i was always a younger member of the club i'm in, because i got into Mopar accidentally in about 2000
but we are all old now...
i still get "good to see you Young Man" but its all relative at 54 i'm as bald an grey and fat as the rest of em.
in the UK you got into mopars in the 70s when the USAF base cars, and the personal and official imports of the 60s became expensive liabilities for the orginal owners. Oil crisis Britain everyone on strike, social deprivation = cheap cars
you could pick up an Aussie Valiant, a LHD or RHD barracuda a charger dart or pickup truck for very little money. A Bargain if you could weld and spray and had the right USA contacts, given the quantity of very rusty car and massive engine you could buy.
you restored it or chopped it up and went racing
the next generation purchased these cars off the guys who rescued them from the gardens wrecking yards and scrap heaps. Interest driven by the general lee, starsky and hutch the A team, the advent of US car based movies on VHS where US cars appeared regularly.
if you missed these areas of interest when cars were cheap. you waited until you reached peak expendable income in your career, and the kids have moved on , purchased the car of your "young mans" dreams and drove the prices sky high in the 90s and 2000s, and then sat next to it for 20 years, in a deck chair, whilst someone complained that the date code on you wiper motor was two years out.
we are not short of intersting US cars
Mopars at Brooklands 2026 - Mopar Muscle Association UK
A few more Brooklands pics - Mopar Muscle Association UK
But
now far too expensive for the young guns to pick up the hobby
and you would have to be an idiot to chop anything other than a rusty hulk up to build a race car, so both areas of the hobby are in decline
a worn out 318 is £600 now....
when i started you could get on the drag strip with a drivers licence long sleeve shirt, proper shoes and an outlay of £20 entry and £15 track sign on
next weekend i will take me and 2 kids (18 and 20 yrs) to the track, Friday to Sunday
£180 entry for the 3 of us, thats 60 quid each to camp in a tent on a Hot and windy WW2 Airfield. £90 track sign-on for 2 days Run What ya Brung £100 fuel £70 in VR1 20W50 £20 oil filter
gotta have a helmet and a suit and a boot full of tools and spares
granted its probably up there with the best tracks outside of the US but still.
food beer and general good times, with my "went to the track, friends of 20+ years", But the weekend will cost between £400 and £600 and so many no longer come because they can't afford it. If it rains you don't get your money back.....
This for a car that does 99% street driving, a true RWYB car. It needs to get me and the kids and all the crap we take with us 100 miles there and 100 miles back.
next step would be NSS class racing and id need a V8, a cage, a properly tagged suit, a trailer a tow vehicle and a mobile home and shelter/gazeebo for the Pits. I'd need to go 8 weekends every summer. Id be part of the entertainment, so the entry and track fees are less, and my crew gets in for free, but the outlay in equipment and time is massive.
still cheap for motorsport when you look at all of the other types of racing
but its not a grass roots investment anymore
i'm just some average bloke who likes to do 3 or 4 runs and i now only go twice a year.
the young guns don't get to play unless daddy is really quite rich and then it still "Dads hobby"...... No true ownership of the mopar badge until you worked for and paid for your own car
if this is happening here with reduced supply i guess only time will tell if it happens in America
Dave
