Art & Inspiration Are kids still dreaming on the sidewalks? (must read!)

Well, to try and give the other side of the argument, the reason why kids aren't interested in "old cars" is because they're pretty impractical. They're also kind of expensive, and tough to understand. A lot of kids (and many more adults if you ask me), don't really understand what a traditional hotrod or traditional custom car means or represents.

I know if my dad wasn't into cars, and given me the chance to submerse myself in old magazines, and give him a hand with cars, and help my ass out with MY car whenever he can, I wouldn't care about cars, let alone old ones..

My car isn't fast. My car probably won't get me laid. My car has cost me MANY friday nights. My car currently costs me my weekends, because I have to work 30 hours a week, while going to school fulltime, to fund my build.

I've got every break imaginable (other than a ton of cash(and I even had that too)), and I'm just NOW starting to finish up my car. And it won't even be finished to a lot of other people's standards. My own included, it'll just be ready to be finished, 'cause it needs to come all the way apart, but I also want to drive it. I don't give a damn if its got a mega dollar paint job right now, I'm stoked it'll be in dp48, and thrown back together.

I also know I care way too much about the little details. I'm probably one of the few folks under 20 that know what lucas flamethrowers are, and the fewer that have them on their car.

It isn't an easy boat to get on, thats all I'm trying to say.

 

I used to be that kid and still am! I remember being a kid and my dad had a rusted out 80s Volkswagen Rabbit out in the backyard. I used to sit in it for hours shifting gears, opening and closing the sunroof, and pretending to drive. I'd always love seeing the pre-60s cars running around town, and loved going to car shows, too.

I think I spent half my childhood in that damn VW!!

 

You have nailed it. These "kids" have a knowledge and understanding of how to extract higher horsepower without the brute project of increasing cubic inches, compression, breathing etc via mechanical processes. I used to be complacent in the thought that no matter what these stupid kids do to their new Mustangs, my 67 GT500 will never watch the taillights of any moderin iteration. Wow...was I full of crap, or what. These news cars are lighter, quicker, faster (there is a difference) than any of the 'off-the-floor' rides of the 60s and 70s.

I'm still old enough to prefer the dulcet tones of two (or more) exhaust pipes churning out the song of eight (or more) cylinders happily accomplishing their assigned chores, but I have to acknowledge that they've certainly earned the appelation of 'modern hotrodder' as they are enjoying the same things we enjoyed as younger men - personalizing their cars with the innovation that comes with a love of same.

dj

 

I remember waiting every day for my Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun to show up, and looking back that was half the fun.

Generally speaking kids don't dream today, they only demand immediate gratification.

 

I agree with "modelacitizen". Cars are way more complicated today. You just cant go to the junkyard, grab that 4v carb & manifold and stick it on the old family car that your parents just gave you. We would be the ones walking into poles while texting.

I remember growing up in Detroit and sitting on W. Warren watching all the cool cars going by. My folks would have to run up there and tell me to come home. They just couldnt understand what I saw in those cars. They sure found out when I got my drivers license and a job.

 

Don't let your girlfriend read that.

 

I'm 26. No one in my family is a car person. In fact, my father always tells me how he wishes he was my age now so that he could see all the new technologies that will come out later that he will not get to see (he's 67). I grew up fascinated by classic cars, hot rods, lowriders, customs, you name it! I would sit and draw them, when one would drive by I was the kid giving the thumbs up dreaming that it would be me one day driving that car. My parents would get me Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars and they would see more play time than my Atari or my later Sega Genesis. My folks would take me to cruise nights in their new mini-van and buy me books on cars and such. When I became 15 I went wild for my learners permit. When I became 18, after a few years of working and saving I bought my first car, a 1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 that I got ripped off on. The car was beautiful, but boy did it cost me many a weekend and many dates! Good times! I wouldn't have it any other way, I wouldn't change a thing! My parents albeit not car people whatsoever have been really supportive allowing me to bring all sorts of heaps home and they see that I have made many good friendships due to this passion. I now drive a '63 Impala which I love dearly and I will continue to keep driving! So, in summary all is not lost. I also have never owned an import, the newest car I have owned was a 2000 F150 that I bought to haul shit with (which I sold to buy my Impala)!

