Todays youth NOT interested

High school auto shops classes are no more around here, junkyards are full of '90s cars, the only custom bits at the local auto parts store are neon lights... it's just not the same.

 

a lot of you talk about the cost of building a car. Well I've helped a lot of guys build cars, a lot of them young guys. contrary to my advise they all spend to much money on them, get them selves in trouble with the credit card or the family. Then they sell it for a loss!!! They talk about "crate motors" "narowed rearends" and "high $ possitraction rear ends" this is stuff that can be found in salvage yards for afew $. A nother peave of mine is the guy that rips the project car down to nothing!! to just a pile of swap meet parts!! chances are you will NEVER put it back together again!!!! And the cost of a project car????? dirt cheap!!!!!! I know where there are loads of project cars that can be bought for $300-$500, but they will pay big$ for something that someone said was a better deal, and rip it down to the last bolt!!!!! I know a guy that even removed the U joints out of the drive shaft!! realy?? Isnt this some thing that could be changed years latter??? How about the guy selling his pyle of junk... frame off thousands of parts every where in boxs and pails. rattle canned the frame and parts!! WTF????
There should be a school of comon sense for the young guys, Ive tryed

 

Hey dudes im 16 for another week. But holy man I already need to slow down my project list. I have a 1940 chevy sedan early style custom
1950 ford flathead v8

 

Just imagine how hard it would be without Ebay or Craigslist or the internet in general. A lot of us are spoiled by our past. We remember the '55 Chevys in the want ads for $250... RUNNING! While they are still out there, they may as well be on another planet.

Why is a teenager, with $3,000, going to go buy a rusted shell, when he can get a 90's Buick and still have money for a video game? It's going to take a whole lot of inspiration to snap that curve and a bunch of old guys, sitting behind a $40,000 hot rod isn't going to do it.

Get your cars out in the damn streets, where they belong. If your idea of a cruise is the drive to hang with your old buddies one afternoon on a weekend, you're not exposing the hobby, you're hoarding it. I've planted the seeds of hot rodding in my area by being seen driving it every where. There's a guy and his son building a T Bucket because I explained what was involved and how to do it. But they saw me DRIVING around first. They thought these cars were for show only. And I wonder where they got that idea?

What's your average yearly mileage? 3,000? That's a show car to a teenager or an adult that doesn't know better.

 

1955 chevy
1955 ford
1966 biscayne
and a 1952 panhead

 

I would agree with ya, kids are growing up with everything given to them, "welfare nation" unless the government builds it and gives it to them the biggest share probably won't have any interest.

 

A nother peave of mine is the guy that rips the project car down to nothing!! to just a pile of swap meet parts!! chances are you will NEVER put it back together again!!!! And the cost of a project car????? dirt cheap!!!!!! I know where there are loads of project cars that can be bought for $300-$500, but they will pay big$ for something that someone said was a better deal, and rip it down to the last bolt!!!!! I know a guy that even removed the U joints out of the drive shaft!! realy?? Isnt this some thing that could be changed years latter??? How about the guy selling his pyle of junk... frame off thousands of parts every where in boxs and pails. rattle canned the frame and parts!! WTF????
There should be a school of comon sense for the young guys, Ive tryed

Been there, done that. (Coincidentally Fred, it was a $ 250 running driving 55 Chevy!). 17 years old and thought I needed to have a car like the ones in the magazines at the time (1979/80). I ended up selling the wheels off it for $ 100 and what was left for another $ 100. All up, I burnt $ 50.00 but it was a lesson learned (and it emptied the garage to get my next project in).
This is another example of where the older guys, myself now included, could step up and try to steer the new guys (young or old) in the right direction. If I'd been a member of a hot rod club or hanging with a bunch of decent older guys who could have sat me down and outlined a few basic do's and don'ts at the start I may well have been driving that car and enjoying it when my 18th birthday came around (drivers licence time here in Aus.)
I was worried 5-10 years ago that the whole old car scene would die off with the current owners as all the young guys were into the Jap 'supercars' but more and more lately this has mostly turned down here in Aus and the tuner cars are on the outer. I believe hot rodding is alive and well and will continue far beyond my time, BUT, only if we nurture it by welcoming the new guys into the hobby/sport/pastime/addiction.

Arnold.

 

About a year ago right after my wife and I (both 25 years old) got our Model T we spent hours cleaning it for our first car show. It was friday night and we were grungy but wanted to take it for a spin down the main street of our small town since we were excited. We saw that after the autozone closed, kids with their tuners and camaros went to hang out. We pulled in and around the lot. EVERYONE was staring at us. We stopped and asked if this is where the cool kids hung out. We had no intention of staying. Wife was pregnant and we had to go to the show the next morning. They said ya. I said ok and peeled out of the drive and kept spinning the tires down the road. My wife looked back and everyone had jumped out of their seats and was watching us with thier jaws wide open as we left(in style).

