How long before no one cares about what we love?

That's awesome, just remeber to return that favor to someone else somewhere down the line.

There are alot of cool people out there.

 

And you have said a lot about how we should offer those who chose to inheret this knowledge from us old guys out there. I don't know about you but I spent a lifetime learning the all the car stuff from welding, bodywork, painting, drivetrain, and all the other ****, my parents thought usless, and I ain't takin' it with me. Besides I'm comin back drivin' a turbine powered Peterbuilt, hallin' potato chips... he he he...

 

That's Funny **** Right There....

 

when all of us old guys die off.

 

Well you can't take 'em with ya Groucho, so ya gotta leave em to someone so the state doesn't take them.

I think you are WRONG there. I see guys restoring 80's and 90's **** boxes all the time. It's what they grew up with, or grew up wanting. I have an on line magazine asking me for details and photos of a Mitsubishi Rally car that i raced when it was new in the mod 80's - they are restoring one and want to know more about how I "Hot Rodded" it!!

that's funny Bruce. If no one wants those 32 Roadsters, I'll take them.

 

Nothing we purposely do will have much effect;
Most of us don't even do what we do for that reason. We do it because we love to do it and wouldn't do it merely for the purpose of 'preserving' the hobby or any particular car.

Traditional hot rods/Kustoms, in the forms defined (by Ryan's vision and his followers' acceptance of those definitions) will survive. Forever. I have no doubt.

Will their popularity on the H.A.M.B. be diluted by those that want to re-write history? Yes. Will rat rods, 'restored' 2010 hmmers and tuners become more popular in the coming decades? Yes. Will the advent of these new forms of popular cars threaten their predicessors? Nope. Not in a million years.

Will parts vendors be disuaded from producing parts specifically for traditional hot rods due to business pressures? Yes. Will some of them go out of business/retool to produce other things due to market changes? Yep. Should that happen, will it become a threat to the survival of our cars? Hell no. Will the majority of people that own "period correct" cars continue to sell them because they are in business, not true hobbyists? Yep.
Will that make my sell my hot rod Nash or my hot rod pickup? Hell no, not at any price.

DIY mechanics will improvise, duplicate, adapt. We only buy some of our parts because it's easier than making our own, but when the need arises, we rise to the occasion.

Will the possibility of dilution/demise of commercial support affect the survivability of traditional hot rods/Kustoms as Ryan and his followers' vision/definition? Hell no.

A thousand years from now will some kid find one of our rides in a barn and fall in love with it, not even knowing what it is, but to come to realize that right there in his neck of the woods there's a following, a club worshiping cars just like that one?

Hell Yes!

 

A few yrs ago the Docs thought I had Cancer. Pretty scary. So I sent an Email to my Sister, telling her who gets what from my garage. So, even since I haven't updated it, she's kinda got an idea what to do with all this **** in my untimely death. Scary part is, the recipients, as much as they'll appreciate my efforts, will prolly turn it all to ****. But, if I'm dead, let em. It'll be theirs to do as they please. Now, if someone wants to send over a beautiful 30 year old girlie for the weekend....I'll be upgrading the list......soon after THAT weekend

 

That's why I collect what I love and enjoy now, with little to no regard for what the "investment" value of it might be to someone in the future.

Jim

 

It seems to me there are more young (say 15 to 30) people interested in old fashioned hot rods now than there were 20 years ago. The quality of the cars may not be what it should be but, the interest is there. Most of those guys are going to build nicer and nicer cars as time p***es and in 20 more years they'll be the old guy's wondering who will care for their old cars when they're gone.

If you must worry about something worry about the sheer number of potential parts and project cars being crushed every year or the very real possibility that we could be legislated out of existence. But both those points have already been made quite convincingly in this thread.

 

MMMM....flintlocks....

 

hmmm, post 1972 "muscle cars" are some of the most popular cars at this time. Hemmings muscle machine runs regular articles on late 80's/early 90's cars.

It's all what you grew up with.

 

these cars will never depreciate in value and rarity. supply and demand. the interest in hotrods is high where i am, even if only a small percent do it. factor in rarity, factor in vintage. With tighter emissions laws pending, we will need to change the way we do things but i bet as soon as the first flying jestsons car is rolling onto showroom floors, there'll be a few dudes figuring out if they can get that cool old 200 year old car flying.

 

I think in the distant future cars of any kind will only exist as collector toys! People will only have public transportation. Those that have cars will have to get gasoline at a hoby store and pay $100.00 a galion for it. We'll only be able to drive cars in special events , nostalgic drags , rod runs , stuff like that.
But Hot Rods , Muscel cars and the like are so much a part of what Hummans are I think they will never disappear.

