True car people are becoming a thing of the past
I say that because I used to be able to talk car with quite a few guys at work. These days at my current job there is no one. Although I have had two young guys approach me wanting to learn about cars and I even sold a Valiant to one, but they are young and do not carry meaningful car conversations. There really is no where for them to learn. The old auto school I went to is now closed off and most of the equipment is in urban decay mode, the old race track is now closed. All the old machine shops are closed and most of the old timer machinists have moved on to the salvage yards in the sky. All of the old salvage yards are either shut down and torn down or have been converted to a ten year or newer pick a part. I went to insure my valiant the other day (new daily driver) hardly any of the insurance companies want to insure any car before 1981. Only one classic car company will insure it with no miliage or other restrictions. Hagerty has their nerve to tell how us how many miles we can drive and control when and where we drive. Not trying to get political here, in fact please don't, just pointing out how much the world has changed.
Car shows are a complete waste of time these days, they look like dodge dealership parking lots and the old cars that used to be regulars are gone.
It's been a great 20 year run that I have been into old mopars but it's just not the same anymore even though I won't stop driving the valiant or dart any time soon.
Here's to the "good ol days" (pretty much anytime before covid)
I have never worked where there were real car guys or girls. Call it a special breed. You should have been around when I was growing up. Old timers that knew everything about any make. Ask Jack what problem you had, give him a year and a make and he would nail it, all the way back to a Model A Ford. He had a saying, "We can do anything, the impossible just takes a little longer". Had a machinist next door, that when he retired offered me a valve grinding set that was like new for $500, and I was too stupid to find the money. Worked at small Chrysler dealership and learned how to rebuild everything including starters and alternators. We moved to Marion, South Dakota because dad wanted to buy a General Store. My cousin Kelley and I would work all day, eat dinner, grab a frozen Milky Way and a Dr Pepper, and work in his dad's shop till midnight. We'd swap engines and transmissions in an afternoon. His friend Venice was always buying two Chevys that we would swap the blown motor from one and put the decent motor from a wreck back into it to get him by a little longer. At this point I was rebuilding engines for other people out of my garage with a chainfall, never advertised, always busy. Then we moved to Maryland and had friends interested in cars, but stopped rebuilding engines for people after a couple bad experiences. The people were cheats, liars, or just too stupid. Talked cars with Jim at Racer Brown, became friends with one of the best front end and brake guys in the Baltimore area, found JB's Machine Shop who would do what you wanted, and there were plenty shows and Mopar people.
Anyway, my cars are covered by Hagerty and am not aware of any restrictions. Everything from the 66 and 67 Barracudas, a 96 ACR Neon, a 2001 Cherokee, a 2009 Challenger R/T 6 speed. I have 4 kids. My 2nd oldest daughter will get the 68 fastback 383 Automatic Formula S. Not sure where the other 2 Barracudas will go, let alone all the parts and tools... Oldest daughter lives in Portland and has never shown any interest. Youngest daughter and her husband do not drive, and it looks like my son will never have a garage or be able to maintain a classic car. I'm holding out for one of the grandchildren, time will tell. I feel extremely lucky to have lived when and where I have lived in this life. In the mean time, you have us.