It felt good. We get alot of attention especially being so young but its fun and its hard to find anyone young these days with the passion or money to enjoy this culture.
I think if we would have stayed everyone would have checked it out and loved it. maybe even a drag race or two

 

I am currently a senior in high school and LOVE old cars. They are my life, and driving passion. Last summer, I purchased a 57 Chevy 210 4dr sedan WITH MY OWN, HARD EARNED MONEY and restored it in a little under a year. I've also had a 56 Chevy pickup, and currently have a 56 Lincoln Capri (currently for sale in the classifieds) and a 56 Ford "Truc-Tor" created by my great grandfather and I quickly "restored" it this fall for the Homecoming parade. Whenever I drive one of my cars to school or around town, EVERYBODY stops to stare. A couple weeks ago, the high school choir used my 57 Chevy in their play as "Grease Lighting." Here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy.

 

Just takes what is always took regardless of age - Interest - Time - Money......

Love the TrukTor family heirloom.........

 

i have several kids boys and girls all in there 20s they all love cars go to alotta of shows but cant get a one of them to help me work on mine. they just want me to give them a ride.

 

Philroy, you get it, Congrats!

 

Ya know, the guys who built covered wagons probably thought the same thing. After a bit of time, the tears dryed up and the world didn't miss a beat. Do your part and if the youth around you get it, fine. Otherwise, move on. The world will be fine.

 

53COE, I have the interest and the time. The only thing I lack is the money. That's why I don't hire my stuff done. And truly, I would much rather build a vehicle myself, as opposed to buying a finished one. Then, I know it's done right and I truly feel like it's "my" car. We have a kid at school whose "daddy warbucks" just bought him a 69 Cougar that's completely done. And as far as I am concerned, it's not truly "his car." But rather, it is somebody else's car (the guy who built it), and he just happens to own it. Call me square, but that's how I look at it. I built my 57 with the help of my dad, grandfather, and some close family friends, and an ex girlfriend, I might add. The tractor about runs people off the highway when they drive by and see it.

Fedman, thank you!

I think part of the reason the younger generation isn't as in to old cars is due to the older generation. I cannot count how many times I have taken my car to a show and had some old geezer come up and start nit-picking my car or asking me "so, what time does daddy want his car back???" Of course, that's never happened at a HAMB event, but it definitely gets old.

 

i think we forget that most of the young enthusiasts lack garage space for a build as well as resources for a non-working vehicle. They hot rod their daily driver just like we did when we were younger. Had to be back on it's wheels by Monday morning to get us to school or work. There is also the perceived expense of a classic vehicle. I know many of us may be able to "stretch a penny to wire our vehicles" (someone on here has this as their signature) but the younger enthusiasts may need to be educated in the art of the hunt. Just my $.02.

 

I built my first rod when I was 25, a 32 ford 5window. Even then going to to shows ("rod runs" back then) was more a show of who had the most money... I remember driving into my first show with my still barn find paint and a flathead I had just rebuilt (they weren't cool then)... Most people scoffed at the car. It was a disappointment. So I rebuilt the car to "modern specs" over the next two years. Won a best of show with it, but was still scoffed at by guys with more money in their wheels then I had in my whole car. So I stopped going to shows, then sold the car for a downpayment on my first house. Years later I got a vette ( beats me why).. and soon discovered that those guys were even more arrogant about their cars (ie: money). So now at 58, I've got a 31 coupe just the way I like it, and I don't care what any one thinks, and I go to shows occasionally and still see the guys with too much money and no class (the guys with the $50k new Mustangs sitting in their lawns chairs on their fat wallets, I'm ok with 'em, I guess, but they still scoff at kids that drive in with cars they built themselves...). And to the guy that started this thread, you apparently wanted your ego stroked by a bunch of kids that get crap from their parents and "old" people for loud exhaust, loud music, ruining perfectly nice cars.. (sound familiar). So an old guy in an old car pops in and expects attention and when he doesn't get it, there is something wrong with this new generation, perhaps there is enough "blame" to go around for each generation.

 

Boy i have twice the collection and im a junoor. :-D

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You need to tell us where these project cars are for $300-$500. Pics?

 

I'm not real young but I just turned 34 this month!!

 

This is true. I bought my 55 when i was 22years old. And THE major factor was somewhere it play with the thing. I ended up helping a buddy for a few months on his stuff, just to learn what was going on, you know, strip some of his cars and do work (sandblasting etc) then he let me rent a "Spot" to keep my car, then roll it outside to work on it.
I worked up to renting my own 10x30 storage unit (Thankfully i could do little bits of work at it) for $110 a month, Even that was hard...moved to a 20x30 =$220 a month, let alone buy parts and live on my own.
I spent LOTS of time by myself learning what i had to do (cause i sure as shit wasn't paying for work to get done lol).
Alotta time and work at junkyards (alot)

Everybody was negative about it. My dad, friends, girlfriends... Whatta waste of time and money.
(My mom love it however!)

I'd get burnt out (i owned the car 3 years before i drove it EVER) and my buddy would take me for a drive in his 55 down to sonic's or a local car show. It charged me back up just enough to pull though.
I learned so much, not just about cars either. It taught me incredible lessons.

