new Members.

When the wife passed a couple years ago, I sort of lost interest in the old car club. Dropped out and just didn't do much.Back with my fellow car nuts this summer and I find the times they are a changing. Cruse ins are smaller, one major (I thought) club has pad locked the doors and membership is dwindling in others. I hate to see some of these rat rods coming our way,but we need to increase membership. Maybe if we welcomed some of these,not up to aaca standards cars to the local shows, we might encourage some of the owners to THINK about a more correct vehicle. I got a new member this week just by asking why he wasn't a member with his 1985 Ford that just needed a little T.L.C. Golly, I just remembered. You don't have to have a perfect car or even no car to be a member. All you need is a love of cars and someone to ask you.

I'll get up on my soapbox for a little time.

The old car hobby is dying. I came from the street rod world. There, the National Street Rod Association, which is very large, use to have the rule, 1938 and earlier. For several years now they allow cars 25 years and older in the the shows. They saw the handwriting on the wall, as we all did. The Nationals, as they call them, were getting smaller each year. The National in Louisville had 13,000 cars when I first started. This year it was just over 10K even with the younger cars.

The reason is two fold as I see it. One is the economy, people just don't have the money for this sort of thing. Second, our age. Look around you at your next meet. How many white hairs do you see? We are dying off. It's that simple.

The answer is to get younger people involved. How to do that is the big question for the powers that be in the old car associations. When they figure that out, our widows will have someone to sell our cars to.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

My daughter wants mine. Have no idea what she will do with them. I never expected to be able to resell them for much anyway. My cars are too plain to be of interest to most people.

Dick, so sorry about your wife and glad to see you here more again.

Re inclusion, our annual local region meet in Glastonbury, CT has done this for years, we have judged classes for street rods and other types of modifieds, as well as a "general class" - for the guy whose 3 year old Corvette is his hobby car, or the kid with the 10 year old "tuner" to have a venue to participate. I think that is ok, but not sure it has drawn in membership, which is what the original intent was. They do add to overall attendance though, and with that, interest and variety good for a local meet.

That said, I would not want to move off the basic mission of AACA in terms of the actual club, the larger meets and focus in the magazine, etc. The main thing I like about AACA is an absence of hot rods and the like - just not an area of interest for me. The club would lose an equal amount of members as it would gain, IMO to take it to that level, if that is the idea, I was not 100% sure what your thoughts were on where to take it.

Dick, so sorry about your wife and glad to see you here more again.

Re inclusion, our annual local region meet in Glastonbury, CT has done this for years, we have judged classes for street rods and other types of modifieds, as well as a "general class" - for the guy whose 3 year old Corvette is his hobby car, or the kid with the 10 year old "tuner" to have a venue to participate. I think that is ok, but not sure it has drawn in membership, which is what the original intent was. They do add to overall attendance though, and with that, interest and variety good for a local meet.

That said, I would not want to move off the basic mission of AACA in terms of the actual club, the larger meets and focus in the magazine, etc. The main thing I like about AACA is an absence of hot rods and the like - just not an area of interest for me. The club would lose an equal amount of members as it would gain, IMO to take it to that level, if that is the idea, I was not 100% sure what your thoughts were on where to take it.

Steve I could not agree with you more. I do not want to see any changes in the way the AACA is sit up, but we have to do something to entice new and younger blood. I look at some tuners that the young people drive and all I think is Detroit pays millions to design the car they feel EVERY BODY will love and some snot nose kid thinks he can put a 10$ dodad on it and make it perfect. Then I remember, I put a pair of chrome tractor trailer air horns on my 49 shoebox. Guess what, Some of those kids are designing tomorrows car.

In my area during the summer, there are usually about 10-15 shows or cruise nights every Friday - Saturday. The majority of them are populated by street rods, customs, and rat rods. I'm not really interested in trophies, but the trophies usually go to the car with flat black primer and flames, a huge blower sticking up out of the hood higher than the roof, and 22" wheels. I have no interest in going to shows to see this.

I prefer to go to shows with nice stock restored or original cars, which are a minority. If the AACA allowed rods and customs in their shows here, they would quickly take over, and there would be no difference between an AACA show and any other rod and custom show in the area. And I would no longer be interested in going to AACA shows.

