Not enough younger people in this hobby...

[Frankie]

I respectfully disagree. Rare maybe, but certainly not gone.

OK. I'll give you, "rare", and I'll add, "...and dying". It's just not happening in the automotive field any longer, for a number of reasons that included, but are not limited to, Cost, necessity, and legality.

The cost of "old school" MoPar brand loyalty is elevated by the big car auctions like BJ, where even relative junk is a five figure proposition. Today, a "Parts car" can cost you mid 4 figures. These are cars that people used to sell of for a hundred dollars,, of less, not too long ago.

The necessity to build HO via cubic inches, expensive parts, and mechanical knowledge, can now be easily matched by a small 8 cylinder, or even fewer cylinders, and replacing a chip, and "tuning" it on a computer, a larger TB ( actually far cheaper than a 4Bbl. carb, and a car that weighs nearly a thousand lbs less the the behemoths we sport around in.

We are watching, and living through the end of an era, that lasted about 120 years.

The government is always legislating against us in small, incremental steps, via, emissions, via MPH, gas prices, "Antique tag" fees, and numerous other ways.

The tree huggers in the Democrat party have had legislation pending that will make cars, any cars, over 25 years old, nothing more than parade pieces, by limiting the miles per years they can be legally driven, by raising the cost of registrations for these vehicles, and by disallowing their use on some roads.

The electronic, fel injected, small displacement engine, is the "hot Rod" of the no so distant furture, if these people have their way, and while SEMA denies it, as most of us, here, do, also, the fact that things are trending in that direction has not gone away. All of us, and I include myself in that group, have a tendency to "wish" it away, but it's not leaving, its' growing with each new generation of drivers.

The number of MoPar classic muscle car gear heads is dwindling for the "modern classics".
The FWD'ers, and the 3rd. Gen FI Hemis.

Sure, there will be MoPar enthusiasts around for ever, and some will be the Classic muscle car guys like us. But, as time passes, MOST will not be. The bulk of MoPar enthusiasm will be centered around the new stuff, the more affordable, and more abundantly available "Modern Muscle", that groups like us, and organizations like BJ, will assure are far too costly for the newer, younger generations to afford in mass.

There will still be rich collectors, who will remember dad's Roadrunner, but far, fr more will be remember Dad's Chrylser 200.

 

[Saverio]

I consider myself young (I'm 36), well at least I feel young!

I have absolutely ZERO car background. My dad wasn't a car guy and we didn't have a great relationship so, I didn't get to grow up with this stuff like most everyone else.

I'm not a MOPAR elitist though, I love all the old cars. I've always been fascinated by them. I have already seen my kids have a desire to go car shows and help me tinker with the Scamp, so that is good!

 

[doogievlg]

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That's what the stands typically look like for heads up racing here.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I am not talking about brand loyalty here. I am simply talking about an honest love for old hot rods, muscle cars and where they came from. I am like you in that I like Mopar best, but I am not brand loyal in that I like them all as long as they are old and American. To exclude other American makes is small minded, especially with the points you make and the cars themselves disappearing.

OK. I'll give you, "rare", and I'll add, "...and dying". It's just not happening in the automotive field any longer, for a number of reasons that included, but are not limited to, Cost, necessity, and legality.

The cost of "old school" MoPar brand loyalty is elevated by the big car auctions like BJ, where even relative junk is a five figure proposition. Today, a "Parts car" can cost you mid 4 figures. These are cars that people used to sell of for a hundred dollars,, of less, not too long ago.

The necessity to build HO via cubic inches, expensive parts, and mechanical knowledge, can now be easily matched by a small 8 cylinder, or even fewer cylinders, and replacing a chip, and "tuning" it on a computer, a larger TB ( actually far cheaper than a 4Bbl. carb, and a car that weighs nearly a thousand lbs less the the behemoths we sport around in.

We are watching, and living through the end of an era, that lasted about 120 years.

The government is always legislating against us in small, incremental steps, via, emissions, via MPH, gas prices, "Antique tag" fees, and numerous other ways.

