fast as hell, don't break down, and have all the modern comforts and do dads.

 

I'm 57 and I am routinely the youngest in the group when I go to car events or get-togethers. I've been thinking about this a lot this year for some reason. 20 years down the road there are going to be a lot of nicely built hot rods and kustoms sitting around gathering dust and rust.
It seems like the younger guys either aren't interested in cars at all, not into classic cars (more interested in tuner cars or the like), or are very interested but can't come close to buying into the cars. When a rust bucket 50's sedan costs $4k-9k and pre-war projects cars upwards of $10k-15k they don't have the cash to play.
I saw a late 20's roadster shell with a radiator shroud sitting on a Model A frame with $5000 price tag just a couple of days ago. It's ridiculous

 

There’s a few of us out there, and we’re trying to get our peers interested! But you’re right... my gear head friends really dig the 60s and 70s. Which makes sense... you old farts dug the war-era stuff (plus or minus). Fortunately for me, I like you old farts way better than my peers, so I’ll never get over my lust for the curves of the 30s. I guess with each generation there’ll be a different version of “cool”. And maybe it’s not all bad... ?


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I too0k my roadster to a small local gathering, and I was amongst my peers. I am 78 years old, a little slower, but the interest and camaraderie is still appreciated.

 

speaking of car shows - no pics from the annual show that you went to?

 

I did my share, my son is a confirmed gearhead, and has a 47 International.
Bob

 

when people die the cars do not go with them.

 

Recently I saw a video of the 2019 Tyrods Show here in New England. Show brings out many historic and HAMB friendly cars. One thing I noticed was all the old guys populating the show grounds. Not too many young fellows so as to validate the premise of this threads author. I have a fifty year old son, who is a gear head but he prefers vintage Harleys. I have a friend who has vintage 356 Porsches, who found out NONE of his kids want anything to do with them if he passes. So he has started selling, his '57 speedster went to Italy a couple of years ago. Times are 'a changing" as they say.

 

I'm 63 years old... My oldest son is 35 and he is into late model mustangs ....he is very active in the car scene... But it's mainly with late models.. His new mustang was about 30,000 dollars and comparable to the cost of a nice hotrod.... The mustang is his daily driver but he can't afford to buy something just to have in the garage. He likes my 33 pickup and he will drive it anytime he can... That said I know he will probably never build a hotrod.... ( He does plan on getting the 33 from me as it was my dad's before me.lol )
My daughter is 30 and is a single mother of 2 boys.. she is Into hotrods ( she drove my 48 pick up to high School .) but she is busy being a mom... I have a 36 pickup that I am putting together that will eventually be her's..... My grandsons think hotrods are cool... But as we age the younger generation as a whole is not into early cars.... My Dad had a nice original 1927 model T roadster .... When he past away my mom kept it in the garage she liked looking at it.... When she passed away we put it up for sale... It took almost 2 years to sell it... And we did not get a lot of money for it..... Nobody was really interested in an OLD model T... I'm a hot rodder ... I didn't want to mess up my dad's T... He didn't want that to happen.... What will become of a lot of older hotrods 20 years from now is an interesting question.... There will always be people In to cars but will they be into early hotrods... and will they be able to afford them..

 

I'm 60 as well and wondered the same thing....

 

I'm 60 but my job has me working on Saturdays so it's hard for me to make shows, but I try.

 

Well said...

 

Younger people take their cars to shows, they're probably just not the kind of shows you go to. Radwood is one example, it's for cars from the 80s and 90s.

 

Anytime I see a kid or young adult that shows interest in my '47 I take the time to talk with them and let them sit in it or if they're over 18 I'll take them for a ride if they ask.

 

There are also fewer car shows as the old farts that have been putting them on are getting older and get tired of the work it takes to put on a good show.

 

I’ve been wondering about the future of our hobby as well. I’ve seen way too many collections up for auction, cars for sale due to health, car oriented estate sales lately. Other than muscle cars, only 32s and ‘40s seem to be holding strong.
I also thought about all the cartoon “Gassers” that have been built in the last few years. I wonder if they will be found sitting abandoned in garages, backyards and barns five years from now.


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I took my 28 to a cruise in 3 wks a go, a lot of new cars there but also a lot of older stuff. Several people both young and old passed all the new stuff and came to look at mine. I watched as several people walked right by the new crap to look at 55 chevies and early impalas etc. My car gets a lot of attention from all ages, I like when the younger crowd comes around to ask questions.

