Thoughts on how to help the next generation please

[avantey]

I got to spend yesterday with my 20 YO granddaughter which was delightful, just like the old times with a ride in the yellow ice cream car.  That is what the kids called the A when they were little and it is great they remember those things!  She asked and we went for an extended Model A ride (yes, with an ice cream stop) where she talked about liking the old iron and wanting to get into old cars more.  She says she wants to learn more, help with the cars and maybe even turn wrenches a little.  My problem is she lives well out of state and does not get here often.  She tried to search online but the only lead she got was a Model A guy four hours away and a stranger to her.  What ideas do you have for connecting her with someone local to her area.  Obviously I do not want to put her in any kind of danger but I know there are many really good car people out there and maybe you want to be a mentor to a young one and get some help with your collection as well.  Still I am nervous about doing this and not sure if/how to proceed.  I love that she wants to get in the hobby more and want to encourage her as we should do with any young people who want to participate.  Any thoughts on how I can do this safely?  I will be talking to friends but I do not think I know many folks in her area.

[8E45E]

She should be able to access that locality's old car 'Calendar of Events' and follow it.  She would get to know people by attending and striking up conversations with them.  Does she have pictures of your car on here phone?  It would be a good conversation starter.

 

Craig

[TerryB]

Start by buying her an AACA membership which will include the great AACA magazine and events happening in her area.

[Steve_Mack_CT]

If I understand correctly, she has or wants a Model A and needs trustworthy guidance?  Both MARC and MAFCA national clubs have local regions as well as youth coordinators.  Why not enroll her as a gift, she can then reach out.  While club affiliation is not an ironclad guarantee, I would be reasonably comfortable you filter out any potential bothersome people that way.

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

The two above recommendations--to join the AACA

and/or a Ford Model A club--are the best advice you can get.

Where is she located, Bill?  Some areas are more populated

with car clubs than others.  The AACA has "regions"

(local groups) in most of the country but is especially

strong in the East.

 

Merely being on the membership rolls won't help her;

but joining and becoming regularly involved with a club

will enhance her enjoyment of the hobby far more than

you can realize.  She'll make friends who can guide her;

she may get to know fellow car fans nationwide.

 

You probably know that clubs have antique-car tours,

sponsored either locally or nationally.  She'll have plenty of

opportunity for more Model A rides.

 

Because clubs need younger people, and often go to great lengths

to help them, she'll always have the potential to make the clubs

a truly satisfying part of her life.

Edited July 5, 2018 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Steve_Mack_CT]

Thanks John, you completed thought I failed to articulate.  You get 110% more out of it be participating in the region.  Thought, but failed to write that... ?

[avantey]

Thank you for the ideas, I like the membership ideas.  She is not focused on the Model A, just her favorite car from my group but seems to really like the pre-war iron.  Probably my fault too!  She is in the upper Midwest where I have not roamed much.  The club environment is probably much safer than one on one for a young lady and she can pick and choose who she becomes friends based on the person, their cars etc.  And I know you get lifelong friends in this hobby!

 

I am, and her grandmother was too, an avid touring fan, rarely doing car shows anymore.  I have hosted/ helped on a number of national tours as well for various clubs.  Being only 20 and just starting her working life she is not in a good place to tour due to time and expense.  It may happen though since really enjoys rides when she is here.

 

I will talk to her about all of this info soon, thank you all-

[John_S_in_Penna]

Local tours of antique cars, such as those organized by

AACA regions, are typically only one day long

and not at all expensive.  They are usually on week-ends,

and the only cost may be for lunch.  She may find that,

these days, cars of the 1960's are most popular, but

she will meet people who have older cars.  I'm sure she'll have

tremendous fun--but ONLY IF she participates regularly and

becomes involved.  As she gets to know other members,

she'll feel a part of the group and will like to see them

as much as she enjoys the cars.  As in any department of life,

one gets out what one puts in. 

 

"Upper midwest" is a broad term that doesn't

give us much information, so we can't help specifically

by recommending a region.  Please don't feel, Bill, that this

near-adult grown-up girl needs protection from rogue AACA members!

If you wish, you yourself can look at the list  of AACA regions

and see what region is near her.  The list is on our website:

 

http://www.aaca.org/Community/regions-a-chapters.html

 

We wish her (and you) all the best!

 

Edited July 5, 2018 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Terry Bond]

As is the case with any new member of a club, get them involved quickly.  Younger folks are often quite interested in technology so get them active in an organization,  helping with the club website or on-line newsletter for example.  That would be a great place to begin.  Model A is a great entry level car to begin with and your influence has certainly worn off on her - a great thing. 

[poci1957]

3 hours ago, avantey said:

....the club environment is probably much safer than one on one for a young lady and she can pick and choose who she becomes friends based on the person, their cars etc.  And I know you get lifelong friends in this hobby!

 

I will talk to her about all of this info soon, thank you all-

 

This seems like the logical first step to me, she should be able to meet a group and pick out who seems safe and compatible.  An AACA chapter would be a plus and tend to be older and stable, Todd C 

[avantey]

Thanks again for the ideas.  John_S please don't be offended but she is my granddaughter so I will always worry  a little, especially if she has trouble with a situation I helped her get into.  Having said that I do feel most all folks I have known in this hobby over the past almost forty years have been good, honest people.  Terry, maybe we can talk about this when you come up for the tour in August.

