i think the general opinion is that we're all in this together..whatever it is..By going to wyotech, I was heavily influenced by other genres(for lack of a better term) of cars..I hungout with the trad guys, the truck guys, the import guys...They all have the same intent..which is to take a car and make it cooler...just like us... I wanna put up a challenge to everyone..haha, Go to a show you normally wouldn't..mini truck, import, Drift comp...No expectations other than to check out rides...you'll be amazed if you go there with an open mind to learn..we've all learned something somewhere along the way...Trust me on that one..hahaha
As a 22 year old I can say I only have a handful of friends my own age who "get it" But there is a few of us. Maybe by the time we're in our 40's the price of deuces will be affordable again because nobody will want them. Or not... LOL My cousin who is 25 always admired my dad's A hot rod, but he doesn't "get it". He became a mechanic and drag races late mustangs for fun. He really doesn't get it with me and my flatheads. One day he got to drive a customer's 61 corvette where he works. He was suprised by it's performance. My dad told him to save his money and he could buy one someday. He says "oh, that's not really my thing" I guess he prefers 15 year old rusty 5.0's
Hey, thanks buddy! Working in one of the factories that produces the interior for Chrysler's minivans has only been putting food on my table for the past 10+ years. Oh, wait, we make parts for Mitsubishi here too. Damn! Anyone recall when Ford's Crown Vic was runner up for IMPORT car of the year? Tim D.
I had a bad experience with some of the younger tuner guys earlier this year. Besides my projects I have an 87 Monte SS that I installed my spare race engine in this past winter. It got a radical cam, headers, runs on Sunoco 110 ($4.89 a gallon around here) it's a nice car, and I had the T-tops out cruising one night when I saw a parking lot full of people and cars. I wheeled in and soon realized I was out of my element. Wings, body kits, wrong wheel drive and a bunch of guys that probably couldn't get into the bars. Crotch rockets, pit bulls on big chains, you get the picture. I just slowly rolled through nodded at a couple of guys who were basically blocking the exit. As I got past them I heard a few of them talking shit about my "junk" car. I just had to laugh, my car is 20 years old, looks bone stock from the outside and gets compliments and thumbs up everywhere I go. Most people just laugh when they see the tuners and I guarantee people aren't going to be restoring Civics 50 years from now and making the period correct with carbon fiber hoods and 5" exhaust.
I have to say that this thread is one of the best I have read. Thanks to everyone who posted!! I now have a view from both sides and I can live with that.I just need to be more open minded with people who don't get it. Keith
I always thought a flathead was a big mean ol' catfish. Not everybody gets everything and not everything is for everbody. I for the life of me cannot figure out the appeal piercings in places other that the earlobe BUT that doesn't mean I look down on those that have them. Personal choice is what it all comes down to. I dig what I dig, you dig what you dig. Can you dig it?
That is my thought's exactly. It doesn't totally have to do with age but obviously younger people have grown up without the same cultural icons etc. we have just like we didn't have the same as our parents. However I think my folks culture was probably not as far away to me as the kids today are to their parents, which is hardly a surprise due to the cultural landscape of today, with some many things vieing for your attention (and cash). I liken it to when you discover a really great new band ( when you could actually FIND a good new band!) and you tell everyone you know about them. They release some more music start getting more following and they final go to the top. Then you end up hating all the new fans who seem to have just jumped on the band wagon! It's stupid but it's like a secret, once you tell someone it isn't secret anymore but you can't help yourself. It's the old "careful what you ask for" syndrome. I think this is really an age old conundrum that people have discussed in the past and will again in the future. Stu
Id have to slap someone that looked puzzled when I asked what a flathead was and they gave me that "lost in space look". OPEN A BOOK AND EDUCATE YOURSELF
i think it comes down to this: we are all artists who love to paint and share the passion..we just chose to use different kinds of canvas's. And what the hell is wrong with that? NOT A DAMNED THING!!!
Imports/tuner cars suck. Sorry for not being pc but I don't play the "Let's all just get along game". Cheers.
it's not just kids..i've met full grown MEN with KIDS my age and they dont know the 1st thing about even working on a car! creepy
closed mindedness and ignorance don't get anyone anywhere...who cares if they're into imports....you don't have to be, but they're into something...