 

My opinion. IT WILL GO FULL CIRCLE.It has before, it will again..

 

I'm 60 also, and went to a local show today too. Had to take the wife's OT 88 F Bird. I saw maybe 4 or 5 HAMB friendly vehicles, the rest were 60's musclecars. And with the exception of one young man I know that is in his early 20's and a couple of more that are in their mid 30's to early 40's, I was a youngin' in the bunch, too. I'd say most are in their late 60's on up, retired, with plenty of time and money. I'm still working and broke most of the time {or badly bent, lol}, and have only Saturdays and a little bit of Sundays to do anything. I could have spent my day working on stuff around here, but I decided, eff it, I'm going to enjoy half a day with like minded people. We lose enough people every year, so why not enjoy the time given to you? I hope my Grandson wants my junk when I buy the farm, but if he doesn't somebody else will want it. I'm just the current caretaker, somebody will get it and do something with it, even if it made into toasters, I won't know it....

 

........we can’t tell you without pictures..........where are the pictures.. ?

 

At my age, I don't think I will care what will happen in 10-15 years.

 

In our little town (pop. 6,000 but only 11 miles from Walmart corporate office so basically in a metro area of a half million), we have a "car guy (and gal) hangout" every Friday evening. We typically have 12-15 cars show up, but if we were all there at once, we'd have more than 40 vehicles. We range in age from 7 to 81. The daughter of one of the guys in his 30s asked me if she could go for a ride in my '40 for her 9th birthday. I took the '40 to her house and her dad took her for a ride in it. Then I went home and got the Nomad and her dad took her and a couple of her friends for a ride. They loved it.
The 7 yr old has come to my house more than once to do "odd jobs" because he is wanting to earn money to build himself a truck. I saw him with his dad at a swap meet today and he showed me a mirror he bought for his truck with his own money. His dad is building a '65 Suburban and he is following in dad's footsteps. We have several teens who show up driving everything from a really nice '52 AD pickup to a '65 El Camino. All of us visit and make sure to give the younger guys a lot of encouragement.
The thing I've noticed is that even the ones who drive un-HAMB-friendly vehicles are very interested in the stuff we like and want to learn more about them.
Maybe instead of wringing our hands and lamenting the fact that we are no longer in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s, we should do what Ryan encourages us to do, which is "Spreading the gospel of traditional hot rods and customs to hoodlums world wide."

 

as my life flashes before my eyes, I'm pretty sure I won't be worrying about the future of my hotrod, or the future of hotrodding. More than likely it'll be something like "Guess I shoulda changed out that master cylinder." Till then I'll just keep doin what I'm doing cause it makes me happy.

 

The end is near! Enjoy your cars and the fun you have with them and your friends!
There are a few youngsters that get it, but not in the numbers that we had in our day.
Most of us lived through the best years hot rods and customs have had!
I wish it wasn't so, but I accept it.
KK

 

With out pics... There was NO car show !

 

Well I see it this way. In 1973 when I redid my 48 from a 75.00 running driving beater into a painted and upholstered rig to take to the 73 Street Rod Nationals it was 25 years old and the newest legit rig on the grounds. My former student's 71 Heavy Chevy Chevelle is 48 years old now. His 55 that he just finished is 64 years old. In 1973 the deuces prowling the grounds in Tulsa were 41 years old.
65 to Mid 70's rides are old cars to these guys even we we see them as newer ot rigs.
True you start with what you like or what you can afford but if you have ever looked into some of the more exotic tuner parts for their mega HP 4 banger s those parts aren't even close to cheap.

Still a lot of us in our 70's didn't start with old iron in the late 60's or early 70's Many of us just getting out of the service or back from overseas drove those same Mustangs and Super cars the younger guys are driving now but migrated to the early iron that we had fallen in love with years earlier. I wouldn't get in too much of an uproar as the younger guys get a bit older and their income goes up and maybe the nest empties a tad so there is some disposable money the older rods start looking like a lot of fun.
As far as cars not selling. Around here the ones that don't seem to sell are 80's or 90's builds that while still being presentable are seriously dated rides. They aren't Hamb friendly and they don't come close to the hot lick street rod look that shows up at Goodguys or NSRA events. They just look dated.