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Art & Inspiration Thoughts on the future of the hobby

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Ziggster, Oct 24, 2023.

  1. I'd be leery of hiring a hooker who insisted on bringing a shovel to our business transaction :eek:

    You need to move to a better neighborhood bud o_O
     
  2. 41woodie
    Joined: Mar 3, 2004
    Posts: 1,143

    41woodie
    Member

    "Less gasoline used by others means more for us". UNTIL the demand becomes so low that it isn't profitable to produce and then you can sit in your car and make car noises.
    "boomers dying is not the big catastrophe to our hobby some people want you to think it is". True enough unless you're the dead boomer in question then it's pretty damned important.
     
    Ned Ludd and tractorguy like this.
  3. Im gonna start waving at old cars just to annoy the drivers
     
  4. 05snopro440
    Joined: Mar 15, 2011
    Posts: 2,038

    05snopro440
    Member

    When demand goes down, there would simply be less places to buy gasoline. Will it ever go away completely? Probably not in my lifetime. Gasoline supply is finite. Less daily drivers using it is better for enthusiasts.

    If you're the dead boomer, you have no worries at all.
     
  5. 327Eric
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,146

    327Eric
    Member

    15 or so years ago I drove my 59 Elcamino to O'Reilly's. It was primer and rust, 5 spokes, and a pissed off 427 with long tubes and 3 inch glass packs. As I pulled in out of the corner of my eye I saw a young boy and his mom, standing patiently waiting for me to stop. When I shut it off, they approached and Mom said her son would like to say something. Very politely he came up and "Mr, cool car." He loved it. At one of the last cruises I went to, a family was there and there young daughter, about 3 loved my ElCamino. I made sure the brake was set,told her not to touch the shiny thing( shifter) and opened the door and let her "drive". A week later when I returned her toy she left, her mom said she was still talking about it The interest remains strong in young people, the knowledge lacks. If anything, many old cars will probably become EVs in the future. Not mine, and pat my lifetime, at which point I don't care. A tailfin in a sea of microwaves turns heads regardless of whether you want attention or not.
     
  6. I’m absolutely polite but because I’m not a huge people person and I drive mine all day everyday for half the year sometimes when you are just wanting to run in and grab something it’s hard to stand and talk for 20 minutes
     
  7. My daily is an orange Subie. You never realize how many of these things are around here until you start driving one. They ALL wave!
     
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  8. I’m also going to start talking to the old car owners at gas stations.
    Didn’t know bothered folks so much:)

    wait, that’s usually me.

    Ooohhh I’ll just keep talking to myself.
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2023
  9. 05snopro440
    Joined: Mar 15, 2011
    Posts: 2,038

    05snopro440
    Member

    It is possible to be polite and say something like "I'm sorry I have to go right now, but if you're interested in seeing more old cars, check out (local car meet)" and not spend 20 minutes talking to someone.

    Much better than the (joking) suggestion of flipping off other Vette owners.
     
  10. I hope Hot Rods & Custom cars continues long after I'm dead and gone, never pass up the opportunity to show kids your car, let them sit in the drivers seat ,heck even take them for a ride, you never know if you make make a impression that will last a life time and these kids are our future. HRP
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2023
  11. hemihotrod66
    Joined: May 5, 2019
    Posts: 968

    hemihotrod66
    Member

    Where I live it seems the shows I attend there are getting less and less older cars 48 and earlier.... We have a tough smog laws here and even restored muscle cars have a hard time passing....Getting to be new type factory hotrods taking over.....
     
  12. I've posted this before elsewhere, but... I started out as a teen in muscle cars. Moved into traditional hotrods in my early 20s. Now in my mid 30s. I'm selling parts that I bought at a deal, that are now worth less than what I paid years back.

    A decade back, guys wanted more than $10k for an OG 32 frame. More if it was a full roller. Now? You can grab decent ones for a couple of grand if you're a patient buyer. Same with bodies. Cherry still brings money, but prices are on their way down.
    This sounds calloused, but the more the old guys die, the more the prices will drop. And that's good if you want to get new (younger) blood involved.

