Todays youth NOT interested

Its plain and simple... MONEY. Most kids can only buy a car for around 5 grand. that is usually from some shitty summer jobs and Mom & Dad helping them with the rest. Back in the day you could buy a Model A or even a 32 for cheap and build a rod in your yard. Now you need 10 grand just to get a rusty body and all the parts to build a car, plus the skill and more cash to get it on the road. A kid now can usually find a old fox body 5.0 stang that needs body and paint work for that 5 thousand price range. I hate to say this because its really sad, but the truth is the kid with his hood up in his friends driveway with a lame ass Honda or late model GM you laugh at is the new Hot Rodder.

 

Im 35 and I've got Impalas in the one garage, the '35 Ford project in another. Out in front of the house is my daily dumped civic with a motor swap and big brakes and wifey's turbo all wheel drive baby hauler. This shit is expensive and I'm well past filpping burgers and washing dishes. Hondas and Subarus are easily avaliable used, already have paint and a floor, and can be souped up with stuff out of cataloges or off of Craigslist. Plus they don't suck gas and behave well in the winter. You have to really want the old stuff and you need either stacks of money or stacks of time and tools. You're average 18 year old is too broke and impatient for that. I started on VW's (not cool here), moved on to Impalas (maybe cool here), messed with imports (not cool here) and finally, after wanting one for 10 years, got a 1935 ford. Its not a coupe because rich old dudes have driven the price on those through the roof. Same with roadsters, anything from 1932, etc, etc. Guess what? It's all palying with cars!

 

30+ years ago, Street Rodder magazine posed a "the sky is falling" article about who would carry the torch and is Hot Rodding dying?
While things have changed with our youth, there are still young enthusiasts in their 20's, etc. and there are individuals continuously reaching mid-life age (kids out of the home, near retirement, etc) that will finally have the time and $ to step up and build or buy their dream car, be it a Hot Rod, Custom, muscle car, Vette, etc and participate at least at some level. An aging population looking for a hobby.

What seems to have died off is Model A restoration. In the 60's-80's it was very common to see "old guys" driving them on outings on weekends. Those "old guys" are no longer with us. I think of this every time I see a thread here where someone is buying a cherry, restored Model A out of a garage and promptly chopping the top and selling off the stock chassis/drivetrain...

 

So what's the change coming Sept 1st/2nd?

 

Hot roddin ain't dead yet. My 2 year old loves going to car shows with me. He doesn't care what he's looking at he just knows its cool. Get em interested when they are young and they will grow up loving these old heaps just like we do

 

I used your post in my shop class today. Student’s ages are in the 15-20 year old range. I asked them to respond to your original post. Here is a condensed list of actual responses from my students. ___________________________________________________________________________________
Sounds kinda creepy cruising around young folks like that trying to get some attention.
Look dude, get over it.
What makes you think your car is so special?
Arrogant.
As long as you like why does it matter.
Trying to compensate?
They were just trying to hang out, get over it.
I think your stupid. I like all styles of cars, not just one style like you.
Must have not been loud enough.
Next time show up in a 32 then ill pay you some attention.
Those cars must have really sucked!
There are those who like 4x4s, DJM, mini trucks, muscle cars, and hot rods. I personally like them all. Maybe next time you should check out the other cars and then they will check out yours.( show respect get respect )
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Get them interested. If you have grandkids in school bring your car to the school for a share day. 30 years ago I took my 22 ford speedster to my son's school.the kids liked it, A couple years ago I went south to go with my son and HIS Boy Scout troop out to Bonneville, we camped at the big turn and Scouts in uniform and leaders got in free to the USFRA speed week. Race teams that weren't busy fixing something spent time explaining about their cars. Ohio State Electric car team took a lot of time with the boys.

 

Amen...
I encourage the youth to get in the car and act like it is theirs.
I let them know that not every car owner wants or allows such activity with their car and to respect that. I came accross a group of youth, engineering students from Cal Poly to be exact, that were preparing their class project car for competition against other schools project cars. They were total gear heads and it was refreshing to see their focus. Their Hot Rod was not anything like our 'Traditional' rods they are just setting new tradition if we like it or not. The hobby will be fine way into the future it just might look different

 

I am 42 and have always had something old. I have a '27 model T now. Building a model A with my 13 year old. He is into turning wrenches. Some level of interest will always be there, it may not be what it was in the 50's.