People and especially kids, who dont get it, dont get it because they have never been exposed to it, unless youre fortunate enough to have someone in your family who is into it. Imagine being 20 years old now and what kinds of cars you have to choose from, what type of influences you had growing up from the media. Hot Rods are no longer as big a part of culture as they once were. There are no Roth cars on TV shows, Happy Days is not on Prime Time any more. There are no 32 Ford Roadsters in video games. They have never driven a RWD car They have never driven a V8 car. They have never driven a car with a carburetor. They have never driven a roadster. They never driven nor had the experience of driving a car with a powerful V8 that has a decent cam in it. The way it sounds as it idles and shakes, the way the front end rises as it sits you back into the seat when you get into it. All these experiences are pretty powerful in the way they affect people. If youve ever gone for a ride in car you werent ever interested in, and the experience its self turned you into a fan you know what Im talking about. If they dont get it, its because they dont know any better. Gus
I work with some people who like golf. Really, really like golf, and yak all day about it. Sometimes I get invited to golf, or get asked whether I watched the Whatever Open on TV last weekend. When I tell them I really don't have the slightest interest in golf, or golfers, or golfing, they'll sit there and look at me like I'm a space alien. Even tho I get a good chuckle at hot rod ignorance ("that's a cute dune buggy!") I realize ours an offbeat enthusiasm, and don't expect anybody - whether they're 19 or 91 - to share it. I'm happily surprised if they do, but it doesn't really matter.
By the same token though some 18 year old kid could probably ask about the latest and greatest piece of technology and would probably get the same "lost in space look". And realistically his knowledge is probably more relevant to what is and will be going on in the world. It is definitely about preserving the history of things but I would bet that the majority of teens in the 50's didn't give a rats ass about the history that their parents talked about either. As long as some care it will carry on.
I would like to think everyone could get the hotrodding bug just by looking at old cars but that is not the case. I had this effect way before I owned one myself. I would also like to think that it takes a special breed to live and breath "traditional hotrodding". My take on it is, a person who is willing to make junk into gold and never questioning if it could be done or not are traditionalist types. I also believe that these same people are 1.respectful to their elders, 2. the love for anything that is vintage and with history, 3. have plenty of patience ( finding a part and not drive the car with a second-rate fix). not saying that non-traditionalist are not this way but my general consensus in my experince is just that. I was lucky enough to be raised right for the first two, but sticking with this hobby I am soon learning #3. It's not for everyone and I like it that way.
I get it....My wife drives an import waiting to be supercharged, I drive a 39 custom waiting to get candy paint sprayed on it, and I drive a lowered work truck with a turbo soon to be in it... I get it...I'm a car guy...I can care less what any of you turds think about my import or anything else...No matter how much you argue about it red in the face.....you are the ones that may never "get it"... Lux, quit saying nice things about me on the hamb...haha Thanks bud! btw, if it weren't for some of the hardcore hot rodders, hard core tuners, and hard core truck guys...I wouldn't have got it. Lux and plenty others on this board I've met are just it....CAR GUYS
Hey now! Im only 17 and Iv got 3 model A's and all i do is eat sleep and dream about the things, I think I might just be the second generation Of a true hotrodder. I dont hack thing either so screw all the riceburners, this hobby/lifestyle aint goin away as long as I am alive! JG
I've lurked on this and other forums for a few years now Over that time I have learned a great deal...I just turned 17 and am into old cars like a sickness! It is what I dream,draw and talk about 24/7...Thats pretty hard when your old man has "better things to do" than sit and listen to me babble about something he has no interest in "that was then this is now".I wasn't born into this hobby,its something I've had to fight for/work for.I'm on my own here! I dont care what anyone says...I get it!!!
Variety is the spice of life!! Some people will get into rods early, some later, and some you DON'T want to get into them at all!!
