[windjamer]

I think we all will admit the future of our hobby rest on the shoulders of the young. We must intice them or as we pass so will our hobby.
Here is an idea. How about a class at your local show for kids? I dont mean model cars, but real I built it I love it all welcome cars owned by kids 18 years old and younger. Welcome them to your show, they may cruse the rows of our cars and fall in love with a 42 Ford or a 32 Chev. I am going to suggest this at our next club meeting, I challenge you to do the same.

[R W Burgess]

As you know Dick, we just completed the Vintage Tour yesterday in Fuquay-Varina. Wednesday night a major State Highway was blocked off and detoured. Our Tour group was invited downtown and displayed for the general public to get off close and friendly with on the main street. We had young and old look around and ask questions, as we stayed on the street for about 3 hours. The street was quite crowded. We also had a police escort back to the hotel since it was very dark by the time we had left. We were pleased, the shop owners were pleased, and the public was very pleased. We have been invited back next year!
I'm not sure Judy Edwards is ready for another National Tour this early quite yet.

Saturday morning, as Gloria and I were getting packed to leave, I had a few ladies at the breakfast nook table ask about our cars, where we were from and so forth. One elderly lady at the table shared a story as a young girl during World War II. She said that her girlfriends would ride around town looking for boys in a model T and she would have sure liked to ride in a rumble seat again. She had arrived 2 days earlier and I told her she should have asked one of us for a ride. We would have loved to help her share old memories in the rumble seat of an A. It seems the public is still afraid to ask about rides because they think all old cars are "show queens" when, in fact, our touring cars are driven as designed and we all appreciate company and sharing our love for our old cars.

Dick, I think we need a stronger advertising plan.

Wayne

[1937hd45]

This topic is as old as the "I Hate Hot Rods" outlook, and I just don't get it either. I discovered the hobby in 1961 when I was 10 years old, you either get it or you don't, you can't force anyone into this hobby. Sure, Dad had a huge influence on my life and I have all the Revell Highway Pioneers he'd put together on the dining room table. I'd cut out any auto related story in a magazine or newspaper, before that day in July 1961 when I placed two quarters on the counter and bought my first issue of Hot Rod. Model car building was a far bigger deal in the early 1960's than it is today, all the kids I knew got to build things. Model kits, club houses, tree forts, downhill racers, modified bicycles. Today it is jock sports and internet games, tuner cars. I wouldn't spent too much time trying for the 18 year olds and younger, 30-45 that still have jobs is were the next wave of members are IMO.

[F&J]

I agree with 37hd. I have a son in his last year at a regional high school that serves 4 large towns. He claims out of 1500 kids, only one or two show any interest in real old cars, let alone something like a genuine muscle car from the 60s.

He also said the majority want "fast, new, and a warantee".

The few kids that actually want to turn wrenches are doing so on 4cyl "tuner cars" or 4 wheel drives. Most kids don't enjoy working on anything. I can't blame the kids; gas is expensive as well as insurance and they need a car with good mileage and looks sporty to them.

Us older folks grew up in a time where mileage was not really considered, and we were not flooded with all the other entertainment inventions like videos, computers, off-road quadding, etc, etc. Kids are living in such different times, compared to the way we grew up.

They can't relate to a really old car. We can, because we used to see them as kids, either on the road, or junked by a barn.

As far as the reference to "hot rodding", you can see the different paths the guys in their 20s and 30s take when building a rod. They build a ratrod from a bunch of unrelated parts because a good complete early car is out of their budget.

Sad to say that nothing stays the same. The T guys went through this change decades ago. The model A guys are doing OK because it seems they organize better with determination and very active touring clubs.

[R W Burgess]

Originally Posted by F&J

.........The model A guys are doing OK because it seems they organize better with determination and very active touring clubs.

The Model A guys are doing great as a matter of fact. I just toured with them this week. I was continually waving them by as they were all driving around 45-50 miles per hour. They had one that I knew of that had some kind of engine problem, but parts were not an issue. It seems that everyone can relate to Model A and anyone who says they won't keep up with traffic should try to follow them around for a week.

Wayne

[AlK]

Just me $.2 worth. Getting kids today to follow their parents is like getting a car to followyou down the road behind your motor home without a tow bar. there are too many distractions. My own daughter, who, though not entirely brought up on old cars, was non-the-less exposed to them as a teenager, shares none of my enthusiasm for my collection outside of what she can get for them when I die(boy is she in for a surprose). I do not know the answer.
The one local show in my area is run by the local high school which has an excellant auto-shop and the show has the class you suggested, yet they do not walk around looking at the older cars, just each others rice-rockets. I fear our days are numbered.

[Skyking]

Times are changing at a rapid pace and whether we like it or not, this hobby is going to change too.
As mentioned above, we as kids used to build model cars. I remember going to local car dealers and scrounging as many brochures as I could get my hands on, taking them home and building scrap books with them. Imagine any kid doing that today. Really, why would they?? We think old cars are sort of art. Sure, there we be some here or there, but nothing like it ever was then. I can see it in my grandkids now, how they are interested in other things that will never be any interest to me. And believe me, they come from a huge old car family. We'll have to deal with it.

[MCHinson]

Maybe I am just lucky. Maybe it is genetics, maybe it is the southern attitude and reverence for history... I don't know what it is, but it seems to me that letting kids ride in old cars, and letting young people drive old cars seems to be working in my area. We have young folks interested in the hobby here.

My son is almost 21. My daughter is 11. He likes old cars, even though he is busy with other things and can't always make it to car club events. My daughter really likes riding in (and driving... off of the road to keep it legal) our Model A Ford.

People have been lamenting the failings of the younger generation for thousands of years. Time marches on and our hobby will do the same. Have faith.

[MCHinson]

Originally Posted by R W Burgess

The Model A guys are doing great as a matter of fact. I just toured with them this week. I was continually waving them by as they were all driving around 45-50 miles per hour. They had one that I knew of that had some kind of engine problem, but parts were not an issue. It seems that everyone can relate to Model A and anyone who says they won't keep up with traffic should try to follow them around for a week.

Wayne

AACA is alive and well. Remember that all of us Model A Guys who were screaming by Wayne's Essex (some of us at 55 to 60 mph I might add...) are all members of AACA. Yes, I am a member of other clubs too.... but.... Those 57 or so Model A Fords were all participating in the AACA's Vintage Tour!

[ken bogren]

I'm not sure the outlook for getting young people into the hobby is as bleak as it seems at times.

I just did a quick count, and it looks like about 168 of 1,700 car show notices that were sent to me for posting on my website this year were either held at, or sponsored by, or benefited a school, mostly high schools.

That's a pretty decent number and seems like it must represent at least some interest by younger people.