The Shop Class as Soul Craft book is very good. And that coming from a "corporate" guy like me.

 

Money issues, self ambition, and support is all it adds up to. Not every teenager has the money, unless they take out loans. Also, you can't expect young ones to grab a hold of a hobby if the professionals don't take the time patience and kindness to help them out, let alone give a warm welcome.

 

To say today's youth is not interested is bullshit. Just like how people alwas lement that old stuff was bettet, it seems like someones always complained that young folks aren't interested. Im 20 with a 31 model a coupe. Now to get some money together for the project...

 

Maybe,,maybe not,,I am a old goat I guess as far as you are concerned but I know a lot of young guns,both locally and Hambers and I was taught from a young age to tread people the way I would like to be treated.

Sure there are some that are not friendly,,but that goes both ways.

I have met just one young guy that was interested in the old cars that didn't approach us old farts with a entitlement attitude.

Remember,we weren't born curmudgeons,,we didn't invent hot rods and we can be your friend but with a bad attitude it ain't likely to happen. HRP

 

Right on to that

 

Most of the "youngsters" are into kar kulture cars,clothes, music etc and not into "traditional" cars because we older guys made 'em scarce, pricey, and into rods and customs already. Hence many a 4 doors, six bangers, skulls, tattoos, on the ground, flame throwers ra- ro-s and I like most all of 'em.

 

I feel that the "gold chainers" if you will, have made it a rich mans game as far as some of the car shows go for the outlook of the youth. For years when we went to car shows before we got our own rides, we were made to believe that you had to buy your way into the car seen. You have to go to SO and SO to get the paint done. Take it to Joe Blow to get the engine worked on. It was a few guys and the HAMB board that we met along the way that gave us the view point that with a little thought and know how you could do it yourself. Went to the local car show a couple weeks ago for the first time in a long time. Still the same crowd of professional check writers preaching to the young kids about how they would never have enough money to ever get a car like theres. That's where my brother and I like to step in and tell them to keep your dream alive if you like old cars. Start reading anything you can get your hands on about how to. Hang around some of the small garages to see what's going on. We still get the look, point and "Hey that's a cool car" from the young kids. The hobby is not completely dead. For the "Gold Chainers" out there that paid $10 dollars to get into the car show. Waited all day for a 5 dollar trophy and cried because a guy half his age had half the money he had in his car and won when he lost, your only getting older. You can't take the car with you too the pearly gates. It's only then, the second owner is only going to pay what he feels it's worth, not what you had into it.

 

I'm actually slightly worried... My simple recce on the topic is that the objects will vary over time. Whatever was the coolest ting when u were 10 will come back and haunt u when u r 40 and finally have the financial strength. True, regardless of the object... A couple of years back u could buy a first gen Gixxer slingshot for nothing. Nowadays, they cost a friggin fortune simply because they were high end back in the day... I'm afraid that our cars will simply be too old and too vintage for the general crowd. They (the general crowd) will go nuts over a 40 year old Nissan GT-R in a couple of decades.

Just My two-cents...

Speedy

 

You want to know what contributed heavily?

When High Schools shut down the Auto shops & Shop classes in general. In the 90's when I was in High School, most of us would work on our cars there because they had a lot of the good equipment. Gear heads had no place to flourish after the school closed the Auto shop class in '93. I noticed a steady decline in guys working on old jalops after that. Our shop class teacher was an old guy who taught us so much stuff about cars, and basic mechanics. We weren't afraid to ask him questions because he didn't treat us all like the dumbasses we were at 15-16 years old. He was patient and let us work on our rigs after school, and occasionally on weekends because he lived fairly close. As long as we helped him on his projects when he asked us. I think the children in school now are not curious about mechanical stuff because it's not even an option.

BRING BACK THE AUTO SHOP CLASSES!!

 

amen we are trying as best as we can. 2.5 years ago I took over a soon to be shut down body shop class. Now there is a large emphasis on tech. ed in our state. Our tech center is now the largest high school in our county with 600+ students. We have over 200 in our body, mechanics, welding, and diesel classes.

