Todays youth NOT interested

Speedway or Summit will start selling performance batteries!

 

Just goes to show ya, college ain't always the answer. Money is not the problem mind set and skills taught in our public skrools is. If you had has training in skrool or gone to a vocational school you'd be working instead of whining about costs. How much ya got wrapped up in electronic devices, bet it's enough to put together a car if ya had the ability and mindset, we all did!

 

Kids in my neck of the woods seem ok. They are constantly over nagging me for a ride in the "Old Car" to which I reply....Sure! Let's go.

 

Hey I play 'games' but it hasn't stopped me owning and working on a bunch of old cars! Ha!

I'll agree though, I've found it a little tough to find real car guys my own age. I get along great with the parts guys and service guys at the dealership I work at as they're all car guys too but as for my own age it's a little tougher to find.

 

Another young guy here with a project car. I only recently came around to traditional cars for a few reasons. Growing up, the only Hot Rods or Customs that I saw were the billet-brigade, and so, not knowing enough about modifying, I assumed that the only parts available these days for the old cars were to keep them stock, or turn them into some ugly twisted thing that couldn't decide whether it was classic or modern. The same guys also talked about how much their car cost them and the various shops it had to go to for experts to work on. It all seemed pretty unachievable.

Finding the traditional style resurfacing in my local area changed that. It was at the same time that I was getting tired of Imports as they could do speeds from the factory that would cost me my licence. Add performance parts and it was pretty much guaranteed that I'd be doing jail time very soon. Traditional customs started showing up at my local events and I saw cars that I could modify, have fun in, and do it all for a reasonable price. The guys driving them were really friendly too, and happy to answer any stupid questions I had about their cars. Now I'm building my own, have an understanding girlfriend who wants to build an old car of her own, and I'm surrounded by young guys and girls who either have a project of their own, or want one.

Bottom line, encourage the young guys, and forget the whole "look but don't touch" thing. Our cars are built pretty solid and finger marks polish out, but if there's no-one left to appreciate them, in 20 years it won't matter how shiny they are now.

 

I just spent 3 days in the Car Corral at the goodguys show in pleasanton with an O.T. 71 Elcamino. I saw a ton of families with their kids, and teens, boys and girls who were dragging mom and da around. Actually saw more 40 and younger than older. The common sentiment was the price is too high, but there are always tire kickers, just as there is always someone to buy. Had more than one teen, boy and girl, walking away trying to talk mom and or dad into buying them the ElCamino. As to being an O.T. car, they were drooling over the 56 Chevy next to me just as much.

 

Just wanted to make two points:

1. I think there are a good group of young people into hotrodding. I'm 28, but started when I was 16 with a 66 GMC.

2. We need to acknowledge that "hotrodding" may have changed over the years. Back in the 60s many of you were building up the same cars you are today, only back then they were new. Many of you grew up with these cars, so they hold memories for you. People are growing up with different cars today, and thus they are "hotrodding" those cars.

Myself, I'm totally into my 66 GMC, but I am so because I'm excited to bring modern technology into a classic frame. I have zero interest in running a traditional carbed SBC. If it wasn't for the modern technology, I'm not sure I'd be into old cars either. I'd probably opt for a modern Mustang or something.

I've had new cars and old cars, all of which I've tinkered with. Many young people ARE moving aware from modding old cars, but I'd say just as many are continuing to modify cars, just the ones THEY are growing up with.

 

I feel we are all right in what we are saying but its true kids are doing different hobbies and learning things I never had the chance to! Times have changed when I grew up a gas station was great to earn money to have fun with and be able to fix my car! I feel times changed but as long as the rods are there for people to see and talk about the younger ones will be interested, time will tell ,if a young man or lady asked a question be excited and fill their curiosity its a different time let them fine that want to get dirty and build!
geezerpatrol

 

I think the idea is that by the time you need the batteries an economy of scale exists in which they are no longer $10k to replace, but a fraction of that. Just like with most new technology, the price of getting in at the ground floor is exponentially more costly than it is getting on after adoption.

 

I currently have a 49 Coronet and a 36 Chevy pickup cab that I'm resheetmetaling the cab on. It's not lost, it just takes time to go full circle.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In Calif with the smog laws, it's not like it was prior to 1980 when you could go to your local speed shop (even JC Penny and Sears - I remember Sears selling cheater slicks) and buy bolt on speed goodies. It is very expensive for the younger generation!