    "There's no kids in this hobby". How the hell are they supposed to be interested in something that is so far out of their price range? But when there is a kid involved, we lavish them. 'The chosen few'. There's many examples here on the H.A.M.B. of young guys and gals building a car and having parts donated from all over the country to help them out.
    Want the younger generation to be interested in our old stuff? The barrier to entry is price, not passion.
     
  13. Clydesdale
    Joined: Jun 22, 2021
    Posts: 213

    Clydesdale
    Member

    100% can relate to this, I’ve loved hot rods and customs my entire life from my dad taking me to Santa Pod and Knebworth events as a kid.

    Its only now since passing 35 years old I can finally afford to buy the base vehicles to build what I have always wanted.

    Years of VWs air and water cooled and even dabbles in Japanese cars, all because they were cheap ‘gateway drugs’ to a life of car culture I wanted to be part of.
     
  14. Since you seem convinced today that I don’t know how to conduct myself, maybe you want to be my PR person…

    :)
     
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  15. 05snopro440
    Joined: Mar 15, 2011
    Posts: 2,038

    05snopro440
    Member

    I was speaking genuinely from my own experience of how I would like to approach the situation in the future. You know, since you responded to my comment about the subject.

    You can conduct yourself however you want and I had no intent to state that you didn't know how to.
     
  16. The wave thing has been around since Joe Pike introduced it in 1957.

    I was riding around with my Mustang buddy (early Mach 1) in my vette and he commented that other vettes acknowledge each other and he thought it pretty cool. One day he was in his Mach 1 and gave a little wave to a 5.0 coming the other way. The guy gave him the bird.

    My concern with the hobby is the events I've been to are made up of mostly grey beards.
     
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  17. BrerHair
    Joined: Jan 30, 2007
    Posts: 5,059

    BrerHair
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Here's a thought:
    There will always be a healthy percentage of males (more than 10% of dudes) who find traditional hot rods cool. For one thing, traditional hot rods are cool, and this fundamental truth will never vanish.
    Or to put it another way, most males just know that traditional hot rods are cool, and a healthy percentage of them will find them cooler than any other type of car. It's like a DNA kind of thing.

    That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
     
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  18. MCjim
    Joined: Jun 4, 2006
    Posts: 1,146

    MCjim
    Member
    from soCal

    Yeah, glad Tacoma drivers don't do that, I'd have to grow another arm...
     
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  19. Ziggster
    Joined: Aug 27, 2018
    Posts: 1,936

    Ziggster
    Member

    For sure price is a barrier for young folks looking to get involved, but there are deals out there, especially for the banger powered ones. Around the time I got started, I found this young genius. He has since graduated from mech engineering, and doesn’t really post much any more, but it’s amazing what he accomplished with a very limited budget. Where there is a will, there is always a way.

     
  20. gene-koning
    Joined: Oct 28, 2016
    Posts: 4,530

    gene-koning
    Member

    Even the possibility of gas going away gives me all the more reason to drive my hot rods every chance I can. Its the very reason my 49 is my year around daily driver (even in the salt and snow). I'm going to make sure I get my full enjoyment out of it before I can't drive it anymore (due to my old age, the truck falling apart, or some clown in the government deciding I shouldn't drive it anymore). Call me selfish, but when I'm done with the 49, I really don't care what the next guy does with it.

    Maybe you need to expand the events you are attending? The kids these days are not attending park and sit events, they have to have very high action to keep their interest. No action, no young people. If you want to see young people enjoying their cars, you need to go where they go, not where grey beards go.
     
  21. Clydesdale
    Joined: Jun 22, 2021
    Posts: 213

    Clydesdale
    Member

    Look at that guys workshop though!!

    Not many kids have a parent/relative that have a life long assembled fabrication and machine shop to hand when they start out.