The tree huggers in the Democrat party have had legislation pending that will make cars, any cars, over 25 years old, nothing more than parade pieces, by limiting the miles per years they can be legally driven, by raising the cost of registrations for these vehicles, and by disallowing their use on some roads.

The electronic, fel injected, small displacement engine, is the "hot Rod" of the no so distant furture, if these people have their way, and while SEMA denies it, as most of us, here, do, also, the fact that things are trending in that direction has not gone away. All of us, and I include myself in that group, have a tendency to "wish" it away, but it's not leaving, its' growing with each new generation of drivers.

The number of MoPar classic muscle car gear heads is dwindling for the "modern classics".
The FWD'ers, and the 3rd. Gen FI Hemis.

Sure, there will be MoPar enthusiasts around for ever, and some will be the Classic muscle car guys like us. But, as time passes, MOST will not be. The bulk of MoPar enthusiasm will be centered around the new stuff, the more affordable, and more abundantly available "Modern Muscle", that groups like us, and organizations like BJ, will assure are far too costly for the newer, younger generations to afford in mass.

There will still be rich collectors, who will remember dad's Roadrunner, but far, fr more will be remember Dad's Chrylser 200.

 

[BlueDream]

I am not talking about brand loyalty here. I am simply talking about an honest love for old hot rods, muscle cars and where they came from. I am like you in that I like Mopar best, but I am not brand loyal in that I like them all as long as they are old and American. To exclude other American makes is small minded, especially with the points you make and the cars themselves disappearing.

There's just something cool about classic American cars. My preference is Mopar but I enjoy all American cars. At car shows I can drool over a cool '55 Chevy as I can an AAR Cuda. I don't understand how people can talk about how much they love American cars and then they talk trash on anything that isn't their favorite brand. A couple of years ago I saw a guy driving a red '69 Camaro Z/28 and I was in a red 2012 Camaro SS and we may have done a little street racing between red lights. It was a lot of fun. My uncle has taught me most of what I know about working on cars and he's mostly a Chevy guy. He lets me use his shop to work on my car and sometimes I help him on projects that he's working on. We painted a '58 Chevy stepside and right now there's a '71 International Scout in the paint booth and it's neat as can be. He's been working on an '85 Chevy truck now for about 8 years. He paid $66 for the truck and it was a long bed and had a 305 (short bed, 355 now). I absolutely love what he's done to the truck. Who cares if it's not a Mopar? He took an ugly beat up old truck and made it into something badass and different. I think it's good for people to branch out and enjoy all American cars. One thing I hate though is when people comment on my Dart and say what a nice Nova I have...

 

[DarthSwinger]

I'm 25, and I've always liked the 60's-70's American stuff. My first car was a '68 Charger, and that will always be the "it" car for me. I can trace it back to the moment the baddies first gunned it in Bullitt at the beginning of the chase. Unfortunately mine was killed when someone missed their red light. I've been lucky to have found a way to have bought, owned, worked on, raced, and sold a number of cars. American, German, Japanese, Italian, etc, as old as 1956 and as new as 2012. The previous comments here along the lines of "people search for the aspirational cars of their youth" are true. My parents weren't car people, but my dad had an E46 M3 for a while, and because of the way I felt about that car, I have a 2006 Z4M Roadster in the stable. My 1984 Alfa Romeo GTV6 will never leave my sight again....I made the mistake of selling it once mid engine swap, and managed to buy it back, and wouldn't you know it, the engine is out getting rebuilt now. It never ends, but I love that thing.

Then there are the Mopars. Besides the Charger, I had a 1959 Saratoga for a while, and now the '74 Swinger and the '67 fish. People who are into cars will be into cars. Sometimes it's old iron, sometimes it's more modern compacts.

It does seem though that the "Young Guns" here are fairly well subscribed. They will find a way. It is disconcerting that the cars we generally talk about on this forum are creeping out of the range of some younger enthusiasts, but again, like others have said, there are plenty of interesting, engaging, affordable performance cars from the 80s and 90s that are ripe for the next generation of guys and gals.