 

take it for what it is. they are into their style now. as you age, you realize you can not keep driving that Mini truck, or compact (as the age group remains young and you do not). if you are into cars, you either get out or build a car your peers are driving (muscle cars or old cars) but they are older cars.

as time goes on, so does the range of cars being built (20 yrs ago, only Hotrods or Customs were being built by the masses, now some hotrodders have diversified and are selling their hotrods to buy muscle / Pro touring Cars. In time, the cars from the 70's and 80's will get built as they will be affordable. There will only be so many "car guys" for so many different cars available but I predict there will always be guys wanting early hotrods.

What I wonder is how many will want restored early cars (from the 20-50's) as they will be so different from the daily drivers of the future.. over time people are getting softer and want all the current features, even in their old cars. (one reason Pro touring is so popular.. power, overdrive trans and handling like today's cars

As for the car collector of today. there will always be big money guys in our hobby to buy nice rides.. I hope there is a time when the quantity of nice high end cars is greater than there are buyers and the prices fall (so I can afford to purchase one).

 

I have the tendancy to lump all "kids" into a group when it comes to this just because I see em around here mostly in tuners. Its like saying all old guys are into cars. Most of my friends who aren't young like myself don't even work on their own cars let alone know the difference between a crankshaft and an axle shaft.

 

I see a lot of the younger crowd at the shows I like to attend but the "street rod" crowd is mostly older guys. My brother and I had a good laugh at the last Nats North that we attended. We were hanging at the local hotel looking at the rides and BSing with some of the crowd until the late hours and after a while my brother made a comment about us being the youngest guys hanging out by about 20 years. I looked around and had to agree that even at 42 years old I was a lot younger than almost all the guys in the parking lot.
A lot has to do with cost. Cars are expensive to buy and building one takes time, money, skills, and space, most things a young guy or girl doesn't have. Just remember that a lot of us that are into the old cars today had other interests in the past. Today's "Tuner" crowd might just be the next generation of hot rodders.

 

Any of you who are selling your "collection" and can't get buyers just call me. Im a younger guy, I'll take them off your hands and enjoy the shit out of them!

 

Exactly! I started out with a 1931 Model A because I thought they were kool. Couldn't afford a 1940 Ford coupe like I really wanted. A couple hundred dollars for one was way too much!
Today kids buy later model cars they can afford. We don't approve what they do to them. My parents didn't care for what I did to my cars either.
Slowly I worked up to the 50's cars. That's what I saw on the streets and that's what I learned to drive, a 55 Chevy. For that reason those have been my favorites. I just never left the 50's.
Mayby these young kids driving mini trucks and little cars will eventually be able to afford an old car like us old farts know and love.
But restoring antique cars and going to car shows will never be the same as us old guys who started this hobby die off. You are seeing more and more auctions and parts disappearing as we disappear.

 

While I am encouraged by the younger guys I see at the car shows, It does seem that the cost of entry has kept many out. I was talking to two younger guys in particular (24-28ish) that loved the older cars like 32-34 but just can't get there because of the cash needed. One was a body shop school graduate and probably would have done a helluva job just on enthusiasm alone. We don't have kids and I wonder what will become of mine sometimes. Maybe in a few years the right kid will say the right thing and the right time and may wind up with a set of keys.

 

I was more interested in sports cars until I got closer to thirty. Tastes change.



Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Hardly. I have rarely met anyone in this age group (I just turned 26) or younger that really knows what they are talking about in that crowd. Most just pay someone to adjust the computer settings, throw a chip in, etc. and really don't know what is going on and/or what are the concequences, etc. Long story short they tell the guy "I want to go faster off the line or I want more performance" pay the guy to play with the computer settings and go.

A good example around here is the diesel crowd... since Cummins is only 45 minutes south of me, these people love their pickups. I worked there in diagnostic troubleshooting, the hard to diagnose group. You wouldn't believe how many people just didn't get it...

they think that the only way to improve acceleration is to play with the computer program... in reality when you do to improve horsepower you make the injectors fail faster, thusly causing catastrophic failure with pistons blowing out of the side of the block... they don't understand that you would need bigger injectors to handle the new HP settings. When you also do this the turbo is undersized for the requirements, causing extra pressure problems in the turbo, causing oil seals to leak, then causing catastrophic failure if the injectors didn't fail first...so that means bigger turbo.. it all comes down to people knowing what they are doing OR doing it themselves and understanding what is going on...

kids now don't understand, they get all scared of how an engine looks rather than looking at the systems themselves and using logic to find out a solution that works. I have zero faith in new mechanics for this same reason... if they can't read it from what their computer says then it can't be possible. Kids don't know how to do anything anymore. The kids my age that play with old cars are a different breed than the others that drive a "tuner". People are lazy

 

This was built/rebuilt/restored/ made street legal by a 19 year old, here on the HAMB just recently. Has a ton of my respect and admiration for it. Some old blood pulsing through those veins.


