Featured Event Coverage This Hobby ain't Dead.....

I take my 5 year old everywhere in my ‘51, shows, meets, groceries, trips to the park……

She has loved it since 2 and I hope that she will be just like these kids above in a few years time.

 

Do not look for a success every time. I've helped a young guy a couple of times. There are threads. Since the second car, he has gotten married, had a couple of kids, moved up the corporate ladder, and I never hear from him. It happens, just be prepared. Will he still be a car guy ? No idea. Being in the middle of my 79th trip around the sun ( @Jeff Norwell , not 89 ) I am not sure I will be around to see him bring them back out. I'm still glad I got to work with him.

 

I threw her pedal car I'm building into a custom hot rod in the box. She was thrilled.



Prior to that show she hadn't been out of the yard in any of my old stuff for various reasons (but loves steering around the acreage). Now I have an excuse to do it more. Her only complaint was "it's a bit loud".

 

Same here. I put seatbelts in the back of my 52 when my kids were real young so I could take them everywhere. This pic was 2006 at the Lonestar Roundup on the Friday garage crawl. They were two at the time and several people asked me where my wife was. Told them it was a "men's weekend"...lol

They are both into cars now.

 

not offended. I do all 3 days and spend well under $200.00. I know what my car looks like, so I leave it at home.
"This thread is not intended to gripe about those organizations..." yet that's what you started with.
Goodguys is a good thing for this hobby.

 

Great thread @Jeff Norwell . But don’t say dead, it’s so lifeless. Hehe

 

Its good to get your daughter involved, I love to see this.

But from the old grandpa's perspective from someone that did the same thing you are doing now, if she is complaining "its a bit too loud" do you and her both another good deed. Provide ear plugs for her, or make the old truck not quite so loud. Your hearing has probably been ***aulted for years and probably isn't as good as it once was. Her ears still function correctly and she can still hear things much better then you can. As a dad, protect her hearing. Use me as an example of what not to do.

I wish I would have been more concerned about my hearing (and my children's hearing) when I was younger. I use words like "What did you say?" way too often these days.

 

Still searching for the perfect project, all i got so far is artist renderings done by me and a shift knob plus I do got a pint of paint and a pint of Gold Murano Pearl..... Which thinking about it now could probably afford me a car but NFS

 

I can see how without further context it might seem like some changes are needed, but that's not the case.

She was wearing ear protection and I had backup ear protection for her as well. It isn't hearing-damaging loud in my truck, she's just used to the quiet of modern cars . I don't like loud vehicles, I like a nice healthy exhaust note. She calls it loud because her mom calls it loud . My buddy's truck with a 327 with 3" exhaust and black widow mufflers, that's unbearably loud.

When she's riding the diesel tractor with me she wears ear protection, and when I'm using a grinder, air chisel, chainsaw, riding lawn mower, etc., not in her presence I still wear ear and eye protection. She's 2 and won't get on her bicycle without a helmet and tells us to wear ours, she won't work outside without wearing gloves and telling us to wear ours.

 

great pics and couldn't agree more!!! Went to this inaugural event this year and it was lots of fun to watch and shoot the **** with guys. Made me very tempted to build a simple little flathead racer

https://www.dogwooddustup.ca/

 

I have a kid like that. I nicknamed him "Safety Sam" at a tender young age. He's now 27 and a chemist. Guess who is the OSHA trained and certified safety officer for the company? That's right, old Safety Sam. Lol. He owns real tools, a jack, jackstands, ramps, has built an engine and drives an old Bronco, so there's hope.

 

With regards to the little altered with the Hemi in it... it would be absolutely impossible NOT to have a ton of fun with that.

 

A few rambling thoughts. In 1961, I was still going to school. I picked up a '28 Tudor for $75 and a '55 Chev for $25. Even that was a lot of money, but with a lot of sweat, I built a streetable rod. Two years later I was working for $48 a week, so $40 manifolds weren't cheap either. In '61 my A was 33 years old. today a 33 year old car is a '91. Today I am full of pain, but have the where with all to spend money to build the cars I like and I still do. 15 years ago Jeff built an awesome '32, today he drives a '57, still doing the same thing, just different. I have always invited anyone regardless of age into my shop to see and experience the joys of the sport. My kids unfortunately never really got into these cars, but my 32 year old daughter is coming around and loves driving the banger. I attend Nostalgia and Banger meets and see lots of young people getting into the sport that way, on a budget. For years I attended the big shows, Goodguys, Syracuse and many 2000+ shows here in Canada. Kinda got tired of all the glitter, but if that is what catches someone's attention and gets them interested or into the hobby, then the shows have served their purpose. I am not a fan of award shows, they generate more disappointment then positivity. Just my 2 cents.
Warren

 

I'll be the doom and gloomer. In the 60s we went 3 miles every Wednesday evening to Irwindale to "run what ya brung". It was 2 bucks to get in whether you ran or not. Now there are maybe 5 events per year in CA for "vintage" stuff all are over 100 miles away and $100+ to race. I heard Saturday that the last Bville race lost over 60 grand. With 200 cars you'd need to raise the entry fee another $300 just to break even. That would be about $1,000 - 1,500 per cl***. Some cars run in multiple cl***es with engine swaps. It's hard to keep the interest up if you can only run a few times or the expense exceeds the fun factor.
Big "commercial" SoCal shows also have had a dramatic drop in cars and attendance. The people and cars are still around but they attend the morning cars and coffee from 8-10 am or some scheduled burger joint gathering from 4-6pm. I can pretty much guarantee that each local 2 hour event on this list will have 30-100 cars in attendance. Many with free (donation requested) coffee and donuts. http://www.socalcarculture.com/events.html

 

Great post. With the falling prices of HAMB era cars there has been no cheaper time to enter the hobby in decades. Great to see young folks taking advantage of that. Youtube channels such as Puddin's Fab Shop and DD Speed a****st others will be helping their audiences see these cars too.