Different scenes bring out different people as well. Car shows vs the strip, etc. Even at the venue, there are some older guys with new mustangs built completely with a checkbook, and some who have the same old pickup they had in high school, and it's been a homebuilt street machine its whole life.

I'm not worried about the lack of younger people in the hobby. They are in the hobby, just often not in these cars. We just need to all share in it, and expose our friends and family to the part of the hobby we like, and they may join in. I'd happily park the Swinger next to one of my best friend's bagged Miata because that's what he loves. I like his, he likes mine.

 

[67 prostreet gt]

I love old cars newest car I have owned so far is a 96 Ram and she isn't going anywhere ever same with my dart, yes the dart pisses me off a lot with it needing everything to be built by hand but at the end of the day I built it on my own with my hands and no one else can say that about MY car. I have a bunch of cars friends but their all into the new stuff and when they come over to help on the Dart their always like "Why u working on this old thing" or "LS swap this *****" or my personal favorite "Why r u running a carb that is so old man ****" but for me old cars are and will always be my way of life everything I do is cause of cars.

 

[barbee6043]

In Missouri, we buy an antique tag once, good forever. costs squat. collector car insurance, cheap.
the affect that what few miles old cars are driven and their affect on pollution, mileage stats, etc. are a non factor, and any " politician" should recognize that.
politicians, as a whole are idiots and corrupt. it is up to the public to somehow keep them in check!??? just me..

 

[goldduster318]

You won't get a ton of younger people into these since they usually require a lot of time to get paint/body/engine, etc running right. Not everyone can own 2-3 cars like myself.

The other problem I find is that there are a lot of Mopar people who are seemingly against a lot of the things younger people are more likely to do for an upgrade. Things like lowering, 18's, really wide tires, fuel injection, etc. It amazes me how many topics I still read about .484 purple shafts, long shackles, air shocks, and BFG radial t/a's every year. That stuff is all totally antiquated.

The great thing in the A-body community is that we're finally starting to get parts and results from those parts showing that these cars can be made into some serious threats in a straight line, at an autocross, or even at a road course. It's a great car when you put some work into it.

I'm sure I'll get some flack for my finished product - EFI/coil near plug 470hp 340/4-speed, Hotchkis suspension on 18's with 275's all around. And I don't care either.

It's still going to be a car that's ~25k to build. There are some newer cars you can buy for that price that give that type of performance but they're very cookie cutter and boring.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I am not "against" anything anyone wants to do to their car. That said, that doesn't mean I have to like everything either. Whether I am "for" or "against" something is only in regard to what I want from my cars. Since someone else's car is not my decision, I don't really care.

That said, I wouldn't stop helping a young person for example, if he wanted my help putting 18s on his car. I have to admit, while it is not a mod I would do to my own, I have seen some that were executed quite well.

At least that young person who is putting 18s on his or her car is fixing up something old and American and not another damned Honda.

 

[barbee6043]

old man ****!?? LOL yes I guess so....

a lot of this difference in taste comes from a few different angles. we, the older generation, were there, we relate to the cars of the 60;s, drag racing and Nascar of THAT era. the younger crowd reads about it but not the same. kinda like being there and watching a movie about it?
another thing. younger people want to put their "stamp" on things, just normal. maybe they want their car build to reflect them, not what grandpa represents?
and like RRR said, just because I don't care for , lets say, 18 in rims on these old cars, that is just our taste. others do what they like, it fine.. at least they are doing Americans cars, not foreign " stuff".
another important thing perhaps some miss is the fact these cars were engineered back in the 60's. they handled a whole lot better than the earlier cars. these cars of ours can run, handle, and yes stop.. just fine with 60-70 technology. go back and study the Mopar Action article from decades back title something like " the green brick".
so yes I understand changing out the whole bottom of the 40s -50's cars, to modern stuff. if someone wants to do that to their 65 dart , so be it, but I still say its not necessary. I don't have to like it, but then, who cares anyway, we all have opinions and that's fine...