A couple points, i wonder when the old timers here were "wasting" there time on those dad-burn jalopies, what were their elders saying about lost interest in the family farm ect.
And, if someone is here worrying about their hot rods resale prospect or value, they have my pity and have missed out on the passion.....my opinion completely....

 

Also give them some time, if they are in to foreign cars and lowriders now it is very possible that as they mature their tastes will change and they may come to appreciate the older cars. When I was younger I hated track nose roadsters and narrow pie crust tires, now that I'm almost 40 those track noses and pie crusts really turn my head.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

for the most part older guys have already got a house and done the family thing and have had a life of saving to collect the tools, gear and experience and knowledge needed and have a garage on the property they own so have the money space etc that young guys dont often have to finally go get one, haha i got told once thats why they call them big boys toys haha... so alot of young guys into it have an old man thats already into it and is understanding to the space needed and has all the gear and knowledge for the youngster to hit it... i was fortunate in the wage i had and was willing to do whatever it took to have a hotrod and could since i didnt have a mortgage or kids or a mrs, like most of my young "gonna" mates.... also from experience yea the young people are immediately put off because they think being theyre old cars theyre way expensive but also, ive parked up my old impala near all the import guys and tuners and they just stand there with their backs to you, it seems none of them wanted to come over and sorta..look like they were an idiot infront of their mates asking questions cos they didnt know anything about old cars.. thats what one of them told me once

 

I'm in my mid 20's, 3 kids, full time shop & have way to many projects but Love it. I drag the family to any car event they'll let me. You just need to find the right "young" people.

 

I am 57. 40 years ago, when I was in high school (2,000 students), I knew of one other guy who was into hot rods and customs. I had a '30 Model A coupe, he had a '28 Tudor.

Pretty much everyone else was into Camaros, Mustangs, Chevelles, Fairlanes, Impalas, etc

In other words, most people even then were into later-model cars. The good news is, a number of classmates eventually saw the light and now own some pretty cool hot rods.

I sold my '46 Ford pickup a few years ago to a friend (in his early 30s) who owns a shop specializing in tuner cars. He and his crew are turning that '46 into a killer "shop truck."
All it takes is some exposure to traditional hot rods and customs, and the vehicles themselves do the "converting."

 

We older guys grew up in the late 50s through 60s totally car culture based teen lifestyle.

Hang out in the school parking lot before class, hang out each night at the burger places, and work on our cars together. Our family vacations were by car, and most state roads had a free roadside picnic area, not to mention drive-in movies to see a color film. Everything recreational was centered around cars.

Not like today, as the high costs of any type of car, insurance, tags, repairs and gas, it is now just used to get to work.

My 21 yr old son says high tech has reduced the hanging out with friends in person, to a faceless, voiceless text message. He says that sucks. We went to their friends wake yesterday, and it turned into 3 hour parking lot grade school reunion, with people actually talking in person. Sad.

 

I saw plenty of young people at the frog follies last week, both lookers and car owners. If they walk by your high end 34 ford to the a model sedan flat on the ground, with the big hemi with a blower, white wall bias tires, old bomber seats and a shifter sticking out the top of the car........well it's because that's where their interest is. I personally love the direction I see todays hot rod youth taking, and I'm not a youngster (66 years old). Spend some time getting to know them you'll be glad you did......I am. And my shiny cars?....they are in somebodys collection.

 

Government has been trying to cool down the car craze since the 70s

 

Easy there. I agree that college is not the answer for everyone. However, for me, it was the right decision. I received my mechanical engineering degree in 4.5 years and started making close to $50k/year (after turning down a $60k/year offer) right after I graduated. Could I be making that much money now if I had gone to a trade school? Probably not. I'm not complaining about the money. It is what it is. As for electronic devices, I agree that they are a waste of time and money. A lot of younger guys do spend thousands of dollars on electronics, but not all of us do.

 

I have no worry that Model A hot rods will be around for a very long time. Hell, we still use black powder rifles. Just because we like 'em.

Fear not grasshopper.

 

We all know opinions are like A-holes.... But here's mine: There's nothing in that book that will serve to solidify anything that you don't already know or can assume from your own experiences. To me it came off as a platform to showcase lofty vocabulary that is completely non-essential to the material or subject. It also seemed circular while reading it. Simply one person's view of how they are happier working on motorcycles and being their own boss making less $ rather than working in a cubicle for somebody else. Lots of parallels that weren't needed. I was drawn in by the title and what I thought would be good subject matter only to be let down. I forced myself through it hoping for some return on investment. I wish I could get back those hours of my life. Get your thesaurus ready, you'll need it.