At a recent car show an older guy I know and I were wandering around looking at cars and talking. He said, "I have no problem with these young guys and their ricer's. When I was younger and driving a tri 5 the old guys made fun of me. Everyone has to start somewhere." I have to agree with him. They can buy and old S10 for cheap, put some bags in it, maybe a SBC or add a turbo whatever and do it on the cheap. I truly believe that as the young guys grow up and get better paying jobs they will enter the hot rod market. I know one 20 something kid who has a fine S10. He came up to me and said, "I wish I could afford a hot rod but I have this S10 for now and someday I will have the money to get what I want." I do not think it will die out, I think the young guys are out there just waiting their chance. I know I went 14 years without a project or a hot rod in the drive. It took me that long to get in a place financially where I could build another hot rod. I looked in the mirror and realized I was one of the old guys and said to myself; I now know why it seems the hobby revolves around old guys, we are just young guys with grey hair and a little financial peace.
"daily beatings couldn't have scared me away from old cars when I was a young guy. anyone who would let a HAMB beat down hurt them so bad they had to go find another hobby really wasn't into it in the first place" Not really a true statement. I've been in this hobby a long time and have met a lot of reticent guys. There are all kinds of people with all kinds of character traints and all kinds of interests. A lot of people would take a beating the wrong way and fnd somewhere else to go that didn't fit them nearly as well as this place. I guess I'm with "Waddayacare" on this one.
I am 51 and was able to get into old cars over 30 years ago when they could be had cheap but were always the not so popular cars,my first old car was a 51 Olds 4 door I got off the original owner for 150 dollars and the next was a 50 Chrysler limo I got off a neighbor that had a fresh rebuilt motor and a parts car for less then 500 dollars and drove it for over 20 years. I would have liked to have bought a more popular car but a 150 dollar 53 Olds 2 door with a 50 dollar 59 Olds parts car that built a car that would beat almost new corvettes for less then 500 dollars to me was more fun then a tri-5 Chevy or other expensive old car.
There are more than a few of us young guns on here not to mention all those who havent found The HAMB yet check out this thread that I started 2 years ago http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=537253
Demographics plays a big part in this. There are a lot of boomers. I'd guess there's a significantly smaller pool of bodies to keep this rolling, plus for every kid interested in cars, there's many more uninterested. They didn't grow up working with their hands on pieces of machines. Their car exposure has been limited to being transported around in a Honda or Toyota. Add in the exportation of the culture to other countries, and it's easy to project less future. In the end does it really matter? When the last Hot Rodder dies, He's dead isn't he?
I'm 65 and when I was a punk the old guys said the same shit then as the old guys today . Pay no attention to the old farts,they are just need to take a nap
i came across an early 70's magazine a while back. it had an entire article devoted to this subject. his main focus of worry was all the vintage tin had dried up. gone. 40 years later people are still draging 32's out of barns and garages. as has been stated, the "kids" nowadays are just like we were. they drive and hot rod what they can get their hands on cheap. in the 40's you could almost mow someones lawn for a 32 roadster. i worked for a guy in the early 90's that was a real deal 50's hot rodder. he told me in the early 50's he bought a 32 three window for $75.00 took it home and droped in a cadillac engine that he got at the junkyard for $25.00. took the fenders off and terrorized his town. he got drunk one night and decided he wanted a roadster. he and his buddys cut the top off with a blow torch. now, what do you think the local townfolks thought of that piece of shit? probably as much as we do about ricers. and i'm as guilty as everyone else on that. look at the young folks on the hamb. some of them have some impressive cars. hot rods and kustoms both. there's a new storm brewing. the future looks bright to me.
I think you'll find out once you get it going that most will think it's VERY cool. It takes a lot of dedication (more than money) to find the stuff to complete a build like this. The really cool things: No E-Check, No Computer issues, Far less than the miles of wiring in current cars, You can fix almost anything yourself with a manual and basic tools, You can change ANYTHING to make it exactly what you want without having to reprogram anything... Sometimes simpler is not only better...it's cooler.
My mentor made the HAMB look like a tea party. Whenever I was full of shit, which was pretty much any time my lips were moving, he would take time out of his busy day to bring it to my attention.
