Art & Inspiration Thoughts on the future of the hobby

The hobby is in flux. The "National Street Rod Association" had to open membership to car and trucks up to 1984 to keep enuf membership. Stop and think; pre '48 cars are our passion because that's what we could afford as teens and they were readily available everywhere. We invented hot rodding to satisfy our love of speed and individuality. There was no TV, computers, cell phones, video games, etc., to capture our interest. Cars was it. The generation since have gradually been weaned off of building a hot rod. Factory hot rods from Detroit, then rice burner imports were actually more fun and a whole lot less work than our creations. Nowadays the society is buying off on the global warming hoax so kids are reared hating personal transportation.

Hot rods were a wonderful era and I am so happy I lived thru it but it is dying with the Boomer generation. There of course will be a few in every generation that get the vision but as a movement, it is sunsetting.

 

Yesterday I was on my way home from work and a slammed, little, Nissan PU was next to me at the light. Ridiculous camber, tires stretched over wide rims riding on 1" of rubber on the inside, not touching the pavement on the outside. 2" of ground clearance...maybe. Crappy sounding soup can exhaust. The smell of raw fuel and oil hanging in the air as he noisily rowed his way to 4th gear.

At first I shook my head and thought what a moron. But that guy was in the hobby, that truck could be his gateway drug that will lead him to a life long addiction of hot rodding (with a brief stop at RR along the way). We should encourage these guys, not knock them. Hell, I was that kid once.

 

While I would like to think that I do the this for reasons other than "looks and thumbs up", I enjoy talking to folks at the gas station from time to time. It's gone from "I used to have one of those", to "My dad had one of those", to "My grandpa had one of those" to "what is that?". I don't even mind "Oh yeah, only it was Plymouth and had four doors" on occasion.

Surprisingly, my slightly grungy '51 Ford club coupe draws a lot more attention than my fully restored (O/T) '67 Corvette coupe.

 

This.
I see it in ads a lot too, as if it is a selling point, "...real attention getter" "gets lots of attention" etc.* Not reasons why I would buy or own a car.

Future of the hobby (as we know it)? It is what it is. You can't force a friendship.

*"real head turner." That's the other one.

 

I’m not exaggerating. In my neck of the woods I get at least 1 thumbs up every five miles driving my 34 pickup.
Just yesterday I passed 20 street workers leaning on their shovels while laying blacktop.
They all stop to look at me pass by as I waved.
There is no issue with lost interest. maybe not quite the same quantity. But its there.

 

Not getting attention?
Lol.
that’s almost impossible
Old cars are like seeing space ships.
People gonna look
I dig talking to folks. Every now and then those gas station encounters turn into a parts score.

the future ?
What will be will be
I’m enjoying cruising and banging on metal
Got plenty of students that dig em

I got burnt out a while back
Seem a kid in a rice rocket beater leaving school like he stole the car.
Banging gears with a big ole grin.

I got a nice reset. Went back to cutting up crap in the shop

 

NSRA did it to themselves, Boring fairground shows. Starting in the 90s you had things like Paso, Billetproof, Bako, and other events that attracted a younger crowd than in the past. Then you had the growth of the Internet and events like the HAMB Drags, Hunnert Car Pileup etc....................fast forward and now we have Beach races, Dirt Drags, Hill Climbs happening all over the Country! Lawnchair sitting and power parking are fucking boring by comparison

 

Somewhere there's a hokey ass Jockey forum with horse people lamenting on how nobody wants to ride a horse anymore and how they rode theirs into town and didn't have any kids run up and ask what the horse's name was.

The prices for driveable, roadworthy old cars is as high as it's ever been. That means demand. Saying the hobby is dying because the prices are too high is like saying no one goes to a certain place because it's always too crowded.

When the prices start falling, then I'll pay attention. But so far, no one has ever lost money betting against the apocalypse.

 

Alright then go ahead explain yourself.

 

If the car hobby as a whole is dying then I guess it’s going out blazing.

try buying c10s,f100s, minis, rice burners, fox bodies…..
Even step vans, COEs and short busses.

young folks and global warming?
School parking lot is full of teen age beater rides.
Kinda ironic that it could (theoretically)die off where it was birthed long before it dies in the area that preached against it in the 50s

 

Is the sky falling again?

 

Bumped my noggin on it this morning

 

Ahem, does @Moriarity know about this side of you, just asking?

 

Well, yeah! Why are you surprised?

 

I agree this has been discussed from time to time, and I might have even asked the same question before as my memory isn’t that great anymore.
Seems things vary from region and personal experiences as can be expected. I will say again that I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and was a muscle car fan. Was never really that interested in another pre 50s, but that changed for some reason as I entered my 50s. Yes, before I would occasionally buy some Hot Rod magazines, and the odd Rodder’s Journal and would marvel at some of the builds. I think at the core, I was looking back for when things were simpler, less complicated, and I began to then really appreciate the ingenuity of builds, their beauty, and simplicity. As the world gets more and more complex and overwhelming, I seem to sense a “movement” afoot where many folks want to return to a simpler time and place. I just caught a short documentary about “Slab City” and then another about Quartzite AZ, where up to 250,000 folks are living “off-grid” on 14,000 acres. I was stunned and previously never heard of those places.
As such, I wonder if there may be an influx of folks into the hobby for those looking for “simpler times and places”. What is core to those places, and likely to this or any hobby, is a sense of community. Of course, we have that here on the HAMB, and most likely amongst local clubs, etc, but does something exist outside of these venues on a national scale? Not even sure if NHRA fits into that kind of role.

