Hotrod's editor, Freiburger, sure hit home on his editorial this month. Seems exactly what my buddies and I talk about alot. Especially when it comes to our kids. Even if they like to look at cool cars, they just can't seem to take care of they're own.(even keep them presentable!) Having been born in 58, I long for sixties style cars. I love you guy's traditional rides but just never had one so its alittle tough to build one. Not impossible but I think we know what I mean. I think thats why theres alot of infestation into your HAMB. We all long for the good stuff, and this is where we can find it. Thanks Ryan.
I saw a recent study that revealed over 30% of teenagers if they had the choice of a car or the internet, they would choose the internet over a car, WTF? That was an eye opener! Times have definitely changed. The Hamb gives me hope though, there are some very talented youngsters on here.
My 17 year old grandson likes fast cars. He has a OT '98 Cobra Mustang, but doesn't want to work on it or really learn anything about it. As long as it starts when he turns the key and lays rubber when he pops the clutch he's happy. I'm still working on him tho'.
I am probably wrong but it seem to me that early '60s style rides as in pre-'64 are considered to be traditional at least to some factions of the HAMB. I haven't read the editorial yet so I really can't speak to that portion of your post. I am assuming that it is about not taking care of your car?
I know I am stirring the hornet's nest here, but..... Those kids working on their Hondas, Nissans, and other Rice cars are at least working on cars. Might not be to my liking, but they are doing some pretty cool stuff. My pop had a small speed shop in the mid to late 60's. I remember the fathers of the teenage guy complaining about the kids taking off those nice hubcaps for mag wheels and they were going to ruin the ride of the car with the airshocks. (I was just young then being born in 59), but they usually understood the go faster part of it.
LOL,,,I can remember when my dad would say things like, "those damn hoodlums are ruining good cars and driving like there is no tomorrow. No way in hell are you boy's going to get involved in that crap. Beside, who the hell would put a Caddy or Olds or Buick engine in a Ford. WTF is that all about"? Then he took us to the drags way back in 1956 just to shut my brother up. Next thing I know, there is a pile of pipe, wheels, a Caddy engine, etc out at his shop. Four months later we had ourselves a Gas Dragster with a georgeous V8 Caddy in it with six carbs, mag etc. An so it goes, the rest is history.
I have 3 girls ages now 30, 38, & 40. They couldn't wait to get there drivers liecence at 18 & they all helped me work on cars. My brother = not a car guy has 2 boys that walked to work or rode with a friend till they were 24 & 26 before they wanted a car.
You are 100% correct. Whether we like it or not, for many of the young kids, the Honda Civics of today are like the 1969 Camaros of my generation. You can take that analogy and make it for every generation. The '55 Chevys of the '60s were the '40 Fords of the '50s, and so on. Our kids have grown up around imports, the Fast and Furious movies catered to them, and for an entry-level vehicle, they are cheap to maintain. There are a bunch of them out here that run 10 and 11 second quarter mile times, and you have to respect them for that. Fast is fast, no matter what badge is on the hood. My Dad was a custom car guy, and he wasn't crazy about my Camaros, Novas, and Chevelles. I changed the exhaust, jacked them up in the rear with 15x10s and N-50s, and always had loud stereos. Basically, I did everything 180 degrees out of what he liked. Even though he didn't like my cars, he never turned his back on me and helped whenever he could. My 17yr old son wants to build a hot Civic, and I'll be there every step of the way. He'll eventually come around and want to build an old American car, but until then, I'll keep stoking the fire and make him a better mechanic and show him that attention to detail is always worth the effort.
I just read the editorial. All I get out of it is that Friedburger likes old stuff and wants to learn about new stuff. hell he needs to if he is going to keep his job. I really don't care if young people build tunners, it is what they know. What amazes me is how many young people don't even own a car or have a driver's liscence. Maybe it is the economy or maybe it is just because their parents are from a generation that wasn't interested in cars like we were.
I have a 19 year old nephew who doesn't have his drivers licence and doesn't seem interested in getting it. His hot little girlfriend has a license and use of her parent's cars, so I guess he is fine letting her get them around. This does not compute - I had my license within 3 months of my 16th birthday, the only reason i didn't have it on my birthday was I had to take the stupid defensive driving course so I could afford insurance (on my parents insurance, but I had to pay for it). This kid will play video games all day but has no interest in anything I was into except hot little redheads, so at least we have that in common. I don't understand not wanting to have your own car, work on your own car and make it the badass ride you want it to be. I would help him every step of the way and he knows that, but just doesn't want it.
That topic has been a fallback article for automotive journalists (and others) for... well, forever. "Kids aren't what they used to be... The times. They are a changing." It's a revolving door that no one can stop. Personally, I don't think there is any real meaning behind it all.
