Hemmings Classic car Article on Flathead Fords

[Guest BJM]

I don't know how many of you subsribe to Hemmings Classic Car but there is an interesting article on the Ford Flathead V8. There are other mentions of Buick throughout the magazine including the Buick Heritage Alliance and a great article on the 54 Buick Special. I know this is the Buick General Forum but the concepts brought up in the Flathead article were more about the state of the hobby then about the Flathead Ford V8.

I started to read it thinking it would be a general history of the Flathead Ford, which most of us are familiar with but it's been a long time for me. But it was really a treatise on the state of our hobby. We have mentioned before about the generational swing and it's effect on the old car hobby. Well, be glad we are in the BCA because the pre-war Ford clubs, IMHO, are dying off.

I offer comments from the article. I hope I am not in too much danger of getting sued by HCC but I won't go word by word and maybe this subject won't interest others, maybe it will.

"The Early Ford V-8 Club serves 10,000 members"

"A healthy aftermarket exists for those enthusiasts" "Yet several challenges face collectors of these cars now and in the near future as the majority of the people in the hobby have grown older and as some of the cars have grown out of the reach in price for younger members."

"We don't see less interest...just less people spending big money to restore them"

(quote from Dennis Carpenter/famous aftermarket supplier)

"Most of the business today comes from enthusiasts who no longer have an interest in full, body-off restorations." "Frame Ups are few and far between" Alexander said (Carpenters GM) "In the 1980's it was every other phone call, now it's maybe once a week".

"2 factors explain the shift". First, enthusiasts have turned to driving their cars and second, enthusiasts refrain from full on restorations due to cost."

"Alenader said the high cost of parts and restorations has forced many early Ford V-8 people into making street rods out of their car, still a controversial topic among this crowd"

{Author of this post's side note: I went into ebay to check on pre-war Fords for sale and virtually every (EVERY) 1927 to 1939 Ford was a street rod, very few originals even offered}

"Street rodding, which has historically revolved around the offerings from Ford, eventually became big business during the 1990's, which coincided with the waning intrest in early V-8 Fords."

"In the 1980's, early Ford V-8 stuff dominated us," Alexander said,"It literally was our lifeblood. But sometime in the 1990's, the whole repro business started flipping. The muscle car stuff came alive, and the street rod stuff, which hadn't grown much in the 20 years before, got big."

"Drake (another huge early Ford parts supplier) said street rods now account for 80 percent of his business." He said "I don't think the highboy roadster thing will ever stop".

"Carpenter said he now sees thousands of 1932-1953 modified Ford cars at national street rod meets ({author's note: Good Guys meets)}, but anywhere from 200 to 500 original and restored cars at national Early Ford V-8 Club meets"

"Ten to 15 years ago ago, the early V-8 Ford Club meets were huge, Alexander said,"Now, their like a family get-together. It's because you don't see a lot of young blood coming in, and club officials haven't done much to bring young people in. I don't see the kids at meets anymore; I don't see grandfathers with their grandkids."

"Malley said the club has made only a half-hearted effort to get younger enthusiasts involved in original and restored early Ford V-8's. "We realize it's necessary, but there's no long term plans", he said."

"Even Tom Johnston, the president of the eraly Ford V-8 Club, said he has found it difficult to get younger people interested in the restoration side of the hobby." "One, he said " it's hard to get younger people to relate to these cars," And two, the prices are getting out of reach, so now young people can't afford to play a whole lot"

Johnston (the president) has said the club has taken a few steps including discussion of merging with clubs dedicated to later model Fords and possibly accepting modifieds, but the issue of extending the hobby to future generations is "going to take a lot of thinking."

[Centurion]

It's a good article, and one I looked forward to sitting down and reading myself. I think that the impact of high prices on the hobby is a serious concern, and -- back to autoextremist.com -- I thought that Peter DeLorenzo's comments today were particularly interesting:

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Car Enthusiasts. Well, it was inevitable, but when you see a full spread on the "booming" classic car market (with particular focus on muscle cars) in the new issue of Newsweek, you know that another classic car "bubble" is upon us. Tara Weingarten, who normally does Newsweek's breezy car "reviews" from the suburban mom point of view, is let loose on the "hot" classic car market story and responds with some blackboard-scraping inaccuracies while telling us breathlessly how it's going to do nothing but continue to go up. She rounds up the now-ubiquitous Craig Jackson for comment, the Grand Poobah of Barrett-Jackson Auctions and the man who has single-handedly inflated the classic car market to such ridiculous price levels that you can almost hear the coming explosion. She buys Jackson's self-serving take on the business without offering even a whiff of perspective - glossing over the previous bubble burst that occurred in the 80s with a flippant comment provided by Jackson, of course. Jackson says it's different now, that the collectors nowadays are "end users" who are purchasing these cars because, above all else, they're pleasurable to drive. Huh? Right. And she also mentions how the Speed Channel is increasing their coverage of the B-J auction from 33 hours to a full 40 hours of coverage - exceeding our personal limit of watching that orchestrated greed-fest by, oh, easily 35 hours. Let's face it, when mildly attractive 60s muscle Camaros are easily bringing new Corvette Z06 money, something's gotta give. Ladies and gentlemen, you've been warned - when this bubble bursts it's going to get very ugly in a big hurry. On the other hand, all the True Believer enthusiasts out there who have bitterly resented what people like Craig Jackson have done to the classic car market have a slim ray of hope that rational thinking and realistic prices may one day return to the hobby. </div></div>

I find myself hoping that prices will someday allow younger hobbyists an opportunity to participate in the collector car hobby.

By the way, the editorial about the Buick Heritage Alliance and the kudos given to Buick enthusiasts are most encouraging -- well worth a read for those who have an interest in this organization.

And, MrEarl, I know you'll find the Collector Buyer's Guide covering the 1954 Buick Special to be of great interest -- as I did.

In case 3Jakes failed to mention it, this is all in the November, 2006 issue.

[serb]

The first editorial is about the car clubs that have been in Buffalo this past year and how great a city Buffalo is, especially being more or less centrally located. Keep this article in mind and join our local chapter next August when we have our Great Lakes Regional,

Th th th that's all folks.

Stevo

[Guest BJM]

Steve,

Your right, there was good mention about the Batavia site. I think that is where they spotted that beautiful 54 Roadmaster convertible a few issues back.

Pricing is a real problem. I passed on a 37 Chryslter C17 Airflow about 3 months ago that ended up selling on ebay for $1500. I just talked to a different guy who has two of them, one restored but needing freshening for $25,0000 <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> and an incomplete parts car for $4000. This is unrealistic.

And worse yet is the prices of parts lately on ebay. I paid $36 for 4 "Riviera" metal door pull tabs and I constantly am getting outbid on 63 Pontiac and 68 Riviera items. There are bids, it's not always outrageous asking prices - some people are paying much higher prices for normal stuff.