I'm 26 now. And i always have the biggest stupid grin when I turn my big block'd hotrod up to 6600rpm, bounce the rev limiter and hit the next gear at WOT.
Fuggg um.
I don't know where i'm going with this, but heres what i've gathered.
*Want it
*work hard at it
*You WILL fu*k up and do things twice, know-it-alls WILL say you shoulda done it THEIR way
*DONT be afraid of screwing up, Learn to embrace imperfection. Its only steel, buy a welder and you can always fix it.
*Things will never come to be JUST like you had imagined. It don't matter, build it, drive it.
*Don't paralize yourself with the "I've gotta do it right the first time, and it costs x,xxx amount to do it. Thats a lie, do it yourself, work with what you can get your hands on.
*Get real familiar with the junkyards THEY ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND!!! alotta guys i know are seemingly "too good" for parts from a yard, It's gotta be a new/rebuilt/ yada yada...None of these guys have hot rods... Shit, A few of them have desirable cars sitting on the side of there friggin house! But they just won't touch it! BECAUSE "I'm gonna do it right". (See: Never)

And guys that have cars, Maybe give someone a ride sometimes, or chat it up with um. Its soo easy to just blow off guys because they aren't at your "Level" yet. Maybe the misused a term? (You know what i mean)
From the outside world its hard to imagine WHY you stay with this stuff. I got the sickness from my grandpa, but not everyone has. Some would love to get into it, But have just not felt that feeling of being pushing into a car seat with a healthy v8 roaring in front of them, gettin silly on the road.
Thats all the motivation a fella needs sometimes.
You can't explain that "Why" when people ask. But its damn sure there.

 

When that happens, ask them what they built and drove to the show. Chances are, they'll give you some excuse to cover the fact that they have nothing. Tell 'em to piss off ... there is no reason for you to be disrespected for your effort, no matter what your age.

 

When I was a senior in HS in 1977 I got a '54 belair 4door for my first car and there was 1 kid in my class that thought it was cool..........me. Oh, my one buddy "sorta" got it, but not so much.
One other kid had a rusty 68 camero and the rest had their aunts or parents or grandparents cars. Nobody my age was into older cars.......it sucked.

Today the kids can pick up a honda or toyo for cheap, overhead cam 4 banger, electronic fuel injected, goes like hell bone stock......slap on a plastic
"aerodynamics" kit or what ever the F they call that shit........and it looks
different than stock......GOOD ENOUGH. NO other maintenance needed
They don't HAVE to work on the mechanicals....get it?

Back in the day people NEEDED to work on cars, do a tune up, no need for
a "code reader"........and shit went down hill if you didn't change the plugs & points from time to time.
And oh.......those 4 bangers with the "Fart Can" mufflers sound SO cool too......WTF.......

 

All you old guys need to get out more, younger generation hot rodders are alive and kickin, well in Australia any way. And I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the times all the old guys tell I've "ruined a good car" when they see my hot rod, they probably would have scraped the parts that I started with. Time, Motivation, Determination and Money is all takes

 

The myopic view we have here on the HAMB is not real life! Check this out and you'll understand that the problem goes way deeper than you may have thought:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/...auto01/Toy-cars-not-high-Santa-s-list-anymore

 

Hey guys another post here from a dumb 17 year old. I believe that it starts young when you grow a passion for cars. I look at all little kids now and there toy selection sucks all plastic play yards and blah blah blah. The parwnts are to protective of the children today. I cant even count how many hot wheels i have and ertle cars.

 

Do the math- that would make a current kid being the owner of a 1990 something-or-other. So how cool do you think a '90 Caprice Classic 4 door would be in the high school parking lot? Yea, that kid would be the only one that thought so, too.

Elitism is what hurts the hobby. A Honda with a fart pipe, slammed & 17's is the modern version of a slant-six Valiant w/ a Cherry Bomb, High Jacker shocks & aluminum slots.

I don't care what you build, as long as you like it. That should be all of our's outlook on the hobby.

 

It's up to us in the hobby to pass it on to the younger people.In my age group, there may be only 1% of the people I know who even give a hoot about old cars.
Then you go to a show and some folks don't want to share knowledge with younger people. Yeah, its hard for me to endure looking at ''tuner'' cars but at least the kids are working on something. If we come across as snobs they will associate old cars with a negative experience. My son is fully infected with the old car bug BTW.

 

Exactly! If everyone here is waiting for a sudden rush of teenagers to start building 70 year old cars, don't hold your breath. We've priced them out of that market for the most part. And a young person sure has more to do than sit in a lawn chair next to their car. Like I said earlier, show 'em what's going on and let it go.

If I was 18, I can honestly say, I'd be looking at a newer car to fix up. They're cheap, change the exhaust, induction and a computer chip...... gone.

And if you've put less than 3,000 miles on your "ride" this year, you're not exposing it enough to matter.

 

caint believe this debate is still going on, if I was 16 again and read this thread I would buy the first "ricer" I could find and start challenging the gray beards just to aggravate them(us). Pushing against the normal with cars, that's hot rodding, not sitting in lawn chairs complaining about young people and their loud exhaust/stereos'!

 

Just remember the history, & if & when a youngster shows interest in your ride take the time to accomadate them. Our furture depends on it.