 

The cars and trucks you mentioned, are far easier to modify than traditional hot rods, and they are more practical, for the inexperienced to tackle. It would be interesting to know the number of 1948 and older, cars and trucks that are licensed and drivable in the US today, and the average age of the owners.

 

I have always associated with and enjoyed old cars- first out of financial necessity, and now simply because of the love of them.

 

Easier?
Easier to locate nice parts.
Easier to modify?
Doubt it.

The 32s I built at work were easier to build than my bus and step van. Or my body dropped mini. The 32s had chassis built on a specific jig with everything pre figured out.
Didn’t have that luxury on my personal beaters.
The old builds we adore here were built by teens with hand tools and torches.
Most old rides are simple cold rolled chassis. Soft cold rolled steel body shells with little reinforcement.
Bout as simple as it gets.

Edit: both new and old have similarities and large differences. Newer cars have better manufacturing tolerances and the sheet metal is easier to fit.
Getting “new car gaps” from old cars requires a ton of work.
But as far as modifications, older bodies tend to lend themselves to the knife easier

 

I'm blaming it all on the 'Vette owners. When they became too cool to wear those cute little hats and acknowledge each other with that cute little wave, I could see it was all going to hell .
A re-print from the Save the Wave.site

 

Last year I was at a grocery store with my high school ride and first vehicle, an OT domestic mini truck that my dad and I built in 2001. Guy about 16-17 comes up to me inside the store, he saw me drive up and was asking about how much my truck was lowered and a bunch of other questions. He actually worked at a nearby restaurant and was sent over because they were out of some stuff. He had an import mini truck (of the same vintage as my domestic mini) in sweet shape and had wheels on it, but it wasn't lowered yet and he really wanted to, but he needed the truck as regular transportation. I had a nice chat with him and we went on our merry way.

The kid that lived across the street from me a few years ago was a bit too into cars for the space he had, always trading for something more and more decrepit and having too many dead projects sitting on our congested street. However, he was doing it. He had an automotive interest and was always wrenching on something. He was in high school. I asked him for help on my '46 one day for about 2 minutes and he was ecstatic. 2 minutes of work and 20 minutes of questions later, he happily trotted back across the street.

Sharing my experience to help foster mechanical interest is my goal even though I'm not always wanting to chat about my stuff at a gas station.

 

Sure they are. That's how we learn these days. I started with 80's stuff, then 60's, then 40's, and now I'm building a Model A which is my most ambitious project. It only took me 22 years of building my own stuff to get here.

 

I am currently 70 years old, and I am still fascinated by the decades of the 20's 30's 40's 50's and some 60's, and that is for all things, such as art, hot rods, jazz and blues, rock & roll, all things mechanical, and big time in Aviation.
But I digress, its easy to drift off topic.

Some say, as seen here in the comments, the "HOT ROD" hobby is alive and well, and some say, its sun setting, and a myriad of other attitudes and opinions.

If an individual has or builds "HOT RODS", for the attention and thumbs up recognition, well that's one element that is just part of the hobby.

But if an individual is in the "HOT ROD" hobby to be the lone wolf, out on the back roads, to just be digging the scenery all by ones self, and avoiding all of the pseudo wanna be's, and posers, then that is a valid element to be considered as well.

I will take this opportunity to suggest a bit of really great "ELIXR"
A certain kind of visual and auditory, medicinal participation, that can enlighten and heal a bit of our collective woes, in regards to the future of the HOT ROD hobby.

When you watch this documentary, you will say to yourself,
" What in the hell does this have to with the HOT ROD Hobby "?

This is a great documentary from 1998 when Ry Cooder and his son Joaquin went to Cuba, to make great music with the some of the most amazing Cuban musician's you will ever hear or truly appreciate.



It's on HBO MAX and it can be found on YouTube as well.
It's 1 hour and 45 minutes, and this is time well spent my friends, if you want to be taken to a place and time and a culture that is totally fascinating and very eye opening and ear opening as well.

There isn't a wasted scene in it, its very well edited and its very heart warming for all ages.

It gives us all, a great window, to look through, into those, that are older than us, and have been forgotten so to speak, then rediscovered and given a chance to shine and perform and let out the good energy that can lay dormant, only wanting a chance to seen and heard again !

Kind of like finding an old car, and bringing it back to life again !

The hobby is alive and well, there is a ton of the older American cars
( definitely re powered no doubt ) in Cuba, as they are seen from time to time in this great Documentary.

Purely speaking for myself, in my opinion, this film is just as important as American Graffiti, but on a totally different level.

So sit back and enjoy the magical rhythms of the Cuban language and the very happy and soothing music and voices of Older Cubans and younger Cubans, doing what comes naturally.
You wont be disappointed !

Thanks for your time and consideration from Dennis.

 

Electric cars are only 2 % of cars on the road… Hell .. if the Government made a 10 Million dollar award to anyone that can create tech to burn fossil fuel cleaner , bet ut would take only 2 years to figure it out.. F electric cars.. who wants to sit in an big ass electro magnetic field anyway .

 

Here we GO again!

 

If I had a dollar for every photo that's been taken of the HA/GR in my avatar I could run a top fueller. Children of all ages love it and so do the adults. Yes, to some of the younger ones it probably looks like a clown car but most seem to like it because they can get up close and personal with it and imagine themselves behind the wheel. I happily answer all the questions about it in the hope that some will get the bug and build something. It gets that bad at times my crew chief/wife has to tap me on the shoulder to let me know the bracket has been called to the staging lanes.