You guys are all forgetting that the planet is going to explode or meet some equally horrendous ending this December. You are all doomed! DOOMED! Buwa-ha-ha-ha... Until then, please enjoy your day. P.S. Buwa-ha-ha-ha (and strokes white cat)
Don't you guys have anything better to do...remember...water finds its own level. Hot Rods will always be around...but you won't.
Im 22 and im into this hobby too deep to stop! High prices are for people that have no patience. Sure i cant go out and buy a 32 ford but i do have a pretty sweet 60 Galaxie and a 24 Model T roadster. And id like to proudly state that I DO NOT OR HAVE EVER WANTED A IMPORTED CAR. AMERICAN STEEL ALL THE WAY!!!!!......fuck hondas
That was the reason why I bought a late model car to customize earlier on instead of what I really wanted. Anything I could afford would need 10k to get it up to par. And I never had the 10 k to get one decent. Finally the right deal came along and I was able to buy something I like. But it did take 10 yrs
The line was set by the owner/mods. Where do you draw the line? 65 Mustang ok, but a 66 not, even thought its the same car, different trim? What about a 70, its still the smaller Mustang, before the big ones. You have to have a line and adhere to it or you might as well make EVERYONE welcome. The guy with the 80 Camaro might be the next trad rodder scared away too, and the future.
I think I have related this conversation on here before... Me: So Bob, I'm thinking about reversing the pin offset in this small-block Ford I'm building. Do you think it will be worth a gain? Bob: Well, hmmm, lemme see, so you are building this, right? Me: Yup. Bob: Dont see how it can hurt...If your putting it together, it'll probably blow up anyway...
Our first car was a '58 Merc. I already owned a Norton Atlas and a Ford that I raced. We had to pool our funds the farmer that had the merc wanted 75 bucks for it. We came up with 73 and change, he tok that and filled the tank with gas for us. I built my first pan for a grand and thought that it was the national war debt. 3 bikes before that (and 5 years) I bought a 45" WR on the very day that my daughter was born for 300 bucks, it came in 3 boxes and I carried the frame and front end to the old pickup. That was a streatch like in beans withut meat stretch for a while but it lulled my little girl to sleep on more than one midnight ride. The deal is that if it is important to you or you are under the gun you will always get the bucks and make the run. It is just money and there will always be some.
As one who is 'getting up there' and in 'disposal of hoarded parts mode', I would be far happier see stuff go for a fair price to someone who is going to use/build it and treat it with respect than to see it sit and wasting away. The problem is that too many guys fail to understand economics 101 - you win some you lose some, but you cannot necessarily get back what you paid for it ten or twenty years ago. Cashflow and working capital is King. The world has changed - especially since the real estate bubble burst - and you need to evolve or become extinct. What I paid for stuff is irrelevant because as long as it sits unused it is: a). taking up real estate - as in storage space and b). is dead capital - money tied up I cannot use. So it is better to get something back, free up some cash to finish of other stuff than to sit on it and if it helps a younger guy fulfill their dream so much the better....
Just wondering if anyone else caught this. A guy named graverobber is hoping us old guys die off sooner rather than later so the "cool" stuff will become available!
white64, I believe that your premise is dated. You're presuming that Hot Rodding (the hobby) is limited to a certain year range of cars. If that is what you are assuming then yes, the hobby will die. But if you were to accept that the hobby includes a growing range of cars then the hobby is alive and well and reasonably accessible to younger folks. I understand the desire for this forum to limit it's focus to 64 and older cars, but a 65 is no less a hot rod then a 64. With due respect to older hobbyists, you can define the cutoff for this forum but you can't define it for the hobby itself.
$78.95 at Mac's Auto Parts. I just got one for a '63 Falcon for $44. Could easily have spent $100 if I didn't shop around. I get your point, but everything is getting more expensive every day, all the time, always has, always will. Remember kids these days will readily drop $3500 for a blower on their new Mustang or Camaro or even $4000 on a set of "rims", $500 for a computer chip, or $350 on a performance valve body. Are traditoinal hot rod parts really expensive or do they just sound expensive compared to the old days?
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