My grand son once told me if he had the Chevelle I restored for my wife he would chrome the engine cut a hole in the hood mount a big a$$ blower and cet cet acet. I said I would have it crushed into a little box before that happened. When Edie passed I gave the car to my Step-Son. Its in the Norwich museum.

but we have to do something to entice new and younger blood.

Why? Let the kids be kids, and let them do their silly stuff, and let them join clubs that are for their silly stuff, and let them get it out of their system. When they mature and grow up, the AACA will still be here. I am firmly opposed to watering down the club's standards just for the sake of swelling membership numbers. I see nothing wrong with waiting for a more mature person to want to join after the silliness of youth has worn off. Mature money is just as good as young money.

Where I do think there is a problem is when someone attends an AACA event with a stock 1970s or 1980s something, and all they hear is the old codgers complaining that what they have is just used junk. The only thing that does is turn off someone who obviously had been interested in the AACA.

Edited September 11, 2014 by superior1980 (see edit history)

Ditto post #6

I prefer to go to shows with nice stock restored or original cars, which are a minority. If the AACA allowed rods and customs in their shows here, they would quickly take over, and there would be no difference between an AACA show and any other rod and custom show in the area. And I would no longer be interested in going to AACA shows.

Exactly.........every single show would be the same.......

In my area during the summer, there are usually about 10-15 shows or cruise nights every Friday - Saturday. The majority of them are populated by street rods, customs, and rat rods. I'm not really interested in trophies, but the trophies usually go to the car with flat black primer and flames, a huge blower sticking up out of the hood higher than the roof, and 22" wheels. I have no interest in going to shows to see this.

I prefer to go to shows with nice stock restored or original cars, which are a minority. If the AACA allowed rods and customs in their shows here, they would quickly take over, and there would be no difference between an AACA show and any other rod and custom show in the area. And I would no longer be interested in going to AACA shows.

Amen my friend !

Wayne

I agree that we need to find ways to get the young people interested in OUR version of the hobby. I do not feel the solution is to expand it to what many of them currently think is interesting. How do we do that??? That is the question. My opinion is that we open our wallets and make an investment in the future. In the National Crosley Club, we have gone out of our way to try to promote the young people. We have added a number of events to our National Show like the Crosley Games to interest the young people. We have promoted young people to positions of responsibility such as our National meet co chairman and the games coordinators are both under 20 years of age. We also have the Crosley youth project, where we have given a car, in pieces, to a young lady, who, through the generosity of our vendors and members, under the mentorship of her grandfather, is restoring a car and doing a fantastic job. It will be complete in the next year and we have begun the search for our next project recipient. There were at least 20 potential candidates at the National show this year!!!

Personally, I have committed to giving a restored car to each of my grandchildren (I will be up to 9 by the end of the year). Will they take up the hobby?? I certainly hope so, but, if not, what is the loss?? I get to play with more cars without anyone complaining!!! I pass a legacy that has a concrete value on to each of them. Each of them has something to remember their grandfather by. Currently, I get to spend time with my grandchildren by taking them to shows. I do feel that the presence of my grandchildren has always been a help either by their physical help in detailing or by their presence in appealing to the crowd.

Find creative ways to appeal to young people, the future depends on it!!!

I am seeing younger interest with my 61 and 62 348/409 cars with the younger group. Most of the comments are that their dad's either owned one back in the day or wanted one. But I hate to say I see a decline in the interest of this group in the 50' and more in pre 50's unless it is a modified rod. Sad

Robert

I needed a way to justify the purchase of my '57 DeSoto to my wife. I told her that I bought it to fix up for our adolescent daughter, Behky. I assumed that as soon as Behky saw the car, and the deplorable condition that it was in, she would say she hated it, as she did most things at that age, and say she didn't want it. It would then be all mine. The plan backfired! She fell in love with the car, and is constantly after me to start its restoration. On a similar note, when my son was very young, we attended a car show/ swap meet near Chicago, and I was somewhat surprised when he was attracted by an early fifties Mopar business coupe. As we walked around the rear of the car, the owner happened to start the engine. My boy got so excited at the sound of that flathead six, with split exhaust and dual Smittys or Hollywoods, that I was afraid that he was about to wet his pants! Now in his late twenties he is currently restoring a '46 Chrysler Windsor convertible and is closely following the threads on this forum pertaining to rebuilding the brakes. You never know!

