how can we get the youth to be come involed in our hobby?

[SeaSlugs]

Originally Posted by mramc1

I'm 36 and have a hot rod '29 A truck I built from just a cowl, a '40s style '31 A coupe, a bone stock '37 Ford V8-60, and a resto-mod '46 Studebaker M5 pickup. Aside from the '37 (I just bought it at Hershey) I have hand built the rest of my vehicles. I work at a university and drive my old rides to work almost every day, 40 miles round trip, 8 months out of the year. I go to 3-4 cruise nights a week, every week.

My observations:
1. Probably the oldest car out of 15,000 or so student cars I see at my work is mid-'90s.
2. At cruise night I am usually the youngest person there with a car that is over 30 years old. Once in a while a kid will show up in a '85 El Camino. Most of the guys are now into muscle cars and are roughly 45-55 years old. The 55+ crowd is into street rods and stockers.

I think that kids want what they see growing up. Right now those "kids" are boomers and want '50s cars and muscle cars. Prewar cars are for the older folks. The T guys are all but gone and I never ever see a stock T out except for the AACA show.

The current generation of kids 16-25 doesn't even seem to be interested in even driving or living on their own much less owning an old car. There are always exceptions. I grew up in the '80s so you would think an IROC-Z would be my dream car, but it's not.

The kids these days are going to want to cruise an old '05 WRX in a few years. I predict in the next 20 years that most of the "car guys" now will be either gone or too old to drive anymore. There is going to be a huge supply of old iron and very little demand. Sure, Deuces and As will always be special, but they too will wain in popularity. Any fiberglass car is going to be worthless as there will be so many real steel cars up for grabs why would you want a 'glass one?

It's sad, but I think you guys (anyone over 50) are going to be the last big hoorah in terms of car culture. I hope that I am wrong! I think the world is changing too much away from good old cool American iron to computers, phones, and vanity to make this thing last forever. I know I won't be hanging out at cruise nights with my Model A in 30 years if it's nothing but 2014 Mustangs and Camaros and vintage cell phones.

yea those are good points, i can go out and buy a early 90's pickup for $500-$1000 and drive it home. Sure its got rust but plenty of aftermarket parts available and new bedsides, cab corners, rocker panels, fenders, etc.

Ive wondered what cruise ins are going to be like in 30 years with all these plastic cars and computer controlled this and that. cant wait to see what 40 year old PCM, ICM, BCM boards are going to be like. or spending days fixing or installing a wiring harness. I wonder what a 40 year old airbag is gonna be like...