 

Having been in AACA for a long time I have run and been on many day and weekend events for a couple of regions I am in and those may keep her interest going.  But she surprised me when she said she wants to learn more about the cars and work on them.  She can be a determined girl so she may make it all happen with a little help and prodding from Grandpa!  As for the 'stable' comment Todd, I am not sure any of us are really sane- just big kids who never quite grew up just got bigger toys...

[Xander Wildeisen]

Sounds like someone needs a driver quality Model A, for their 21 birthday.

[kfle]

Others had some good ideas on getting involved in the local clubs, though this brings up an issue and I even went through this myself a year ago.   I have posted in other threads about my start in the pre war car hobby just over a year ago and my 17 year old son is highly interested in prewar cars as well.  I live in the Detroit area and when I tried to find information on local clubs and even more information on my Model A at the time it was very hard to find something.  So how does someone who is new to this hobby, especially the pre war era find out a club to join or information about potential cars to get into?  Model A's are easier because there are forums, facebook pages, and other groups online but it even took me a good bit of time to find those and to get involved.    My son always tells me that information is just too hard to find.  When we does searches you can find cars for sale, but not much in depth information.  

 

The younger generation lives online and that is how they find all information.  If they want to join a club on old cars, they will search on google or ask Siri.  If they want to learn how they would even buy a pre war car they will do the same, if they want to know if it would be hard to maintain a pre war car they would do the same.  Basically to the generations that grew up with tech, if it does not come up when they do a search or even multiple searches, then it doesn't exist.  I went through this frustration myself trying to find a local club of MARC to join and there are 4 of them in the Metro Detroit area.  When I tried to search online all I could find is a list clubs for the whole state of Michigan with no real descriptor about what club covers what, what type of things they do, how many members, etc.  All there was essentially was a address and a phone number and only a few had email addresses.  I didn't even discover the AACA until almost a year after I acquired my first pre war car.    Right now, many in the younger generation are dependent upon having a dad like me or a grandfather like the original poster to guide them and get them started.  What about all of the potential people for the hobby who love old cars but have no one to guide them?

 

Think about the experience for someone like your granddaughter if we had a website or even an app that was easily found through searches that made it easy to do the following

 

1. Gives a description of the different eras of cars, common characteristics, etc.

2. Has a section about what it takes to maintain a car, especially entry level

3. Goes over the difference between a driver class car, a show car, and a fine points type of car

4. Process to own your first pre war car - restoration, older restoration, original, etc.

5. Difference in valuation of cars

6. Club finder using your zip code where you just punch in your zip code and it finds the closest clubs for you

7. expert or car friend finder - AACA, HCCA, MARC, CCCA, etc. all have their membership roster and most have the type of car their members own.  If there was an opt in for people then if someone wanted to find people with a certain car they own then it would be a matching service where people with similar cars can easily connect through technology.  This would not be a searchable database so anyone could search and just find out peoples info, this would be through the site and app where you would get an alert and it would be your choice to connect, similar to how friends are done on Facebook.  

 

There is more you could do, but you get the idea.  This is probably one of the biggest things we could do to help the next generation.  There is a huge awareness and information gap and if we do not make awareness and information highly accessible to them in the ways that they consume the information, than the barrier gets greater and greater.  This is an area that the AACA could make some investment in to really improve the hobby.

[Doug Novak]

Maybe a Tech School with a Auto Mechanics basics class to start her to learn how to wrench. Then focus on what era Cars to strive for. Don't think a Collector Car would be available for some one to try working on with out some basic experience and knowledge. The tech School would be a big help directing her to Car Clubs. Restoration Businesses  and other contacts if she wants to really get serious with the hobby and stick with it.  

[keithb7]

This thread made me smile. I joined my local vintage car club when I was 46. I joined with at least a partial objective to suck as much knowledge and experience from the senior members. I do mean senior members as in retired. I’m the yougest active member in the club I believe. 

 

I have a pretty lengthy history of wrenching since I was 16. Not on Vintage cars tho. Nor with a support network. My recent car club experience has been awsome. Been a year now and I’ve made good friendships. Learned a fair bit. I’ve had a ton of fun helping the club grease monkeys bring a 1928 Dodge Brothers cab back to sound mechanical condition. I volunteer’d to drive club owned cars to events and in parades as well. My ‘53 Chrysler is getting good repairs too with the advice from club members. I do my own wrenching but the support network is great too. 

 

Good luck with your Grand daughter. I hope she is able to find a mentor and support group. Its a great hobby as well all know. 

[avantey]

Hey Dave Fields, do you ever have too many cars??!!  I like to think I have just enough to tour with various car age groups.  Maybe you can give her one?  Or maybe Xander can give her a present she would never forget and make a friend in the process!   ?

I did check the list of AACA regions and there are a number of them in her home area.  I am looking in other clubs I belong to also.  As for wrenching I am not sure of how in to that she wants to get but I do think she would like to help with some cars doing cleaning, waxing, etc. to start then work up to mechanics.  She has never done anything like wrenching that I know of so it might be her youthful enthusiasm talking a little bit.

 

Thanks for all the ideas, this group is a lot of good people and fun,

[cahartley]

AT 20 years young she likely has a facebook account.

Nearly every online forum also has a presence on facebook.

Most users don't have their privacy options set very well so you stand a good chance of getting an idea with whom you are dealing.