My stepfather had more important things to worry about as well, and never saw the point of my interest in those damned old cars. He bought a T-bucket to build, cuz he used to be a car guy (according to him) and hadn't the slightest clue what he was doing with it. He never encouraged my interest in cars. To be fair, the interest was there before he came along - when I was growing up in a house with my mother and sister ...... and my grandmother ......... and my great grandmother too. Not a car person in the bunch, except little old me! What does being 20 have to do with it ......... we'll get to that when I cover your list. There were Roth cars on TV shows? I can't say I can recall when it was. Saw the reruns though, mostly when the weather was too nasty to do anything else after school.......or I wasn't working and the weather was too nasty to do anything else. Actually, I think there are some video games with '32 Fords I know people my age (37 today) that hit every one of those. Yes, fuel injection and front wheel drive have been around that long now. Tons of people fit that statement, old and young. Many who have had that experience have no appreciation for it either. Just because you have the experience doesn't mean you'll like it. Me either! Soon enough, well, not quite soon enough maybe, but one day Those who are into cars get it enough for me - no matter their personal taste in vehicles. Doesn't mean I won't offer my opinion about their cars, but that's my right Those who are into golf .......... well, they know how to waste a perfectly good walk! Oh, and I'm pretty sure the "crusher laws" were penned by the people who really Don't fucking get it! Otherwise, to each his or her own. Tim D.
(Im 28) for me... I would have to say that probably the main thing that influenced me was bench seats. My first car was a 4 door '64 ford fairlane, and as a teenager, who can appreciate that?
Alright I'm 20 years old and for the most part if most of you saw me on a normal day you would have no idea that I'm in love with old iron, and an ASE certified collision tech. I'm tall and skinny, have blue hair and 4 eyebrow piercings. I look nothing like you would epect, those of you who met me at the Tyrods show can vouch for it. I grew up in a house where not a single person was into cars except myself. one of the first things that struck my interest was when my childhood friends dad bought a new '95 mustang gt and took us for a ride, i was 9 or 10 at the time. since then my interest in american muscle cars grew, and that all I really knew untill I started the job I'm at now. Since then I have learned so much about pre-60's cars its not funny. As some of you have said, my generation has so much to choose from for interests, you can't expect many people to 'get' old school cars. Im fortunate enough to have met a few "grey beards" and have learned alot, and continue to learn. For example my next door neighbor is 26, he does computer stuff for a living but for hobby has a pretty nice subaru. He has a Subaru WRX STi with 350 hp at the wheels. One day when i was helping him change his intake I asked him why he was playing with imports instead of classics, he told me its because he doesnt know much about them. He likes them but doesnt really have any knowledge, so he does what he knows, he did tell me that when I get an old car on he wants to help me out so he can learn about them. So these import guys do get it, they just might not have the knowledge or means to have the old cars like what we have/like. Just like speedaddict I do also respect and like some of the newer cars. I love my neighbors subaru and love going out in it, it is damn fast and fun to drive. but when it comes to those cars I firmly believe in all go no show, if it goes on the car, it will most likely make it faster, handle better, or stop better.
today's kids are materialistic to the point of being inept. Many won't turn a wrench, they want to buy their way in. They judge cars by the model year. Recent remarks I've heard aimed at hot rodders by these types of kids on the net are "get something made in this century". you are right, they just don't get it- most likely because they are at the age of infinite knowledge- 19 blame can also be put on the TV, radio, papers, etc.- which constantly push anything that's "new" as the best and the only way to go- little do they know how bad they are being screwed when they follow that advertising advice and buy that new stuff a $20,000 commuter is worth about $2,000 in trade in, after 75,000 and 4 years. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me... what really bugs me, is the ricers- who think foreign cars are always better than American yet GM is still the #1 car company in the world in sales units...and the Big Three still remain in the top 6 overall the drive-by media has brainwashed a lot of Americans, into believing American cars are inferior- but just let something become a "status symbol", and they're all over it- no matter the cost or mileage- like the SUV/truck craze I'm seeing a lot of Hummers, Denalis, Escalades, etc. running around, with armor-alled tires and not a spec of dirt on them- all 4X4's that never saw more than 3" of snow on a paved highway. If it snows any more than that, they stay home and don't drive- so why have it then ? And off-roading one is out of the question, it might get scratched !
while a lot of people are mad that young guys don't "get it", I'd venture to say 90% of those on this board could give a rat's ass about anything but traditional hot rods and kustoms. It cuts both ways. I could care less about learning how to work on fuel injection, use a diagnostic computer, or mold carbon fiber. I just don't care, so there's plenty of people saying we don't "get it" but piss off- this is the HAMB!
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