Too young, or wrong area?

68 years old --first car a 1950 Buick-dynaflo trans -- i was 16 made the money [200 dollars]-skidding logs with a horse-that car was only 5 years old -- i was hot stuff at school

in the late 60s and early 70s the cars i played with was 56 fords-- still think the 56 Vickie is the beas looking car ever made-- now its what ever i can find for a reasonable price and says ford on it --

iv had 34 ply coupe-- 39 Pontiac coupe ford coupe street rods all put together with junk yard parts-- -

i dont ever sell a part --i will give any part to some one that needs one and will use it -- dont sell my parts -pass them along if you cant use it--

nothing wrong with kids today- just being kids -- different time -- thats all-

Semper Fi -to all who served and are serving now -- stay safe

Something that nobody has mentioned is that the brighter of the kids realize that they need to get a further education after they graduate from HS. Decent jobs for the undereducated are few and far between nowadays. Competition to get into decent colleges is fierce as is getting a scholarship or student loan, so many of them put their time into upping their SAT scores rather than wrenching on a Foxstang.

Also, I've noticed more interest among the younger folks over at the HAMB board rather than at the Muscle Car oriented sites. I do believe that many of the more talented youngins are more interested in building a traditional style Hot Rod,, learning rodding's history, how to chop tops, build flatheads and such rather than "restomodding" a Mustang or Galaxie. I don't blame 'em either. The restomod movement has really REALLY gotten long in the tooth anyway, IMO.

Jan

I remember the Dyna-Flow. Went to school on rebuilding them many, many years ago. Everything was done with the torque convertor, the transmission never shifted. Just a lot of slipping through the convertor.

When you floored it from a stop it would sound like a high stall speed convertor and the engine would roar as the car slowly caught up speed with it.

Originally Posted by Gearhead99

When I go to the car shows, and I go to many, they are ALL graying men there. Sure, we have more $$$, but I think it has to do more with what we grew up around the 50's, 60's and 70's with the automobile scene.

Ok, now you're just talking about a "classic" car show. This all goes back to what I said earlier. Most people that collect and/or restore muscle cars were around during the muscle car era. It's what they're comfortable with and grew up wanting.

Flash forward to today.... Have you ever been to a NOPI show? There are just as many young kids at a NOPI show as there are older people at classic car shows, if not more. It's just a new era....

It's plain and simple. A kid wants what his friend or next door neighbor has, and in most cases nowadays, his friend drives a turbo'd SI or twin turbo Supra, and not a 64 Galaxie or 66 Mustang.

Oh yeah, I have been to a couple NOPI shows with some friends, and there are plenty of classics there and they're all driven by mid-20-year olds. People want to be around people they're comfortable with as well, and the average 22 year old has a lot more in common with other 22 year olds, even if they have to hang around ricers all day long....

Just my 2 cents.... Although I consider myself easy to talk to no matter what age you might be.... ;-)

I think 72Blackonblack has explained it well with the generation gap. Younger kids have their own type of car craft. Don't expect them, for the most part, to follow us older farts.
Another point, if I was a sixteen year old today and I was about to purchase my first car, I would go out and buy a car that I could safely drive now visavis a car that I would have to work on for five years in hopes of one day getting it up to par to drive in todays madhouse.
Times have change and one day the kids of today will be asking the same questions when they are older.

Originally Posted by retyler

... Don't expect them, for the most part, to follow us older farts...
... if I was a sixteen year old today and I was about to purchase my first car, I would go out and buy a car that I could safely drive now ...
...Times have change and one day the kids of today will be asking the same questions when they are older...

All your points are valid. I even agree with them.
The original point of the thread was "not being able to find" old project cars, for that remark, I strenuously disagree. Again, they are out there, they can be purchased for less than a mortgage on your 1st born, you just need to put in time, money, sweat - pick two! 'cause if you want all 3, you will be disappointed. That's if you want an older car. If someone expects a free pass (or discount ticket) to the wonderful world or hot rodding, resto-mods, etc -then he would be better off going with a Civic, Focus, or Subaru - I'm more than OK with that too.