I am of the "younger" set, age between 30-40. This, in my opinion, should be the age group to target. Consider the following...

1. Don't call people younger than you "kids." The term is constantly used on this forum and others like it in a demeaning and disrespectful way, especially when you're typically talking about folks 30 and under. Would you like it if the young people constantly referred to all of you over 50 men as "gramps" or "geezer" or "old farts?" C'mon...show them a little respect and you might be surprised. Constantly acting like you're disgusted by their mere presence does NOTHING to encourage younger membership.

2. It's about money. Most young people can't afford to be in this hobby. There, I said it...this is, in my opinion, barrier number 1 to new membership. Young people aren't going to join a club that they can't really participate in and don't really belong in. The fact of the matter is that the unwritten "cost of entry" into the hobby is that you've got to own an old car. The younger set just doesn't have the money. They are too busy paying for college, job hunting, getting married, buying a first house, and making payments on their daily driver that they don't have the extra cash to have an old car. This is why the age demographic of the club is what it is...it takes time to accumulate the money to participate in the hobby. Most young people don't even own a house, so storage/garage/workshop becomes an issue...you can't drive a restoration project to work when it's in a million pieces and you can't restore a car in an apartment parking lot.

3. Times are different than they used to be. Shop class is a rare thing, tech schools and avocational programs are looked down upon. Cars these days that young people encounter every day are just as much computer as they are mechanical. Something goes wrong...off to the dealership it goes...no chance of working on it at home! So, young people don't develop the skills or have the tools to work on an old vehicle. Young people might have different taste than you do and might drive a tuner car, want a street rod, or to build a "resto-mod" Mustang, Camaro, or '57 Chevy and there's nothing wrong with that.

I just think that expecting young people to participate in an expensive hobby and to go on to expect them to become club members is not realistic at all. I'll be so bold as to say that most clubs are frankly wasting their time trying to figure out how to recruit young people and keep them happy; when they have the time and the money they'll come to you if they're interested. Forcing the issue is just wasting time and money.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Scooter Guy (see edit history)

I am of the "younger" set, age between 30-40. This, in my opinion, should be the age group to target. Consider the following...

1. Don't call people younger than you "kids." The term is constantly used on this forum and others like in a demeaning and disrespectful way, especially when you're typically talking about folks 30 and under. Would you like it if the young people constantly referred to all of you over 50 men as "gramps" or "geezer" or "old farts." C'mon...show them a little respect and you might be surprised. Constantly acting like you're disgusted by their mere presence does NOTHING to encourage younger membership.

2. It's about money. Most young people can't afford to be in this hobby. There, I said it...this is, in my opinion, barrier number 1 to new membership. Young people aren't going to join a club that they can't really participate in and don't really belong in. The fact of the matter is that the unwritten "cost of entry" into the hobby is that you've got to own an old car. The younger set just doesn't have the money. They are too busy paying for college, job hunting, getting married, buying a first house, and making payments on their daily driver that they don't have the extra cash to have an old car. This is why the age demographic of the club is what it is...it takes time to accumulate the money to participate in the hobby. Most young people don't even own a house, so storage/garage/workshop becomes an issue...you can't drive a restoration project to work when it's in a million pieces and you can't restore a car in an apartment parking lot.

3. Times are different than they used to be. Shop class is a rare thing, tech schools and avocational programs are looked down upon. Cars these days that young people encounter every day are just as much computer as they are mechanical. Something goes wrong...off to the dealership it goes...no chance of working on it at home! So, young people don't develop the skills or have the tools to work on an old vehicle. Young people might have different taste than you do and might drive a tuner car, want a street rod, or to build a "resto-mod" Mustang, Camaro, or '57 Chevy and there's nothing wrong with that.

I just think that expecting young people to participate in an expensive hobby and to go on to expect them to become club members is not realistic at all. I'll be so bold as to say that most clubs are frankly wasting their time trying to figure out how to recruit young people and keep them happy; when they have the time and the money they'll come to you if they're interested. Forcing the issue is just wasting time and money.