 

I was sitting at the local twice per year car show a week ago with my Uncle and his 32 5 window. A young man about 7 came up and asked the 88 year old very politely if he could have a closer look at his car. It ended up with the kid behind the wheel. From what I could see it was a thrill for both of them. Earlier in the day out in the swap meet, a mother was explaining to her son that this was just like at the grocery store and we could look at the toy cars, but they weren’t going to buy one. I pressed a 5 in the ladies hand and said make sure the kid left with a hot wheel. Again hopefully a thrill for both of us.

 

ACTION ! that is the word that jumps out at me on this thread. People are driving....racing....burning gas. I think the future of our hobby....obsession etc. will be successful when people are doing something.....not just looking....sitting....talking. Young people are especially drawn to action.
I am 80yrs old and drawn to the HAMB as a continuation of my following local racers as a young kid and teen. Then I went on to build dirt track race cars in the 1960s 1970s. While exotic high $$$ builds are fine if that is your thing.....I enjoy engine builds....frame suspension builds.....and most of all performance.....not looking good sitting still...and most of all having fun .
My 7yr old grandson showed up after a Brewers game yesterday. His greeting was....."can we go for a ride in the Jeep"
My current traditional hot rod is my original 1953 Willys CJ3B Jeep. We put the windshield down....head out into the subdivision....down to the lake. He gets to shift from 2nd to 3rd ....his hair blows back....we laugh....he says faster ! This is our hot rod roadster. Get out there and drive !! ....and more importantly....do a little racing...however ...wherever you can. ACTION

 

You better put a Flathead car together to race. As much fun as the hanging out is getting something down the track is even better. Doesn’t get much simpler then a stripped down A frame. That’s my car for next year. Just need a seat and to build a roll bar.

 

I've toyed with the idea of replicating the first 4 EVER 4 club dragster. It doesn't get much simpler. Rear engine 1n 1954. Santa Ana drags.

 

So can you share how you pull off a 3 day car show for 2 bills? That is some good value.

 

It was great !!! He told me Canadian Hot rodders were gay but I’m sure he wasn’t talking about you . I can’t repeat what he said about Canadian artists. I would get kicked off the board.
He did say that one day you would be handling large things for a change. Not sure what that meant

 

Last weekend at Owlshead Transportation Museum was the
“Pinetree Jamboree 1/2 fast Hot Rod Races” lotsa kids as p***engers and helping on the cars….a few teens making runs down the track…A good time was had by all….I ****…no pics or videos because I was watching the action…there’s quite a bit on Facebook under “Pinetree Jamboree”……Mark

 

oops.. "under $200.00" was incorrect, it is less than $100.00. I live 20 minutes from the Pleasanton Fairgrounds. I leave my 61 Dodge at home. I don't pay the $20.00 to park in the lot at the fairgrounds, I park down the street. I get the 3 day p*** and save a few bucks there. looked at my checkbook (everything inside the fairgrounds is on debit card) and I spent $19.85 inside the fairgrounds for water and something to eat. no $12.00 beers or $16.00 burritos for me thank you.. pretty sure the 3 day p*** was $60.00, since a 2 day p*** is $40.00. even counting the $8.00 worth of gas to get there and back I'm in and out all 3 days for $87.85
when you are a cheap ******* like me everything costs less.

 

Yep, removing over night lodging cuts the bill a bunch right up front. No entering a vehicle cuts it more. Eating most of the meals at home cuts the cost a bunch more. Not having to drive across the country to enjoy the event saves another bunch of money.

Unfortunately, most of us are not that fortunate.

Personally, I like the smaller venues much better then the mega events. So much to see at the big shows, I always feel that I have missed 1/2 of it. I also like action at events, big events tend to have a few participants that are actually doing something, and the rest of the people are just watching them do it.

 

I never stop walking at Goodguys shows and see just about everything... 4-5 hours each day. when I get back home I can barely get out of the car to go inside. still fairly fit at 66 years old .

 

All it takes is to drive your damn car, I took a young lady for a quick drive the other day in my barracuda, she never stopped smiling since she had never been in an old car before. My daughter is more hooked on drag and drives than I am at this point I think. Just get out and use them.

 

Yup, it’s a vehicle, treat it as such, get out and drive it. People do appreciate it, granted it’s not everyones taste, took my truck to town tonight and had a dozen or so people wave or thumbs up and a guy asked to take pics in the parking lot. The more people see older vehicles running around the more inclined they are to investigate the possibility of doing the same, in my immediate area, over the past 6-7 years I have seen an increase in the number of older vehicles running around They are for the most part brutally simple and honest, your not waiting and paying through the nose for some nerd to waggle his fingers over a keyboard to get you on the road again