The reason Hot rods are expensive is the talent, dedication, knowledge, skills and raw materials (junk cars, junk parts) are hard to find and even harder to develop today than they were in the past. I still find it hard to believe that Wyotech is making money off giving classes and training on building Hot rods? For American kids, thats like giving them instructions on how to play baseball, throw footballs or eat apple pie.

Car crafting never was a cheap hobby. Even back in the day, you paid for your project car on the installment plan. If I had had access to the kind o money some of the rich kids had, all in one lump sum, then things might have been different for me too. But it wasn't - as a result I learned a lot more about myself, backyard engineering and human nature than most of those priviledged kids ever did or ever will.

In the words of Tom Hanks, in "League of their Own" ... there is no crying -(Whining) - in Baseball! Why is she (He) crying?

Originally Posted by tbirdchick

Something that nobody has mentioned is that the brighter of the kids realize that they need to get a further education after they graduate from HS. Decent jobs for the undereducated are few and far between nowadays. Competition to get into decent colleges is fierce as is getting a scholarship or student loan, so many of them put their time into upping their SAT scores rather than wrenching on a Foxstang.

Also, I've noticed more interest among the younger folks over at the HAMB board rather than at the Muscle Car oriented sites. I do believe that many of the more talented youngins are more interested in building a traditional style Hot Rod,, learning rodding's history, how to chop tops, build flatheads and such rather than "restomodding" a Mustang or Galaxie. I don't blame 'em either. The restomod movement has really REALLY gotten long in the tooth anyway, IMO.

Jan

I would agree that the level of cars that you need to build to be envied is much higher. But if you want the expereince, its the same as it ever was.

How can resto-mod get old? What you have is just the progression of the hobby. Just like a top of the line hot rod today, may have ferrari engine in it rather than a flat head or sbf/sbc, push rod v-8, that doesn't mean that many guys are still building them at the level and style that makes him happy. Maybe you are confusing resto-mod with Pro street. I never got into the Pro street excess frame of mind. I did and still do enjoy seeing a Pro streeter, blowers, mile wide slicks and flashy chrome and big money paint jobs - but I look at them like super models, high maintainance, beautiful, but not what I would like to come home to or have to depend on. Resto-mod to me, is a nice blend between the stock 50's or 60's car with all the original flaws - made better with disck brakes, EFI if you have a mind to deal with it, yet wrapped in the original package. That takes time and talent to put together. But done right, you shouldn't even notice the changes on first glance. It should look different, but you shouldn't be able to tell exactly what changed.

You know you got it right when some older guy tells you that he had one or his uncle, brother, etc... "just like" that, execpt for the wheels,... back when ....!

Originally Posted by Beoweolf

I would agree that the level of cars that you need to build to be envied is much higher. But if you want the expereince, its the same as it ever was.

How can resto-mod get old? What you have is just the progression of the hobby. Just like a top of the line hot rod today, may have ferrari engine in it rather than a flat head or sbf/sbc, push rod v-8, that doesn't mean that many guys are still building them at the level and style that makes him happy. Maybe you are confusing resto-mod with Pro street. I never got into the Pro street excess frame of mind. I did and still do enjoy seeing a Pro streeter, blowers, mile wide slicks and flashy chrome and big money paint jobs - but I look at them like super models, high maintainance, beautiful, but not what I would like to come home to or have to depend on. Resto-mod to me, is a nice blend between the stock 50's or 60's car with all the original flaws - made better with disck brakes, EFI if you have a mind to deal with it, yet wrapped in the original package. That takes time and talent to put together. But done right, you shouldn't even notice the changes on first glance. It should look different, but you shouldn't be able to tell exactly what changed.

You know you got it right when some older guy tells you that he had one or his uncle, brother, etc... "just like" that, execpt for the wheels,... back when ....!

