"The Hobby Is Dying"

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Being one of the under 20 years old crowd I would say the hobby is not really dying, but interest in it definitely has. One thing that I have noticed with some of my school friends is that kids nowadays do not have any drive. Most of the kids at my school (i'd say 90%) are just floating around waiting for something to click or waiting on their parents to give them instructions on how to act and live.
There is a lack of stones in people now; no initiative, and no goals. They just follow the latest trends and try to stick to the mob. I have always loved cars and especially muscle cars. Last year when I just turned 16 I went job hunting because I wanted a muscle car. I got a job working 4am-6am. I saved and bought my duster for $1700. Then I spent almost all of my time just working on the thing to get it going the way I wanted it. Hell I am still working at it.
If anyone my age decided they wanted to get into the hobby, then they would try and find the easiest way possible to do so. There is no concept of "if you want something you need to work for it" anymore. It also does not help that most every person who is selling an old car wants top barrett-jackson prices for them. or they just do not entertain the idea of anyone new getting into the hobby.
When I went to my first cruise night in the duster last year there were at least 40-50 people (crotchety old dudes) just ripping my car to shreds. pointing out every little detail that was wrong and just being pieces of ****. Then they got into their kia or new ford truck and leave. like what the hell.
Only THREE people were encouraging of a young guy getting into the hobby and were nice.
So those are my reasons why the hobby is slowing or seems like it is dying.
 
Us car guys have always been in the minority. Think about it. Our high school parkin lots always had a smaller population of hot rods compared to everything else. We were really, really fortunate to come up when we did. Auto shop and wood shop and such, home ec, all that, were really on the way out when we went to school in the late 70s, early 80s. Course, I had the bug before all that, but my high school auto shop teach was really guilty of settin the hook. Hard. That old guy really knew his stuff and I am still honored to have spent time with him. If schools would embrace vocational training again, instead of rejecting it, we might see a resurgence. Jones County High School, for example, still has a full auto shop complete with in ground lifts and the whole bit. Just sittin. Being used as storage. Sad, really.
 
And I'll also add this. If I hear someone say "The car hobby is dying" and they really mean it, I consider them part of the problem.
 
Not reading this whole entire thread I'll just say that if they end up killing gas in the next 5 yrs in the states ...it'd be a good idea to sell now.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Not reading this whole entire thread I'll just say that if they end up killing gas in the next 5 yrs in the states ...it'd be a good idea to sell now.
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Not me

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MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Not reading this whole entire thread I'll just say that if they end up killing gas in the next 5 yrs in the states ...it'd be a good idea to sell now.
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Muh huh. All them cargo ships runnin on diesel comin from china. Petroleum won't be dead for another 100 years. Maybe never.
 
The hobby is not "dying" but shrinking in comparison to the population in the USA. It other words, if you were to do a Census it may in fact look bigger than it was from say 5 years ago but in fact there are less households in the hobby......

That is really the reason the topic comes up often. I know for myself that my employer has 170 employed and I am the only one with a Hotrod. It's the first time I have ever worked anywhere that this has happened. I suspect this is true throughout the country....


JW
 
Parts of the hobby are expanding and others are shrinking. As an example, eventually small blocks and gen3's will be more common than b motors. The surplus of blocks will eventually dry up and folks will have to either change platforms or buy an aftermarket block.

Three random reasons why I don't see the hobby dying:

1) Follow Holley product development and get back to me.

2) People still hotrod A model Fords almost 100 years after they were produced.

3) Although the male population has thinned in the gearhead department we see more female presence than ever. I see more daughters helping out than sons at the track.
 
Like said, hotrodders have always been the minority by a land slide. Go back to the 60s, vast majority of kids driving "muscle" cars, put in gas, that was it!
 
barbee6043 said:
Like said, hotrodders have always been the minority by a land slide. Go back to the 60s, vast majority of kids driving "muscle" cars, put in gas, that was it!
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Most of the guys I called Gearheads in my age group have long left the hobby. It's been like that all along. One of them may have owned a 4spd BB Nova and by design through no work on their part they had a hot car. Car starts being a problem child and they sell it. That is more the case than not in the group I know....

Something else that is probably unheard of now is the group of racers who actually race their daily drivers in competition on the weekends. That means they race a class on Sunday and drive it to work on Monday. And they do it though a whole race season at any given track. Basically non-existent today. 40 years ago it was extremely common to see it...

JW
 
I gave my SC400 to my college boy, he just wanted the old stereo to play his phone content. We ended up installing a hard wired FM modulator and then a double DIN Kenwood nav unit. got him some seat covers...He's just not into the maintenance side yet. My 16 year old actually helped me sand his 82 B2000 pickup before we paint it together. He always comes out and asks me what Im doing on it, seems to show some interest. But the depth of eithers knowledge of cars would fit in a fortune cookie! When he asked me where is the carburetor when the air cleaner was already off? Ouch.....But he can tell you the entire play book of his football team, their new quarterbacks commitment to a D1 school and play every song in the praise bands repertoire. College boy can spot a fake sports jersey from a mile away as he has amassed over 100 real ones in his collection. I shake my head when another ebay box comes to the house for him but these actually hold their value. ITs just a differetn time. Young people socialize differently. Having a car back then was mandatory to get out of the gene pool of the neighborhood or the high school, today everything is online, they chat on their phones from the couch instead of across the open engine bay of their groups newest car. The tuner crowd seems to be bringing some new blood in but their skill sets are slightly different, but similar in other aspects. Just roll with it. Numbers matching 340 cars are gonna impress the same old farts at the donut shop for only so much longer. A Hellcat motor in a /6 Duster will turn more younger heads these days. Put a SRT/4 motor (or a -cough-...a 2JZ) in a Duster and itll be like flies to honey for the younger crowd.
 
Bewy said:
The problem that worries me is: in 10-15 yrs time when all the cars are electric, will we be able to get petrol. I bought my car to drive & enjoy; not to sit in a garage with an empty fuel tank. I don't see oil companies maintaining hugely expensive refineries for cars driven on weekends only.
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I'll switch to LP or AV gas if that time comes. You may have to build a still in the backyard.
 
I think the thing that bothers me the most about today’s kids that race is they are handed to much to early and it seems to continue as they move into a big car, usually a dragster. Not all kids but most. Most never drive a door car. Not to toot my horn but my dad was into driving a nice clean, waxed car but a car was for towing your RV and getting to work. When you start at the bottom and work your way up you learn a lot more than if it’s handed to you.
 
I don't if it's dying but it definitely don't fit in with future plans the government, car industry, Uber etc... Plus once baby boomer and gen x are gone does the next generations care that much, most the ones I know don't even have a licence. Plus as of now you can buy a muscle cars right of the showroom floor, for the longest time if you wanted a performance car you had to make one.

Also it's gonna get harder and harder to find a good project that don't cost a bundle it's becoming a rich man's hobby.
 
It's going to be " What's in your wallet " at the end of the day.
We already have people building for 87 octane to save a quarter.
 
fishmens67 said:
It's going to be " What's in your wallet " at the end of the day.
We already have people building for 87 octane to save a quarter.
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I like running alcohol now but my days of running BP93 were fun too. I would stop and get 5-10 gallons on the way to the track for my W2 headed 408, quad, and generator. Only problem was when I switched to alcohol it was hard to switch my generator back to the cheap stuff.
 
Bewy said:
The problem that worries me is: in 10-15 yrs time when all the cars are electric, will we be able to get petrol. I bought my car to drive & enjoy; not to sit in a garage with an empty fuel tank. I don't see oil companies maintaining hugely expensive refineries for cars driven on weekends only.
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Propane carbs are out there
 
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