check this info out- I found it pretty interesting...I was suprised at some of the states... HOW BIG IS THE HOT-ROD MARKET IN YOUR STATE? What specialty-equipment market niche do you make products for? According to SEMA market research, about 12% of SEMA members surveyed said the hot-rod and custom market generates the greatest percentage of sales revenue for their company, second only to the light-truck market. For those companies in, or thinking about entering, the hot-rod market, SEMA market research provides vital statistics on the current state of this lucrative industry segment. The following is a short excerpt from the 2006 Hot Rod Industry Report: Classic Car Registrations: Its important to look at how many classic cars, hot rods, street rods and musclecars are currently registered in the United States. Unfortunately, not every state keeps this kind of information. Each state classifies passenger vehicles differently, and we were unable to obtain make and model data from several states. The problem with this is that pre-'73 vehicles would include models not considered hot rods. For example, a '57 Toyota would fall into the model years we specified, but would not be classified as a hot rod. Of course, there are also probably many pre-'73 vehicles throughout the United States that are stored in garages or barns and are not even registered. California, the birthplace of hot rodding, has 2,775,004 registered automobiles from model years 1871 through 1972. This represents 5.99% of the total number of registered vehicles in the state. The following chart shows the breakdown of registered vehicles of model years '72 and older. SEMA was able to obtain the registration data from 26 states, although the process proved more difficult than anticipated. Most of the state departments of motor vehicles claimed they do not keep such records. This doesnt seem possible, for in order to register a vehicle, one must indicate the make, model and year of the vehicle in order to pay the appropriate fees. Many of the motor-vehicle departments didnt respond to voicemails, e-mails or formal request letters. Of the states that participated, many charged fees from anywhere between $35$1,000 for the data. Others made the data available for free. The table below breaks down the totals by state. California represents the highest percentage of pre-'73 (2,775,004), followed by North Carolina (1,033,224). The state with the least number of pre-'73 registered vehicles is Vermont (1,331).
Pretty interesting. Too bad not every state is on there. I would be interested to know the ratio of regular cars to classic cars by state also.
True. My own state didnt have stats... Damn Mitt Romney- he just screwed everything up and then left it for someone else to try to clean up... I bet the ratio is more than 100 t o 1.
VT dead last... Latley I have been telling people that my cars run on veggie oil, and they have been more into them...
Hhhmmm. Met this guy last weekend at the Bradenton(FL) nostalgia race. Vermont plate up front,Florida plate on the back. Managed to rip some 11.90's with this 49 Olds 88 by just adding slicks and uncorking the headers. Neat car,Neat guy.
What no love for Indiana?! C'mon SEMA! This would be good info when trying to pry a loan out of the bank for opening a rod shop.
So in California, I should see 4 out of 10 cars being a classic. I dont think so. I used to play a game while driving, even long distances..who has the oldest car? It was me, even going 400 miles in a 69 Ranchero. Shit, usually its me even an 80's shitbox..
The stats for Arizona are a little mis-leading aren't they? There's that many cars in Sun City and Sun City West.......And I'm about to become one of them, or at least for the winter.... HellRaiser
Need to put things in perspective; first off, a lot of states don't keep track of things like this. You want to really see some mind-boggling numbers, check the Standard Rate & Data regional circulation numbers of HR, CC, SR, R&C, etc. The midwest turns big numbers as compared to the west coast. The pulp life style books lack the circulation to get a real picture of regional numbers for traditional hot rodders; i.e. HAMB members. Consider the fact then when a lot of HAMB'ers were still in diapers in 1983, HOT ROD MAGAZINE had a circulation of 950,000 to 1,000,000 readers.
The Jalopy Journal