Perhaps I used the wrong words or should've given an example, but no, I'm not confusing Pro Street with a Restomod. I have a friend who put 7-8 years and $30K into a '79 Pro Street Thunderbird....awesome car, homemade EFI on a Tunnelrammed 460, wheelie bars, shaved door handles, an '89 T-Bird dash and door panels and a million little tricks you would never notice. But this car is 100% impractical as a driver. He's had it on eBay twice and it never brought over $4000. So much for Pro Street...

The Restomod movement is fine, but it's just gotten stale because everybody builds the same cars. Please don't think I'm trying to hurt anyone's feelings, but a red Restomodded '67 Mustang is generally the same as a million others. They're 'safe' because everybody loves Mustangs. I do too. I'm an equal opportunity insulter.., but it's the same deal with Galaxies, Fairlanes, Falcons, Comets or what have you. Old time Hot Rodders always prided themselves on oneupsmanship and building something different. So why not take a '65 Rambler American hardtop as an example, put a MII front end under it, install a Ford powertrain of your choice with a rear disc brake rear, build a coil over suspension for all 4 corners, put on the wheels of your choice and add your own finishing touches. It would take some skill to do it, but none that most here couldn't learn and by being inventive with used parts, this car could be built for the same money as a Mustang, or maybe less. This is one reason that I admire my buddy F15 (Tom). He's his own dog, builds his cars based on simple principals but are definitely different! Granted, he has more shop equipment than most, but 99.9% of the things he shows us don't require that much machine work and if you own a rod, you should have a machinest friend.

I'm taking a 'go my own way' track with my '64 Ford Tudor. Remember, this car is secondary to my dirt tracker. I've got 2 460s, one with DOVE heads and an EFI 302 HO complete with computer and wiring from a '92 Lincoln LSC sitting in my garage. But I'm keeping the original 223 6 under the hood. Why? Just because I like it. I've got a set of high lift rocker arms for it and can fab up a 2bbl. intake and header in my shop without much grief. A 300 Duraspark distributor swap is in the works with a GM module to fire it. If I want to swap mills someday, it'll likely be for a 300 6. I've got a T-Bird disc brake setup here, but I'm going with just a dual pot M/C for safety until further notice because drums work just as well as ever. I have a few suspension changes planned, but with parts I have lying around. I've got some wheel choices too, all of them steel.

As for the exterior, what is not Rustoleum Semi Gloss black will be sprayed with Rustoleum clear to protect the patina. This car is NOT a rat rod, but *I*
enjoy keeping this car looking close to it's roots. My killer stereo is the Cherry Bomb on the end of my tailpipe.

Is this car "safe" as in a crowd pleaser, heck no! Do I care,,,same answer. I don't particularly enjoy cruise nights...sitting in a lawn chair next to a car is boring to me. But I do enjoy driving it which is the purpose of a fun car. I don't expect anyone else here to copy my ideas or understand my motives anyway.

Jan...doin' my own thing.

Interesting thread and brings up some good points, but things change as the culture and environment have changed for these youngsters (some of the previous posts brought this up with good examples). I agree - it is a very expensive sport to get into today.

Let me start by saying I'm 39 and when I was a teenager in the mid-80's my parents and friends were not into cars, but I got into it because I liked the 60's muscle car style (sorry those mid-70 to early 80's cars never did anything for me). When I saw a 1967 Mustang coupe driving around the neighborhood in 1985 I decided I was going to buy one because it looked cool. Two years later, with some hard work, I had a 1967 coupe with a 289 and had a lot to learn about cars (I wish the internet was around back then). I still own that car today along with two more 60's Mustangs. Maybe if i was a teenager today I would buy a late 80's Mustang???

I've also noticed the average age of people at these classic car shows and clubs...seems like they are mainly retired folks enjoying company. I have not been to a NOPI show, but have watched them on the Speed Channel to see what's the latest auto electronic trends, how fast can you get a front wheel drive ricer to go in the quarter mile, drifting into concrete dividers, and the bikini contests of course! I don't care what cars these kids want today, but I do like that they can still take some pride into building something...even if it is a ricer! But, I will remind them of push-rod-power if the need arises.