Art & Inspiration Thoughts on the future of the hobby

Screw the vette wave dude, I was headed north across the Bridge of The Gods on my Harley when I spied another biker coming across the bridge the opposite direction. I dropped my right hand as did he and then I realized there was 20 more bikes behind him. I road across that steel grated bridge with one hand on the bars pissing my pants in fear of falling into a giant cheese grater and feeding my epidermis to the Columbia River steelhead.

You remember this scene in Smokey and the Bandit;
Frog: What do you do?
Beau: Oh I...
Frog: Straight!
Beau: I just go from place to place and do what I do best.
Frog: What's that?
Beau: Show off.

That pretty much sums me up. And explains my chrome bill.

 

I have what I would call a late model vette (even though it is more than 20 years old now ) that just makes most vette owners mad. They don’t wave at me…lol

 

Is it the traditional wave or the two-finger wave? If it's the latter, are they using one hand or two ?

 

Then I have two late models by that definition one of which needs to go down the road.

 

Like @Ryan my least favorite part of the whole hobby is having to talk to people about my old cars when I’m just trying to go about my business. I’m flattered and try my best to be polite but I just want to buy my damn groceries!!

 

Driving old rides is not the thing to do if ya want to go unnoticed. That’s what new rides are for.
Just a fact of life. Don’t matter if ya want to be seen or not.

 

I drive my old stuff because it makes me happy, not for any other reason. It certainly won’t stop me from driving them.

Like you you said it’s part of the deal.

 

Save yourself the aggravation of buying groceries, and just take your wife out to dinner .

 

I drive em cause I’m cheap and old is EZ to work on.
And I dig ‘em.
If someone else digs it, then that’s a compliment. It can get a little inconvenient at times but it’s part of the deal.

 

The "hobby" might well go on-at least with those who can relate to the past history of it. I can remember just frothing at the mouth to go to the drags-the Houston area had like three 1/4 mi. strips at that time-guys built cars and raced them. Now there is only one, an 1/8 mile that caters to late models and imports, not rods as we know them. Our weekend midnight drags on an industrial road were fantastic, one night over 100 cars and rails and about 2-300 kids. Just today I was speaking with an owner of a major supplier and garage for period Chevelles, Nova's, etc. He told me he's planning on phasing out and closing down-he can't charge what he needs to in order to stay in business, thanks to the internet and cost of employees. We've all seen this with the loss of many key names in the rod industry. IMO, Hot rods will continue, but unless you are a do it yourselfer or have the extra money to buy and maintain one, the hobby will decline--the youngsters like we were simply can't get involved.

 

You think that's bad? I'd like to stop PT Cruiser drivers doing that to me when I'm in my roadster.
(Having said that, those cars are evaporating from the roads faster than hot rods, so things are looking up.)

Tesla drivers don't wave. They're too busy saving the planet and looking at their IMAX dashboard.

 

Who remembers the first time seeing those PT's in "traditional" hot rod guise?
That cannot be unseen!

 

I graduated from high school in 1974.
Back then, most people took their cars to the local gas stations to get them repaired, only people with lots of money took their cars to auto dealers to get fixed. There may have been one of those gas station repair shops at almost every other corner in most towns.
Kids in high school pumped gas at those gas stations, and leaned on the fenders watching the "mechanics" work, and learning how to fix their own car between running out to put gas in customers tanks. Many high schools had auto shops where the kids could learn how to fix cars. If you were really lucky, your dad, or a close relative or neighbor would show you how to work on cars.
For the most part, none of those gas station repair shops, and very few of the high school auto shops exist anymore. Not many dads, relatives, or neighbors are working on their own cars anymore. The places most of us learned to work on cars is not available for the current generation, unless they want to seek auto repair as a carrier.

That means that if a kid is interested in old cars, he has to learn the process himself. For the most part that education started after he got out of high school, unless he was lucky. At high school graduation, he is already 5 or more years behind where we were by that time in our lives.

The next issue is the availability of project cars. When I was in high school, there were cool old cars that has simple ignitions, suspensions, and brakes, sitting around everywhere. With a bit of fiddling, they may have even ran and could have been driven home, and they were cheap.

These days, the old cars that might be sitting around probably have expensive things wrong with complicated ignition systems, rotted out under carriages, and expensive faulty brakes. Hours of diagnoses and lots of expensive parts may, or may not make it run, and it will still cost a small fortune to buy. The worst part is old cars are simply not just sitting around much anymore. Either someone was saving it, or they have already junked it, and you can no longer buy cars out of a junk yard, like you could back in our day.

There is still a lot of interest in cars and trucks. The hobby is doing OK, but the young guys are just starting at an older age then we did. The cars are different today then when we started, that means how those young guys are going to build their stuff, is probably going to be different then how we would have done it.

 

Quote, "The 32s had chassis built on a specific jig with everything pre figured out." Sounds like you were assembling those 32's" ! The point I was making, was to make a hot rod out of most any older car, they normally have to be torn completely apart. Then start with new suspension, steering, and everything it takes to build a complete, finished vehicle, that can take a lot of space, time and money. With the later models, you can alter it in segments, learn as you go, and still have something to drive in the meantime.

