Reality check!

[alvin stadel]

This past Friday evening my wife, Rose and I were invited to a Car Guy BBQ on the west end of Billings Mt. There were about 150 cars, and at least 250 + people. Good food and drinks, good music, and very good visiting. As I sat back and sipped on my beer and looked over the crowd all I could see were silver and gray haired people having a good time. I bet there wasn't over 10 there that were not drawing SS. That was a wake up call for me. I'v never thought about it much but I guess we are on the way out. It hasn't been that long ago that everyone showed up with a case of beer and before it was over some one would go for more. Now if we take a six pack with us we end up taking 4 back home with us. I guess my point is, like it or not a lot of things change in 30 - 40 years, so stay young think young, keep your cars shined up and ride it out as long as you can. Take care, Alvin

[Marc]

Point well made. It does seem like the younger crowd just doesn't share our interest in the old cars for the most part. Who knows why. Maybe its a simple as they didn't grow up with them so the nostalgia just isn't there.

I often wonder where the hobby will be in another 10 or 15 years. Between the waning interest and the ever-falling quality and availability of replacement parts, it's not getting any easier to keep these things going.

[57chero]

I think it's just a matter of time that they will outlaw older gas-powered cars from being on the highway, theirs quit a few shops taking older classics and converting them to electric, here in Oregon we had our first ABB FIA Formula E (electric) grand pre at Portland International Raceway, it was so well attended it's going to be a regular stop. Who knew ?

[Ford Blue blood]

Yup, attended the 50th NSRA Nationals a couple of years ago.  The number of scooters and silver headed folks was flabbergasting!  We are aging out!  As stated the days of sitting, shooting breezes and consuming a few beers are long gone!  None of my kids (girls) or their spouses are interested in any of my cars, they are not "cool" anymore?

The only thing that might save the hobby is the young folks will get tired of the same ol looks and shapes of the "new" cars and re-fall in love with the chrome erra.  I have serious doubts that the simpler world we grew up in would impact their view of life as it could be!

[rmk57]

  If the younger crowd has no interest then you would think the prices would come down. I don't see any signs of prices coming down on sought after cars. I believe that is part of the problem. Disposable income for a 25-35 year old today is not the same when I was the same age. Not many youngster's today can afford a 30k 57 Ford then alone a 100k CJ Mustang. Car show I went to a few weeks back was very well attended, and it wasn't all older folks who were showing or just looking at cars.

[1930artdeco]

I am probably the youngest guy here at 53 . And here is my take on things:

1: People as stated above do not have the disposable income to buy a restored car.
2: People today don't have the garage space anymore with smaller one/none car garages
3: A lot of people don't grow up fixing things in our disposable economy
4: Today's kids are born with a computer and a cell phone hardwired into their heads
5: The environment is very prominant in peoples minds
6: Trying to get a kid to drive is like pulling hens teeth. My daughter doesn't even want to drive if doesn't have to.

Just my thoughts.

[gasman826]

I agree with the previous posts.  I have seen a little spark.  I attend an annual weekend event that was surprisingly young family oriented.  The attendees camp for the weekend with rockabilly bands, kids games, raffles, contests, pinstriping, vintage clothing sales, flea market, food and dancing.  It is not your typical car show.  Most of the cars are less expensive four door, land yachts with room for the young family and camping stuff.  It does my heart so much good to see the whole family involved and dressed in '50s attire!
Another local event at Milan Dragway is the Friday night 'Run what ya brung'.  It is amazing how techie many of these young people exhibit.

[RICH MUISE]

The Hispanic community has a lot of younger generation enthusiasts. It is always great to see the whole family involved as well. Many car shows I do in New Mexico will have grandfather/father/son cars side by side. With the incredible work done on Bombers and lowriders, I see an uptick of interest in their end of our hobby. I wish it would carry over to us, but probably not going to happen.

[mustang6984]

I think maybe abe lugo is the youngest.

The low riders definitely are a family type of activity. Kids are brought into the car building process as soon as they are old enough to hand dad a tool. Has always been that way since I was a mid back in the 60's in the L.A. area. It is a cultural thing that is really kind of neat. They may well be the saviors of the car world.