 

id say as soon as the last person who is currently around 27 years old dies iswhen no one wiil care about our old junk i work with a kid whos 20 he cant see past his computer

just last night he was ragging on me and my old cars so i got on him about his computer

he says cars are the reason everyone is obese now (which he is) and i said oh really? hmmm cars have been around since the early 1900's and computers have been around since the early 80's there wasn't this obese problem around here until the mid 80's -early 90's he shut up and walked away .....college kids

there are allways exceptions to the rule though

 

My daughter is 4, will be 5 in January, and every minute I'm out working on my old truck she wants to be with me helping in her own little way. She loves to paint and when it comes time to start painting, I will find some parts and give her a can of paint and a brush and let her go to town with it. No matter how they come out looking, that's how the parts are going on the truck, so she will be able to point to them and say "I painted that"

I think that giving her and active role and the opportunity to develop an interest in the hobby is far more important than my ego over having my truck looking "perfect" any day.

And besides, no better of a painter than I am, you might not be able to tell the difference anyway!

 

Cosworth Vegas, Grand Torinos , Trans Ams etc...the future barn...er uh...I mean garage finds to come .. All of our cars will end up in museums tucked away along side the prehistoric model T's, stage coaches and buckboards...

 

What planet are you living on? The Chinese have already p***ed us and so have other countries because our Government has made America weak thru its greed. And as far as no one caring about our way of life, well that has already begun with the new enthol Oil companies want to put on the market and city Gov or as I like to call them, Mini Sam, cracking down on "junk" in the driveway, all those old cars are living on borrowed time. Enjoy them while you still can.

 

It's hard to imagine someone hearing a fully blown rat rod roaring down the road or a see cherry custom cruise by with out thinking "I want one". Then there's always that kid who loved ripping things apart to see how it worked. That and nice cars get you laid. That will never go out of style.

 

Move to Florida. The '80's just got here last month. I kid you not...

 

I always have loved old cars, and will until the day I die, but I can't be so arrogant or niave as to think that todays youth will have the same sentiment/appreciation as I do for the old cars of the 30's, 40's, or 50's. There will be exceptions to the rule, as is the case with anything, but, the number will be much fewer. The Rod runs, car shows, swap meets, etc. will have fewer and fewer of what we deem collectible highly sought after cars. "The good ole days"..is now. We need to appreciate what we have, as well as the era we currently live in. Live today,today.

 

That's kinda what I'm thinking, they might not be using the same tin and might be working on hopping up electric motors instead of gasoline engines,but somewhere, somehow, some kids will be trying to make whatever they drive look cooler and go faster and giving their parents premature gray hair in the process.

I've been thinking about doing something modern in a retro fashion and making a good record of it to kinda "point the way" for future generations...maybe a way to keep a little of the tradition alive. I don't know....maybe gut and chop a PT cruiser and make a g***er out of it

 

there will always be those who do it for the love

 

The people who are legitimately interested in our hobby are hamstrung by the overwhelming/outrageous rise in prices of available steel and their lack of $$$....this coupled with unemployment being at one of the highest points in recent history just don't do good things for hobbies in general.

Then you've got jack***es hoarding good steel and letting it sit there and turn into dirt before our very eyes. Just think if they sold all of it to someone who will actually build it. I know someone personally who has a m***ive number of Model A's and refuses to let them go at any price. He will NEVER build them. NEVER. But he'll just sit the **** on the ground and let it rot away. Breaks my heart.

Personally....I'm not that old (32). I'll love Model A's forever. And my 4 yr old son likes hot rods too (although he's not a true enthusiast yet...he just likes what I like). But I have a feeling he'll grow into a hot rodder himself. And he'll like Model A's....(he damned well better). So as long as you keep the youth involved there will be interest.

 

I have the opposite situation that most of you seem to have. My son wants my stuff. He's deeply invovled in our hobbie/sickness and his 20 month old son was making engine noises long before his first word. My kids grew up in the back seat of a hot rod and my grandson is too. I'm doing my best to p*** the torch. PS Can't wait til the little guy quits pooping his pants so he's more fun to have along.

 

Like this? http://www.vincecrain.com/01pt.html

Good luck! There are few things more satisfying than hearing an old engine sputter back to life after so many years. Especially when its because of your own two hands.

 

HA! I want my dad's stuff too! (especially that 392 hemi....oh man I hope I get that one day....at least I don't have any siblings)

 

im 16 and i can tell you for sure it wont ever die.
nothing beats the sound and feel of an old v8.

 

Hehe, somebody thought of it

 

Well I'm 20 now and plan on being around and loving the hobby till the day I die.