Falls under the heading of why buy a cow if the milk if free. Been going through that with the granddaughter's boyfriend. I finally put an end to it. There is more to it than that but it wouldn't have mattered, taxi service isn't written into my contract. That said, there is no reason to think that the younger generation is going to appreciate the same things that are important to us. If they do that is a plus but I certainly haven't lived the same life that my grandfather or even my father did. To a certain extent there are parallels but I used a different medium to accomplish the same goals, I agrivated the hell out of them along the way and expect that every generation starting with my own kid to do the same for me. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Not to make it sound like I'm brown nosin the boss.....but I agree and was thinking the same exact thing.... I read quite a lot, and seeing as my occupation lends to some downtime I tend to pick up on the rags that offer the 8 dollars for 20 years worth of subs (ok...just a slight exaggeration....8 bucks for two years). Out of the four subs I have (Hot Rod, Classic Trucks, Custom Classic Trucks and R&C...half of which were gifted btw) I have observed that the same topic in similar variations seems to be the popular crutch to fall back on.... Historically you see the same topic in similar variations in the past issues of different rags...different eras, different cars/styles, same story... Call it what it is, not a bad spin but lazy and a good filler month as far as editorials is concerned. Could I do a better job of writing an editorial? IE am I busting his (or others) proverbial balls? Naw....I don't think I could have it in me to crank out an editorial on something anyone would want to read month after month....just an observation.
There will always be a small hard core of traditional Rodders, just like there always has been. But the interest in the general public will wax and wain just as it always has. All things are cyclictic. Personally, since I'm not trying to sell them anything, I don't care.
I think it is just a sign of the times with many contributing factors. Kids aren't exposed to or taught to work on anything at many schools in the country now as school district after school district has dropped all of the hands on shop type classes from leather crafts, wood shop, auto shop, welding shop and what ever else they had available including aircraft repair. As far as the ricer brigade. They are still taking something that often wasn't intended to be fast and making it very fast. My niece's fiance runs a V6 Celica with 700+hp and tell me that isn't a hot rod. A lot of those guys seem to move on to more "traditional" hot rods when they get tired of the ricers from what I have seen. I still think it goes back to the schools telling today's kids that doing work with your hands is beneath you and you need to be sitting in a cubical in an office rather than heaven forbid working with your hands and getting them dirty or callouses on them from a day's of honest work. The school here has a strong robotics program that the kids seem to excel in. They get to think and actually build something that has to be able to operate and do things and they love it. That's a step in the right direction.
Most of the only people I know that drive and own traditionally styled hot rods and kustoms are 25- 30 years old. Not that hard to see, its pretty common
Wow. I took autoshop, drafting and wood shop to boost my GPA. I got straight A's in these classes. I had my first car before I had my license, it was a 5 speed OT blazer. I took my drivers test in it. The DMV tester asked me if I really wanted to take my test in a stick? I passed with a near perfect score.
Socrates Quote Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers. Yep youth have been going down hill since 200 AD
...and they speed, tailgate and never go off the road with them. I know a mechanic that works on them sometimes and he says over 90% of the young guys haven't a clue about maintaining them.
Stephen, Actually the basic core of "traditional" rodding is a lot younger than my generation and the couple of gererations prior to mine. A lot of the "older" fellas that I know are more into high zoot cars. Some of the cars are real fine cars done in good statse and many of them at a glance you could not tell from a trad rod or custom but once you peel the skin back they are just high zoot rods with steel wheels. I really don't slight them for that, it is what they enjoy, but they are not here posting and playing here either. I respect their space and they respect mine.
Actually one of the main reasons the sport compact industry crashed was because most of those kids were not working on their cars, but paying someone else to do so. A majority of them (at least from my experience) couldn't even tell you the difference between a box wrench and a screw driver. A lot of people lost their butts around 2004 when all the racing series dried up and those kids went back to playing their play stations and x boxes. The biggest problem I see with todays kids is the lack of effort towards body work. They just hit it with a can of krylon and call it done and are actually proud of it. I'm sure most of us have driven works in progress now or in the past, but the crap I see on the road today that is considered finished just amazes me.
Getting back to the editorial and Freidburger he has published some of those pieces of extrement as of late and made excuses for them in his editorials. if you got to make an excuse for what you publish that should be an indication that you shouldn't be publishing it at all.
You are probably right, but even though Freiburger has been in the magazine game a long time and has a great appreciation for the history he is still relatively "young" 40 maybe? So, I would venture this is the first time he has written this editorial. I disagree that there isn't any real meaning behind it. As a 43 year old father of 19,15, and 9 year old girls I am constantly reminded of how differently my girls and their frinds are growing up than I did. I also work with the general public on a daily basis and most people give no more thought to their cars than their refrigerator, until it doesn't work. The fact is we have become a throw-away, instant gratification society. B.
My 26 year old son could care less what he drives, he's a pilot & loves planes. Ive always been a heavy motorcycle & car guy. Maybe its better this way with the cost of cars
Do you really thing the vast majority of people have ever really thought about their cars as anything more than a way to get to point A to B. We (the members of this board) are a small group that like cars hence we see them as more than transportation but for most people they really serve no greater purpose than their refrigerator does and I don't think that has really changed over the years. Add to the fact that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to work on new cars and there is little wonder people have no more interest in the workings of them than they do with any other appliance they own.
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