Are we car nuts a dying breed?

America's Fading Car Culture - Washington Post

Although there have a rebound in sales and a few niche cars from major league players in the snooze mobile establishment. Is our beloved hobby in its golden years?

It usually is. Think of the 70ss. Car culture was taken out back and shot by OPEC. We got a new one sometime in the 90s, and now that we have all the self important hipsters that think free range grass fed tofu is the best thing since cold press nano coffee..... It's not cool to be a car guy. It'll come back in one form or another. I mean, we did have vanning....

Yes, but I recently saw an argument for why it's happening that makes a lot of sense. Car enthusiasm and racing are on the decline because they're returning to a previous level of niche interest, from a spike that was driven by tobacco industry spending in racing, and baby boomers' disposable income on the enthusiast side. Those sources of cash have dried up. So car enthusiasm and racing aren't dying, they just aren't booming anymore.

I'd say not. Look at things like the introduction of SCCA Track Night in America and the massive popularity of crap can racing.

I know Jalopnik isnt a favorite around here, but they did a great response talking about what poppycock that article is a few days ago.

http://jalopnik.com/youth-car-culture-isnt-dead-this-washington-post-story-1728346138

I agree with blue in green. It is out there and is popular as people will always need thrills to break up the rest of life. But I do think it will change a lot in the next 20 years as tinkering with cars will become more difficult for smog and fuel consumption reasons. But sooner or later someone will make a swap kit for electrics that beats the e36 m3 out of an ls and off we will go again.

Yeah, there will always be a select few people that are gear heads like us. It's always been that way. Out of literally all the people I talk to on a regular basis, me and one other guy are actual hardcore car ppl. Even in the 60's and 70's when every car was a muscle car, not everybody was a gear head, the difference was, in those times, it was COOL to have a fast car. It impressed the ladies. Now? Well, things have changed dramatically. You got ladies being men, and dudes getting manicures. Times changed, ain't the same era. God I miss the 90's...

But I don't think WE are on the decline. I think auto manufacturers are. Due to them spoon feeding the idiots of society what they want, instead of what they need. Case in point- inline at a hot dog stand, older couple in front of me, two teenage sluts in front of them. I'm talking to the owner (I know him, car guy) and I say "the problem with today's cars is everything is an automatic. They build cars for idiots!" The teenage wastebags rolled there eyes, the older couple laughed and agreed!

Why does this matter? Time change. Just keep on the straight and narrow and all the fair weather folks will Come back again.

I didn't read the article so maybe it was mentioned in there but..................I have several friends with late teenage sons 18, 19 even 20 that don't have driver's licenses and don't want to get them. They have no interest in driving or cars or anything about cars preferring the internet and social media for contacts. Oh ya.........and bumming a ride when they need to get around. Weird.

Most teenagers I know simply see driving as a chore. It's a shame, really.

My niece is 15. She brags about welding the floor patches in her truck.

Yeah, kids are different from when we grew up, but the car culture ain't dying. May not be as popular anymore, but I have hope.

Nope, dead and gone.

Most of the next generation of car guys I've met consider changing floormats a "mod".

Trans_Maro wrote: Nope, dead and gone. Most of the next generation of car guys I've met consider changing floormats a "mod".

Either that, or they don't know what they're talking about. There's a guy at my friend's high school who has a Dodge Charger V6 that he claims has an " 8-pack hemi". When recommended to have his heads ported and polished for more power, he said he wouldn't do it because "they're already clean".

It seems like this discussion has come up yearly for the last 40 years now, yet there are still car nuts running around.

There are still tons of Horse Enthusiasts out there.

There's still hope. I taught a young friend (not a "car guy") to drive the Escort and now he wants a stick shift when he gets his first car.

It's up to us to get young kids interested in cars. If we just sit around and talk about it on the internet then yeah, the hobby will die

In reply to G_Body_Man:

Don't worry, we all went to school with that kid.

logdog wrote: There are still tons of Horse Enthusiasts out there.

...so only when the traditional automobile becomes antiquated will it finally regain somewhat widespread appreciation?

3D printing will bring some of the scene back as intelligent kids from younger generations will see design elements that they can make better, or retrofit older (to them) cars to accomodate the latest and greatest in ICE devices

I have to admit, I'm in a minority. Yesterday, my friend and I stripped all of the unnecessary wiring for police accessories out of his P7B. A lot of other kids my age would have either been gaming, joking, smoking or toking.

I find that article to be a pretty lazy form of journalism written in a city that is torture to drive around. Do young guys like old cars...Some do but most don't. They just don't mean anything to them. Gee what a surprise that there are not a lot of young people at a 50-60s focused cruise in that they are interviewing people at. I bet none of those guys they interviewed have been to an GRC race or a Formula Drift event or something like that.

They are talking about there is no tinkering left with modern cars. Its no less than ever before. Honestly, I find it a heck of a lot easier to work on modern cars than old cars. I can plug in my lap top and see everything I want to know about how the car is running. It's just different tools. Instead of a Dwell and Tach meter, I have a laptop and a ODB2 cable. If your kid doesn't know how to turn a tool and assemble and disassemble something then maybe you should teach them. Build a robot with them or a remote control car. That just is a lame excuse.

In reply to G_Body_Man:

Glorious trolling of an Audi forum regarding porting and polishing: http://www.audiforums.com/forum/off-topic-5/hey-guys-please-help-my-mods-gone-wrong-80267/

Trans_Maro wrote: In reply to G_Body_Man: Glorious trolling of an Audi forum regarding porting and polishing: http://www.audiforums.com/forum/off-topic-5/hey-guys-please-help-my-mods-gone-wrong-80267/

I saw that. That is one of the most beautiful trolls I've ever seen.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to help a friend on his SCCA FP BMW E21. He is 63, I'm 56. His energy and skill at fab are amazing. The car has been run at two shake down events and he is working through the punch list to finalize the car.

What both of us enjoy is the reality of our kids involved with use at both events and the upkeep. His son is a ME student working at a machine shop. The parts I was adding to the car were his handy work. We have both decided that we to add 100 lbs. to the car when drives, maybe more.

My oldest graduated from college owning three cars, all with sticks. The next two years we co-drove her BMW E21 averaging over 10 events a year. She is now living and working in San Francisco, having left all the cars in my care. But she is set to fly in and get behind the wheel, the torch has been passed.

I think so. I believe one of the reasons for the huge decline in younger people caring about cars, and driving is that today they have smartphones and social media.

Being a teen in the mid ninties the only way to see your friends outside of school or talk to them without Being on the ol land line was to get out of the house and find them.

If you wanted to be cool you had a car. If you wanted to be cooler you had a fast car. We were all dying to get out lisences as soon as we Could, So we could get out and experience life without parents around. And take girls out on dates. We were like the kids in the Dazed and confused movie.

Now you can talk with all your friends outside of school at the same time if your like. You can also "meet" new chicks by tapping a screen and adding them as a friend on fb.

The need to have a car for teens to socialize easily is gone. In my opinion, It was a big part of what made young people fall in love with their cars before they got their licence, and made them care about maintaining, and later modifiying them So they would be faster or louder or "cooler" to the other kids After.

Don't get me wrong there's still a lot of teens interested in cars, but not nearly as many as their used to be because the don't need a car anymore to easily socialize and so they are not forced to learn about them and or drive them.

End rant.