Changing Hobby Demographics

[BobPalma]

'Just got done a late perusing of the July 2011 Hemmings Motor News.

Some of us can remember older issues of the original Hemmings Motor News from 1954, well on into the 1960s. Back then, the "old car" hobby was, for the most part, Model T and Model A Fords.

In fact, the original Hemmings classifications were simply several divisions of Fords and, then, "Non-Fords." As a result, you had page after page of Ford Model Ts and more pages yet of Model As.

But of the 560 pages in the July 2011 Hemmings Motor News, all the Model T Fords for sale will fit on both sides of one single page...and all the Model A Fords will fit on both sides of another single page!

My, how times change. BP

[stall]

All that is true but last year at Hershey Fall show It was noticeable that Model A cars and parts were being persued by young guys and auctions are full of guys in their forties, very surprising.

Has you said "things change", the original Chrysler mini-van is now 25 years old and eligable for AACA colectable status!!!! All these trends are as interesting has they are disconcerting; I took my Grandkids to a show chock full of really neat rods that were very well done. They just yawned until they saw a ticked out tuner car. It wasnt even close to what i like buy hey, "everyone has to live in their time."

Who knows, enjoy the ride.

[garyash]

I have this suspicion that the younger generation of car owners grew up with a collection of Hot Wheels cars tricked out in outlandish color schemes and extreme configurations, and that has influenced what they want the cars they drive to look like.

[studegary]

In the 1970s, the local AACA show had a row of open Model As, a row of closed Model As and a row of Model Ts. By the 1990s there was just a few of each series at the show.

My father had NOS and used Model A parts. He bought a 1929 coupe brand new. He sold the parts, at a low price, to a guy younger than I who had a Model A and was interested in them. That guy died first (of the three of us).

[aenthal]

When I first began to drive (only had my Edsel, not my Studebaker yet) I was entirely unwelcome in any car show with that 1960 model year car.
I remember well how collectible cars meant brass era horseless carriages, Rolls, even Packard, but never anything from the 1960's.
I did not see a lot of T's and A's, though I am sure they were out there.
I remember the bad-talk I got: that car is junk, it will never be collectible.
But I stuck it out and today my Edsel is worth five times what it sold for new.
It was some time in the late 1980's that things changed (though they had been evolving for pre-war cars and all those Model T's) before the 1980's.
Today I get the same bad-talk about my former daily driver which is a 1986 Taurus, currently stored in my garage.
It is now 25 years old and not collectible, and not welcome at any car show.
I don't know if my Taurus will ever be worth half of what my father paid for it new, but I have been "there" before, having people tell me that a car I loved and wanted wasn't worth fixing/owning/saving, and I learned a long time ago to pay no attention.
Some day, some time, somebody will look at that car and say "wow, my family had one like that when I was in nursery school," and I will say "go sit in it, for a minute, if you want" just like they do with my Studebaker.

[StewedMonkey]

...1986 Taurus, currently stored in my garage.
It is now 25 years old and not collectible, and not welcome at any car show.

Three words: Old Detroit motif.

[paulbearson]

Today, I took my dog to the vet. (That's another story.) Anyway, I told the vet tech that I was on my way to an AACA car show and that I would be a judge in the Model A Ford class. She appeared to be in her 20's. She told me that her boy friend had a Model A and he loves it. Maybe the younger generation will pick up the batton and keep our old Studes going!!! Bjarn

[comatus]

In the "I Don't Get It" category, One just doesn't see stacks of Model A's headed for the crusher. I reckon that, like Winchester 52 rifles, they're all in the closet somewhere, in the hands of owners who like owning them but are past the stage of showing them. Single-model club life tends to look inward -- like owning a "rare" Avanti, then only going to AOAI meets where there's 2 dozen in line to get in. T and A guys (eww!) know what they've got there, and probably got tired of going head-to-head with Royal Mails aobut 50 years ago.

A stock Model A goes down the road, except Interstates, something like a current car. I sometimes sit on my MIL's porch, a mile from Sauder Village, and watch them take off after a meet there. They cruise at 50 very comfortably, and have been known to pull out and pass. Now, T's are another story, and that must have a lot to do with why park-and-shine types aren't seen cruising around town in them. My wife's cousins drove theirs to a friend's shop, a couple of miles from our place, from western Ohio ten years ago, but they were wild and crazy 70-somethins: about 3 hours for a 'one-hour' trip. Sadly, I passed on the chance to buy their two T's a few weeks back, just because I'm as bad as the restayaz.