 

the Kids still are dreaming, maybe not as many as there use to be but they are out there, look at all the younger generation that came along with kustom culture.theirs more now then theres ever been. i drive my Model A to school everyday, driving through the parking lot you can see a couple of 60s mustangs some 70s camero's and a few older trucks, the kids in the parking lot passing by those cars still look everytime they go by. being into hotrods myself i take some friends along to the shows an watch them freak out over some fifties kustoms and some pure hotrods. a few months later their building what they can in their back yard while their parents call it junk. so theres no doubt that kids still dream about haveing one of their own but only about 10% of them will put forth the effort to do it.

 

back in the 60s we had to fix our cars if we wanted them to run, they were quite a bit less complicated.

 

Glad to see someone else thinks about it the way I do, but it doesn’t end with just the ricers. The divisions are all meaningless and are only suited to the “mine is better than yours” crowd. Personally, I can’t stand most imports on principal, but to the kids that pine for em, it’s just the same as the bored youth of the 50’s, buying up disposable cars and modifying them for speed and cool factor. A lot of people don’t think about it that way. It’s the same spirit, different times. As a proceeding generation deems their cars disposable, there will always be kids that will take em, modify em, and make em their own.
The difference these days and back in the old days is that most kids (and kids at heart) are no longer pining for fresh stock from the showroom floor, they’re looking at yesterdays cars.
My kids all have a healthy respect for cars, and will point them out. My 10 year old daughter wants us to build her first car, and she wants to help.
There is still hope, but it’s not in most stuff coming out of Detroit these days. Little boys will always pine for stuff like Corvettes, but not in the same way they will grow up wanting a car like dad’s…as long as dad doesn’t drive a prius.

 

I'm sorry guys... But I read this article, and was moved, which was why I wanted to share it.

This isn't about modern vs vintage autos or domestic vs imports... It strikes me as an expression of emotions felt, shared and observed. Of youth wishing to own something... something that marks them as being grown and independent... The way it looked, smelled and felt... weather real or imagined...

And at the end...there's an expression of the one who is grown... wishing that they were back on that sidewalk... young and dreaming of their future...


But maybe I missed the point...I'll go back and read it again.

I hope that you guys do the same.

Thanks guys...

 

Yes, some do! The youngs are "preformed" of their parents, and today, it seems to be more and more actual to be "A4". Dont be unusual, follow the crowd!
I got a Chevy -50 driving all year mostly, and some y.ago (10-15)when it got paint and seemed to be "nice", some could look, but after i did more garagework, and it came in primer,shabby looking, i got more and more people engaging to take a talk. Older people who before was afraid? to be in contact, now come up to see and talk , also to give their memories of the past.
Also kids are eager to look, and perhaps ask some question, or just to give "thumbs up". You see a lot of kids looking hard, hanging from a parents arm, dragged away....with parents faces closed straight forward, and definitive afraid their little ones are getting wrong thoughts in life (?)

As somebody mentioned in this tread, there are just some, who seems do to the dreaming, but as is, we are also a minority in the automobile agenda. As perhaps our parents also "tried" to learn us as kids.....

Be glad SOME does still dreams. Just give the kids the chance to engage their dreams, let them look,talk,sit in it and give them a positive respons back, make their day, and for sure some gonna make your day too!

 

Yeah man, I loved the story, I was thinkin of ''me'' on that side walk and and it gave me the chills... As for the question, ''are kids still dreaming'', not so much. They get the latest technology handed to themby us. Oh yeah, and my 14 year old thinks my '56' pickup is the ugliest thing on the road, but can tell me all the specs on a 'Bugatti Veyron'! Keep dreamin son...