’Lil Stinker Won… But Government Is Winning

by Eric Peters
EricPetersAutos.com

’Lil Stinker – my restored ’75 Kawasaki S1 “triple” – won an award at the big Ruritan car (and bike and tractor) show held yesterday. That’s the good news – for me. The bad news – for the old car (and bike) hobby is something I’ve noticed at other vintage vehicle shows – the vintage people who own the vehicles – and the mostly vintage people who come to see them.

I did an informal demographic survey – speaking to as many of the vehicle owners as I could. Most of them were older than I am – and I am in my mid ’40s. Several were 60-plus. Some older than that. Not one was appreciably younger than me. There was one guy with a nice early ’70s Chevy Monte Carlo. He and I talked about our high school days – back in the early ’80s. Another guy with a nice ’93 Mustang GT – almost 20 years old, already! – was parked next to my ’76 Trans-Am (which I also brought to the show). He looked 50-ish. The guys with the ’50s stuff – a Ford Fairlane, two very nice ’57 Bel Airs (one a convertible), a Studebaker Lark – all of them graybeards. Or hairs.

Same with the bikes. There were maybe a dozen or so – which is a good turnout for a mostly car show. There was Frank – with his red BMW. Frank is old enough to be my father. A ’40s Harley with a sidecar was parked nearby. Its owner was also ’40s vintage. Etc.

There were a few young kids – but not one teenager, there on his own.

A lot has changed since I was a teenager.

In my mind, I dial the clock back to about 1983. I went to a lot of vintage car shows and cruise nights. So did most of my friends. In fact, we all went together. Friday and Saturday nights were “car nights.” We’d hang out at McDonalds – along with a large crowd of other teenagers – or at the local shopping mall parking lot – and check out the cars. No, scratch that. We’d check out each other’s cars. Because we – the teenagers of the ’80s – owned (and worked on) old cars. Muscle cars, ratty cars – all kinds of cars. The type was incidental. What mattered was that we were into cars. Unlike now, back then, the majority of the car owners – and spectators – at cruise nights and car shows were young. Very little in the way of Just For Men was in evidence.

Same with the mags – you know, glossy monthlies like Hot Rod and Car Craft. It is very interesting – very revelatory – to thumb through the old issues and compared them with the current issues. I have a stack of Hot Rod magazines from my high school days. The pictures all show young guys – and the occasional young girl – under the hood or standing by the side of their pride and joy. The current magazines show these same people – now in their 40s, like me. I cannot recall a single photo spread detailing a resto or build-up in a recent issue of either Hot Rod or Car Craft or any other such publication that shows a picture of a guy (or girl) in his early 20s. Or even 30s.

Granted, this is all anecdotally based theorizing. But it’s based on a lot of anecdotes. I’ve been active in the car hobby since I was sixteen or so. I’ve been a professional car scribbler for more than twenty years. I’ve been to – and go to – many car shows. And based on what I’ve seen lately – meaning, over the course of the past ten years or so – the vintage car (and bike) hobby is becoming, well, vintage.

The young, by and large, do not seem to be following in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers.

Here’s another personal anecdote in re the above:

I know a guy, about fifteen years older than me, who – also like me – is really into vintage cars. He owns a ’70 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400 – a Ram Air III car, one of 13 made with the three-speed manual and literally no other options at all. It was built for drag racing. My friend also has a super rare Hurst-modified Grand Prix SSJ (did I mention he’s a Pontiac freak?), white with gold accents, including the 14-inch Hurst mags that came with the package. Plus a nice driver ’79 Trans-Am (403/automatic). He has three sons – one in his mid ’20s the other just about to head off to college, the other in junior high. None of these boys has a vintage car – or works on cars – or (apparently) cares about cars at all, beyond their usefulness as appliances.

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June 26, 2012

Copyright © 2012 Eric Peters

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