[RICH MUISE]

Hugh......I don't know how old Abe is, but our new friend Courtney is what.late 30's, early 40's?

[mustang6984]

Oh yea...forgot about him. I think he is probably mid-40's. As is Abe I believe.

[Marc]

Good to know there's youth involvement at least in some aspects of the car culture. Most of the events I wind up at are 90% grey hairs, though admittedly I'm using Northeast shows as a point of reference. Haven't been to a lot of Texas shows yet.
Agreed about lack of disposable income being a factor. After laying out $$ for cell phones, tats, internet, & rent there's not much left for fixing up an old junker.
Good point Randy about the prices. I often wonder how long these crazy prices can be maintained.

[djfordmanjack]

Good thing about old cars : They don't make'em anymore !    Prices will probably stay somewhat consistant for those of us owning cars as kind of an asset and maybe wanting to sell later on ( although the best asset with old cars is still loving them to death and enjoying the looks and taking them out for a drive). I am one of the younger guys on here (49). There are young lads going for old cars. My son (16) just bought his second vintage car last week!
Agreed on the financial aspect of being hardly affordable to some ( or many) person who have to come up with a few hundred bucks being able to pay for a beat up late model daily driver. But there are still many, MANY people who buy new cars for several tenthousands of $ and e-v s ain't cheap either. I guess if you want it enough, you CAN afford a vintage car, even at younger age. 4drs or unpopular models may still be bought for a few grand. When I drive around in old cars, I still DO get a lot of thumbs up and smiles from pre school or junior kids. I don't think they all hate old cars because of the 'agenda'. remember the huge number of toy cars or movies like CARS. Those kids also grew up with those cars in some way and popular models like a VW bus f.i. may be well loved for future generations. I dont' think the 57 Fords are going out of style anywhere soon. My son loves the fins and chrome on the 57. He says, much better than a Mustang or Porsche f.e.
It probably depends which car event we attend. classic shows that have been going for decades may be held rather for the discerning older persons. Usually events that are catering to younger people are 'louder' in general, rather modern music, tatoos and such. I am not a huge fan of that, but to each their own...

Certainly the future as it is presented to us these days doesn't look too bright. Especially to old fashioned car guys like us. But....who knows? Everything is an a state of chaos right now and if things calm down a little, we may still be able to get some fuel for a few more years.... I am hoping 

[mustang6984]

Car museums have begun to sell off some cars of older vintage. One in South Dakota sold off most of his Model T's because no one really was interested in them, and he wanted to still get some money out of them. He was talking ab out starting on the model "A"'s next.
Eventually...things like cars do lose value. There is a time to sell them and let the other guy take the loss if you are trying to recover money spent. If you don't care about that aspect...then no loss.

[abe_lugo]

Hey guys.  Interesting read. Yeah I'm under 50 perse. I believe I am a rare case where a few stars aligned.  Grew up with a mechanic dad and around a lot So Cal car scenes. I actual own a few different vintage cars between my wife and I actually too many.  I work on tiny toy cars new and old everyday.
Part of the local crowd here is getting people driving their cars and encouraging them to do the smaller fixes.  But just having an older ride here in Los Angeles is very difficult for many. Space issues.

As far as aging out.  The LA roadster show was where I noticed it a lot preCovid.  Too many runabout scooters.  Then this read the roadsters in attendance was about a quarter of previous years.  Also has to do with those older gents family's not encouraging the next generation or the star of them actually not having kids. 

I see some visionary futures here, going electric or just moving to a country/place where you can have what you want and not forced with what you drive.
I actually been thing about this topic, but I'm a different way. 
How much can I enjoy the cars I don't have RIGHT NOW? As long as I can.  We try to rotate the fleet a bit. 

If you know me from the HAMB.  My signature for many years is "Have a nice driving vintage car and enjoy your life.."
so for me it's very much looking like I need a solution to just driving the cars on road trips, work, store (more often) and enjoy them.  Less about going to shows to see other peoples old cars.
I think seeing some of the road trips stories on here help fuels some of that. I was reading about Hugh trip to help a fellow.  Those sort of thing are fun to read. 
So it more about the journey.