Amen! Bravo! I couldn't agree more. Extremely well said. I am also in the 30-40 age group of Scooter Guy, and while I do now own a prewar Packard, I have owned that car for less than a year, and the only reason I was able to afford it is because it is in need of a complete restoration. Prior to my Packard, I owned and still own for that matter, a series of 1970s and 1980s cars. Why? Two reasons. They are what I grew up with and have fond memories of, and they are what I could also afford.

The only thing I'd like to add to Scooter's post is that while he is correct that someone can choose to build or own a tuner car or street rod or some other form of custom car, if you choose to do so, then join the club that is appropriate for your interest. Don't join a club that's clearly not in keeping with your kind of car and expect it to change to suit you.

Superior1980 made the most accurate comment: 'They are [the cars] I grew up with.

I'm a collector of many antiquities: 1800's Clocks, Federal Period formal furniture, antique firearms, early tools as well as [mostly] pre-WWII cars.

When I used to do antique shows I watched the interest in the old, 'real' antiques wane, while interest in more modern early 1900's Oak furniture, 99% machine made rose and along with interest, so did the prices.

90% of ALL collecting and collections are driven by NOSTALGIA. The remaining 10% is split amongst technical interest, investment value [perceived, but often not realized] and an interest in preserving history.

The cars I grew up with STILL catch my attention, and even though they are pretty lousy cars, I still have interest in them.

But for me, I'm collecting the cars I do because of their place in history, their technological status and mechanical and quality standards. I doubt that I'll sell my cars for much, if any profit, but I'll have a lot of fun in the mean time. We all could be collecting baseball cards, furbys, or cabbage patch kids or some other silly nonsense. [ I know I'll get a few comments about that].

So as the car collectors who grew up with model T's, age, the main collecting population keeps getting younger. Witness the huge surge in buying and prices of the late 50's cars, and the interest and prices in the 60s muscle cars. It's all because the buyers grew up with those cars, or alway coveted them. As the baby boomers age, the muscle cars will slowly drop in value, along with the earlier cars.

The only thing that supports the prices of the very high-end cars is the deep pockets of the high-end collector.. What is happening with the more mundane, run of the mill sedans, business coupes etc. ? We've seen several threads about the decline in prices and decline in any form of interest in so many very good cars.. but fairly standard cars.

I do believe that we DO have to try to interest the younger crowd in the older cars. I had the pleasure of finding two such guys at the Auburn Labor day auction a few weeks ago. I was working on a car I had just purchased the night before, and two guys came by to look at the car, and I struck up a conversation with them. Soon I was showing them some of the interesting bits of late '20's technology, and refering to 'modern' technology. The conversation showed that they had interest.

So after I finished with the newly aquired car, I invited them to take a ride 'around the block' in my 'driver' car I brought to Auburn: a 1925 Pierce Arrow 7pass touring. The 'block' is about one mile on a side next to the auction park. The young guys were quite amazed at the way the Piece just exuded quality, strong construction and power [relative to it's age of construction].

We talked about how so many people were only interested in how fast it could go, or if it could 'spin it's wheels', or what gas mileage it got. These guys understood during the short few miles that none of that was important, that the quality, style and engineering were what was interesting about the car.

To say the least, I was quite impressed with these two guys, and told them so. I hope they get to continue their education in older cars. They were not impressed with laptop tuner cars and the modern computerized stuff at all.

Anyway, if we hope to keep our cars from becoming cubes of steel, aluminum and burnt up wood, we MUST interest the new potential members who wander around the cruise nights, local car shows etc.. or you might as well sell 'em now, 'cause your heirs will just have to scrap 'em in 30 years or less.

GLong

I also agree with Superior1980. This is an expensive hobby and folks need to reach a certain stage in life before they have the time and money to fool with old cars. How someone becomes interested in old cars is anyone's guess. For some it's nostalgia for their glory days, for some it's an interest in history, for some it's family history, while some approach old cars as art or simply have an appreciation for all things mechanical. In my opinion all we can do as a club is make our presence known, keep our emphasis on preserving and restoring cars as they could have come from the factory and continue to project the image we have enjoyed for many years. Chasing after young people by changing our mission is a fool's errand. I do have to smile at those who bemoan the influence of money in the old car hobby and talk about how much more fun it was before cars became "investments" and who are now wailing and gnashing their teeth because they can't sell their cars for what they thought they were worth. Ya can't have it both ways folks.