T's belong in Jeep country. It's amazing what those cars will do in the unpaved or semi-paved conditions they were built for. Except for certain specials, they were the greatest off-roader ever made until Jeep came along. There's not a famous set of steps in the country they hadn't driven up by 1920. And I think they're all still out there, just not at the shows. They'll about run on lamp oil; wonder how they do on ee-thanol?

_______________________
And a half-hour after I posted this, the phone rang, and the survivor of those two cousins advanced the spark, cranked her over and drove off into the dusty sunset this morning. The model T's sold for $6000 (clean older restoration) and $4000 (workshop-rebodied pickup) at auction three weeks ago. RIP Paul Wyse, a Ford man right to the end of the road. Two bachelor brothers, motoring through eternity, at 25 MPH.

[DEEPNHOCK]

Like wine... It has to age..... (more than a week or two)

Three words: Old Detroit motif.

Originally Posted by aenthal
...1986 Taurus, currently stored in my garage.
It is now 25 years old and not collectible, and not welcome at any car show.

[DEEPNHOCK]

I can see it now.....

Derp says..."Hey Tishbip, let's take your community LowVolt2030 down to the old folks compound and see my granpop"...
Tishbip.. "No way man, it's cloudy out, and the rangemeter says only eleven kilometers"
Derp..."Dangit, I told you that those obsolete Solyndra panels you got on Ebay were no good!"
Tishbip.."Well, I heard the old coal plant might run Wednesday for a day, so maybe it'll be charged up by then.."
Derp.."Man, I wish I knew how to start granpops old Taurus.... It's so ugly it's cute"
Tishbip.."Derp, you are one strange dude.... Ever since you joined the FTDC, you just obsess about that car.."
Derp... "Well? Why not.... It actually ran on gasoline!"
Tishbip.. "Yeah yeah yeah... Tell me again about when gasoline was less than $25 a gallon...and you could actually find it"
Derp..."Well, we could convert pig manure to gas.. I saw that on an old, old, old Mel Gibson movie..."
Tishbip... "Yeah, and you were which guy in that movie? The little guy, or the guy carrying the little guy?"
Derp.. "Forget it... Lets go to McDonald's and get a Mc'Seaweed burger and soy fries"
Tishbip... "Yer' on!...Lessgo!"
(fade to PSA announcement)

[studegary]

Reminds me of when we took our Packard to an AACA meet and were not allowed in. Now, many at an AACA meet probably don't know what a Packard is.
A neighbor just took their 1986 Chrysler LeBaron turbo convertible out for a ride this afternoon. It is hard for me to think of it as an antique. The neighbor purchased it new.

[StudeDave57]

beware those Model A owners...

I got a funny story 'bout Model As~

At last week's Whatcom County Classic Car- a nice Model A pick-up truck thingy showed up.
Dude came over to me and asked why "those Model As over there aren't parked with mine."
I told him that Stude didn't make Model As, and that's why.
He insisted "I know what a Model A looks like- I've owned this one for 20 years"
I in turn told him- "show me a Model A over there- and I'll move it pronto."
Not a one of those Studebakers said 'Ford' on them- he never came back!!!

[JRoberts]

!5 year old James McLeod is an example, however, that some youngsters are enjoying the Studebaker experience. You saw him with his 1958 Commander in Turning Wheels. He and his dad (Starliner62) Jamie, were at Tri-State last week and James had a good time driving his Studebaker around.

[mbstude]

!5 year old James McLeod is an example, however, that some youngsters are enjoying the Studebaker experience. You saw him with his 1958 Commander in Turning Wheels. He and his dad (Starliner62) Jamie, were at Tri-State last week and James had a good time driving his Studebaker around.

James loves that '58 Stude. He let me take her for a spin, and I thanked him for making my day by letting me drive my old car. He says "No, thank YOU for selling it to me and making my high school years!"

I certainly made the right choice by letting that car go.

[rockinhawk]

11 year old Josh Pair is another example. He was driving his 60 Lark around the farm yesterday. He claims he dosn't like his little sister, but he will take her for a ride in his car.



Alex Nelson is another youngster with the fire in his soul. even if he does have Mopar under the hood.