 

Meanwhile on forums or discussion groups online Mid century modern lovers are lamenting that every day "treasures" are being tossed in the trash because so few appreciate what they enjoy. Furniture geeks are distraut that nobody is saving old credenzas or sideboards and younger kids don't want them so they 'save' a few more to add to their collection. Vintage cameras, old school movie projectors and film...the list is endless of people with a passion for a subject matter the 99% of the public doesn't seem to care about like they/we do and the younger generation either shows little interest and can't get into the hobby due to cost. MCM stuff can be pricier than old speed parts.
Point is we here are in our own little bubble and while we can discuss ad nauseum about the subject the future will play out and change is inevitable.

 

Assembling. Lol. That’s part of building.
32s been done a zillion times.
People even write books about how to build em.
The ones I mentioned can be over 50 years old. 80s rides are in their 40s
Kids built 32s back in the day when they were a lot newer than 50.
And a lot less complicated
Those old hot rod cover rides were less than 20years old in the beginning. About the equivalent of building an early 2000s ride today.
Building a 40 year old more complicated ride vs a 70+ year old simpler built ride.
I don’t see the newer ride being easier.

 

Tmans comments and to some extent Ryan's resonated with me. We need to be driving our cars.....racing our cars.....competing.....finding winding roads etc. Beach races....dirt drags.....Mokan.....hill climbs are literally where the action is. I grew up in a 1960's era of building something to use it....compete.....run the hell out of it. That involved Cordova dragstrip.....but primarily short track dirt oval racing. We built stuff to be functional.....do a job....perform....and go like hell......ACTION !! In today's world of online action obsessed youth......pretty cars all in a row with lawn chairs is for old boring people. I love the emerging idea of using whatever you love and build to smoke tires......throw dirt.....climb hills.....carve turns etc. etc. Most of all....have fun out there.

 

When my dad first built my 32 with a rocket motor 65 years ago I don’t think he cared about the future of the hobby. I’m not concerned either. Having a blast building it now with a new rocket. As a side note, I have tons of old family pictures, letters, even furniture that came from the family farm over generations. The interest ends with me.

 

Give them the finger.

 

Well look at the plus side... apparently you are still good looking enough that he wanted to get a date with you!

 

My Chucks are, anyway.

I don't drive an old hot rod for attention, but you do get used to people commenting on the car. "Cool shoes" was absolutely the last thing I ever expected to hear.

 

Perhaps the kid thought you were tired of people asking about your car, so his way of acknowledging you was complimenting something else?

 

Actually they made 4 kinds of Corvettes, 84 and up are rolling computers. Not many people can work on them, while the 68-82 was still analog, the last year or two did have a crude computer but most have been thrown away for a carb.

This whole subject is kinda funny to me. I kept a small mental record the last show the wife attended in our cars. There were more girls aged 6-18 that liked my 47 Lincoln than did boys, while the wife’s 82 Corvette drew more boys that age range. Then it seemed to be more even split for young adults up into their 50’s, and folks in their 60’s and older tended to like the 47 more, it was like what they grew up in as kids.

So what does my highly unscientific survey mean? Probably not a damn thing other than that moment in time. Most of the garbage you read and hear on the media is the same thing, a reflection of that period in time that may or may not be truthful. Remember in the 70’s when we were supposed to run out of oil before 1990 and be in a new ice age by the end of the century? People who make these predictions always extend them out past the time when they will be alive so they can’t be blamed when they don’t come true. Take’em with a grain of salt, be proactive to defend our hobby, and do what we do this for, have fun!

 

A couple thoughts on this;
I think we live in a good time right now, tons of shows, cruises, races, hill climbs, and events almost every weekday and weekend.
Will that be the case in 30 years? I'm sorry but I don't care.
Yes, I'm being selfish
It will be up to the younger generation to carry on if they want to. In the Northeast there are quite a few young guys and gals who are living the hot rod life now.
As far as the electric car taking over. . .
That is not going to happen, we don't have enough supply to keep up with predicted demand.
For now I will carry on building what I like when I like and as frugally as I can.

 

Big electric motor driving each wheel, zero to 60 in 1.5 Sec. and hopped up batteries to power them. Old cars will be hid out like bootleggers stills and seen only in museums. Most of us will be long gone like a turkey thru the corn.

 

Hit a deer with mine. A stepside. My son is now 16 and we are fixing it up for him Pre Runner style. He is learning how to fabricate and weld by building a front bumper/brush guard. Great little trucks

 

Yep, my oldest son has a first generation S10 that sits real low and has moon discs on big and littles on it. Kinda has that salt flat vibe and gets lots of attention since it is so "old"...lol

 

My first vehicle was a first-gen with a V8 that I still have. They're little sport trucks, a lot of fun.

 

I'm bad for it too, but isn't it funny how responses on a thread about the future of the hobby are grumbling about other car owners waving at us and having to talk people at gas pumps? Maybe being nice and kind to people that show interest will be a positive thing for the hobby and may help them to want to be involved. Just my thoughts.