I was at the Syracuse Nationals last weekend, wandering around with my 16 year old daughter. She was pointing out some of the details she liked on the cars and some ideas for her truck (1950 GMC) that she/we are building. We stopped at the Wilwood booth, the racer in me still loves looking at the latest tech. One of the guys came over and after the usual "how are you enjoying the show etc., asked my daughter, "are you here because your dad is here or was it your choice? She looked at him, a little confused and mentioned that it was one of the highlights of her summer. He looked thrilled and continued with the conversation asking what will happen to all of these hot rods and customs when the owners start to p*** away, the younger geneartion just does not seem to be as interested in the old cars, my daughter piped up during the conversation and said that the younger kids like her are going to be able to pick cars at a bargain, there will be a bunch of them with less interest then there is now. She talked about in shop cl***, she was the only student interested in old rods and customs, she was also the only girl, but all the other kids are into tuners and drifting. I'm actually a bit jealous at the fact that she might have the opportunity to pick some really neat stuff down the road for a reasonable price, even a discount!
Contrary to popular belief there are a lot of kids that are interested in the older cars but don't have the old gas station down the block or the abundance of teenagers that congregate and swap ideas like when I was a kid. If the p***ion is there with time there will unfortunately be a glut of hot rods & customs on the open market due to us old guys dying off and hopefully the hobby we all love will continue into the future. My daughters were raised in the back seat of our 40 Ford sedan and have traveled thousands of miles to shows but today they are now fast approaching their 40's and don't have any interest in the old cars. The positive note is some of my DNA has rubbed of on my oldest granddaughter and she has already laid claim to the wagon,,it will be hers someday. Our grandson at 14 only wants a Mustang and doesn't care what year. We take our youngest granddaughter Veda for rides often in the rods,,hopefully she catches the bug. HRP
we just gotta convert them one at a time it's our duty. i have two little girls and they think hot rods and drag racing are the cats pajamas. but there not teenagers yet, we'll see.
I'm doing my best on this next generation, my own girls dont care much for the old cars. This one likes to ride in the " old blue car" and likes to go get ice cream on the " old truck".
My Granddaughter (12 years old) LOVES to ride in our Speedster. She like the wind blowing her hair, how load the car is and how everyone looks at us. . When she returns home, she tells her friends and her parents friends all about the car. They just look at her, trying to understand why she is so excited. Makes my day!
Well I could tell you this much.. its got to start somewhere! I personally feel its all a cycle. Kids grow out of stuff and go through phases.. I say this from personal experience. As a kid Chips, and Dukes of Hazard were my shows.. Hot Wheels were my toys. As I grew up I was around Lowriders but chose a Honda as my first car at 17... by 19 it was your typical rice burner. At 21 I bought another Honda and did the same thing with it... At 24 I bought my first bike, a Honda CBR 1000RR.. Two years later I sold both my Rice burners and bought a normal car, the ricers just weren't for me anymore, and "that scene had changed" I was 26. Today I'm 33 and last year I had the pleasure of purchasing my first cl***ic, my 1953 Pontiac. All in all I feel I had a love for cars and do. I could also tell you this.. through all those years I loved old cars, just felt it wasnt for me at that time.. Trends come and go but Cl***ics are constant, they're timeless at 19 at 22 at 24 and now 33 see all is not lost!! at least I hope not.... ha!
Most the stuff is cost prohibitive (or seemingly so) to younger people. Because all the old folks are retiring with lots of disposable income and raising the demand and price on old school stuff. Things get expensive fast.
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