    Not belittling the guys achievement, as the car looks great and very well finished, but that is not a 'Normal' starting situation.
     
  22. Depends on where and how you grew up. At home in the 80s I could do most mechanical and paint/body in our garage at home. Anything bigger was done at the shop of my dads trucking company. But, you get out on the Ranches around my region and they are fully contained fabrication and machine shops since they may be hours from the closest town. I once walked into one of these shops and there was a full blown 70 Mustang Fuel Funny car. The old boy (in his 90s) that owned the place told us that his kids played with it while they were younger. And fast forward to today, I have many friends that have home CNC machines, 3d Printers etc..............all just for their hobbies
     
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  23. Where there's a will, there's a way. Sure. But you have to have sustained interest to get to the 'will' point of it. The sustained interest comes from (in my opinion) either having influential family or friends, or having a realistic timeline of affording entry. Influential family or friends generally gives an easy 'in', like the kid you featured in your post. A realistic timeline of affording entry for a kid is along the lines of 'if I work part time through high school, I can probably save up enough to buy a project and get it running by the end of grade 12'... Over the past decade, that hasn't been the case for hotrods. Even stockers are priced high compared to late 90's early-mid 2000's imports. So the interest shifts based on affordability.

    I like vintage Ferrari's. Will I spend time looking at one at a show? Damn right. Do I spend my time combing social forums for Ferrari's and looking for project listings? No. Because even if I find a 'deal', the 'deal' will be so far out of my price range of affordability that there's no point.

    Again, speaking in generalities. There is always the exception.
     
  24. 1971BB427
    Joined: Mar 6, 2010
    Posts: 9,033

    1971BB427
    Member
    from Oregon

    I don't have the optimistic feelings some have about the future of our hobby.
    Yes, the more EV's on the road, the more gas we'll have. But I doubt it will be cheap because those pumping the oil will want a certain amount of income, and history has shown that whether they pump a billion or two billion barrels a year, the cost of a barrel resulted in the companies pumping it getting the same annual income.
    So in the future when we're the last ones needing gas for our cars, only the wealthy rodders will be able to pay the price per gallon to drive their cars. The rest will likely get driven very little, or end up languishing in garages, or barns waiting for some wealthy person to buy them, and fire them up occasionally.
     
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  25. There is no future ... no one gets out alive. :eek:o_O
     
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  26. Bandit Billy
    Joined: Sep 16, 2014
    Posts: 13,699

    Bandit Billy
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I use the international dude head nod method for communication;
    Nod up = what's up (general acknowledgment)
    Nod down = sign of respect and acceptance
    Nod right = we need to talk in private
    Nod left = dude, check that shit out!

    I keep my hand signals for morons and minivans.
     
  27. CA. 280
    Joined: Jan 8, 2010
    Posts: 289

    CA. 280
    Member

    Depends on your definition of working on an old hotrod. To my
    Grandsons that's a tricked out 2000, BMW, M3. They can't conceive of
    anything older being worthwhile.
     
  28. 327Eric
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,146

    327Eric
    Member

    But who on this forum will be alive to see that. Modern cars are well built with a long lifespan. There are many people who are poor and cannot afford a new car, let alone an EV. By modern standards, a new car averages a 15 year lifespan. Couple that with a 2035 new gas car ban, that puts many cars off the road by 2050. I'll be close to 80 then .and gas will still be in demand
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2023
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  29. 1971BB427
    Joined: Mar 6, 2010
    Posts: 9,033

    1971BB427
    Member
    from Oregon

    I'll be 100 then, but I still care about the future of the hobby.
     
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  30. 327Eric
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,146

    327Eric
    Member

    I forgot to add the part I meant to say in the previous post. After all that, gas will still be available to those who are still driving gasoline powered vehicles in 2050. Beyond that my prediction is as accurate as a long term weather forecast. And as in the past, we are a creative bunch.
     
    49ratfink likes this.

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