 

And what about that Elvis character.. shaking his hips? What's up with that?

 

Thx man!

here is a full side picture! (will remove the rear fenders i think..)

 

Well I think the spirt is hot rodding is still alive - maybe not with the cars accepted on this board- but here is one guy I follow

www.sloppymechanics.com

This guy buys junks cars for a few hundred dollars - then goes and pulls a high mileage small block LS motor out of some beat up truck in the junk yard- picks up a used turbo and fabricates the hole thing together

Here is a full size 2500HD the guy built for very little money that ran high 11s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCf9KD_tpgY&list=PLqqxeQgIg6f-mW7WuhUt4st3vpXMT101v

One of my favorites was on an old Fairmont he built- no money for airbags in the rear suspension- so he went and picked up some small toy foot balls for the local toy store and integrated them into his rear suspension- I believe he ran 9s with that car-

OK - so another favorite- he picked up a block from the junkyard for his car- but couldnt find matching heads so he ran two different heads on each side of the motor and still ran 10s I believe

Yeah the cars are ugly and pieced together- but they go fast and even though they are not a traditional hot rod- in my opinion they are still hwhat hot rodding is all about

yeah I know all of this is not HAMB friendly so feel free to delete this post : )

 

Most younger people these days have grown up in a short attention span want it now get it now tire of it throw it away world.It's not their fault their parents have had little time for them ,too busy chasing the dream.Spending months maybe years building something doesn't fit .That being said there are some amazing young builders that are doing great things using the very technology and ideas pool that the modern world has brought on .I think the future of our hobby is in good hands.

 

I'm not worried about it. I am 34 and if anything I hope less guys are into it as I get older. Maybe then I can afford stuff that I can't at the present time. haha

I am getting some magazine subscriptions for my twin 13 year old nephews to hopefully spark an interest in them.

To me it seems like the hot rod crowd is a lot younger than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Maybe it's just that I am older now? Maybe it's just that its easier to see people doing car stuff now that it's all over the web... I don't know...

 

It's alive and thrivin'... A little piece of advice though, NEVER knock a kid's ride! I can remember in high school drivin' an old Fairlane 4-door. I would go to cruises and have idiots laugh at it because it was not a $40K muscle car. I was proud of the damn thing and kept it clean, safe, running and stopping... Fast forward and I still show up to cruises and have guys laugh at my '53, but I'm old enough to tell 'em to f-off!!!!! (Sorry I gotta a kid in private school and my wife stays at home...an expensive ride ain't in the foreseeable future). Instead of mocking the poor kid, let them tell you about HIS OR HER ride...share stories and encourage them!

 

Yeah it definitely was not an easy 4 years to get my pickup I posted built. But I've sold, traded, scrounged,begged , borrowed everything and anything to get what I want. Now I do have a job I started last month working with my Mom doing house/ apartment clean outs...$9.50 an hour. I'm going into senior year in high school, so next summer is when all the fun begins!

 

I have a 13 year grand daughter that just ask me to teach her to drive a stick ! Joy so i will teach her with and without a peddel LOL power shift here she comes

 

http://youtu.be/WXU3N9wT3u0e Here
is some Church for you...

 

Hey VONN DITCH !
I don't know if you are still following this thread, but I think the BIG SURPRISE coming on Sept 1st/2nd from SLAMMED is he will be running posts with a Reversed Avatar shot!!!
EI-Yi-Yi ! As Pancho used to say, "Holey Smokers, Cee-sco !"

Now what was this thread all about.....?

 

Went to the Follies this past Saturday with my 28 year old son, who by the way is a hot rodder, and spent some time looking at the age of the car owners.It seems like it gets to be an older crowd every year as maybe it is, since a lot of folks keep coming back to a nearly 40 year old rod run. I myself have been going for 18 years. Maybe we are an aging group. that being said, I did notice a lot of the younger crowd there with their cars, some of them were really nice and some not so refined. These shows are still full, and the swap meets are pouring over with the late teens to early 40s guys and gals.
I think it is a hobby that will keep going.

 

I hope the hobby is alive and well as they say but I see a lot of straw hats and new balance sneakers at the big shows.