Every year or so, this discussion comes up. I generally chime in and essentially repeat my story with a little updating regarding where my children are at this particular time.

I joined AACA in 1996 when I was in my 30's. My first collector car was a relatively cheap Model A Ford in really bad condition. If I had known what I was doing, I would never have bought that particular car. I learned a lot about old cars by working on and improving that Model A Ford. I joined the local AACA Chapter and the nice people there encouraged me and politely lied to me and told me what a great car I had bought. Over the years I have owned many collector cars, mostly Model A Fords. As I got older, I could afford much nicer cars than that first Model A Ford. I sold the first Model A Ford to a nice young couple in Virginia who were just getting into the hobby.

My 26 year old son was exposed to the hobby and is an AACA Judge. He just recently finished his Masters Degree and is in his first year of working in his chosen profession. He does not yet own an antique car, but will when he is a little further along in his career and finances allow. My 16 year old daughter now has her driver's license and really wants me to find her a 1967 Chevrolet Impala. I have not found the right one yet. She has driven one of my antique cars to our local region show twice, the first time a few days after she received her "learner's permit" so she has two "Youngest Driver" trophies in her room. I am sure that she will soon be active in judging and will one day own an antique car.

The "imminent death" of the hobby has been worried about even back before I got in it. I am a bit unusual, as most people get into the hobby later in life than I did. Keep exposing young people to the hobby and when the time is ripe, a percentage of them will get involved in the hobby. Not every older person is interested in this hobby, so we should not bemoan the fact that not every younger person is interested in this hobby. Keep sharing the hobby and it will continue, but realize that it takes more time and disposable income to enjoy this hobby than many young people have available at this stage of their life.

maybe not dwindling, but at 52 im the only region member under 65. most are over 70.

windjammer,

Speaking of the ratrod trend, as antique car guys, we look at cars not just as "now", but in the long run. What do you think will be the condition of most of the ratrods on the road now in 30 years? Maybe some owners of these will say they're going to be lovingly cared for, passed down from generation to generation, etc., but that's more what people do with antique cars. More likely, they will be part of the progression of antique car>rod>junkyard>hot water heater or Hyundai. You never hear about people taking a chopped, lowered, wrong-wheeled, wrong-engined rod and turning it back into an antique car. I'm not saying there's no place for modified cars, just that they're vehicles of our imagination. There was never a car company called Hot Rod, Street Rod, etc. I agree with you that getting a new member with a 1985 car is a good thing. I have to admit we can't keep going with just the prewar cars.

GLong,

I enjoyed reading about your conversation with two younger car enthusiasts at the Auburn Labor Day event. I had a similar experience. On Wednesday, before the 2013 Gilmore Gathering started, I was standing outside the host hotel admiring the first car to arrive for the joint tour and show of the Pierce-Arrow Society and the Peerless Motor Car Club. It was a Pierce-Arrow "Silver Arrow" a delightful older couple had driven from the east coast.

It was parked right outside the hotel in the porte cochere, bold as brass. A black man in his thirties was driving across town, saw the Pierce-Arrow, did a double take, and pulled in to park his 2010-ish Corvette right next to me. I was the only one standing around, so he decided to talk to me. "Just what IS that? That is a really nice car!" We had a fairly long conversation about antique cars, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow and the differences between them, and I think it opened his eyes a little to the world we take for granted sometimes on the AACA Forums. I told him he had pretty good taste if he liked that Pierce, and how he could probably drive the rest of his life and never see a Silver Arrow on the street again they are so rare. Then someone drove up in a Peerless and the Corvette guy thought it was interesting, too, though not as radical as the Pierce-Arrow. What's funny is that the owner of the second car also owns a Silver-Arrow. Fortunately he didn't bring it, or it would have wrecked my argument about the model being the rarest-of-the -rare when the first two cars there were Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrows.

----Jeff