Am I reading the survey results right...? NO ONE UNDER 30? And less than 7% under age 40? OMG...please say I am not seeing it right...that I missed something.
From this survey, I am in the "younger" group as I am in my 40's. I have onwed a first gen Camaro since I was a teenager, and can not imagine not having one. As it is now, I have two 69's, and think it quite normal. I suppose that one day 20 years or so from now, these cars will be had for real cheap, as there will be very few people wanting to own one. Sadly, none of the younger guys seem to want them.
I blame this sad trend on first lame dads not taking their sons to a car show or teaching them how to work on cars, thus insuring they will be victims of unscrupulous mechanics for the rest of their lives. When I was a teenager, I learned how to work on my car out of necessity. I couldn't afford some garage to change my brakes, oil change, or other fix, so I did it myself. Not to mention, at the rate I broke stuff, I had to learn how to make repairs, sometimes on the side of the road with very few tools. I had the notion that if the moron working on my car at the mechanic shop could do it, so could I. Next thing I knew, I was building entire cars.
I also blame this on the big car companies not giving the younger crowd anything to get excited about. I can't speak for all of you, but in my opinion, there isn't a car worth a damn built after 1973, save for a few exceptions. These crappy junk boxes did nothing to get the next generation of kids wanting one. Compound this with the fact that these cars were way too complicated, no horsepower, and could not be made to go fast easily or cheaply (Thank you Ralph Nader). Add in the explosion of cars from Japan with the societal push to go green and drive small affordable, 4-banger economy boxes, and the fact they were making cars that did not break as often or need maintenace like those of the muscle car era. Kids no longer "needed" to know how to work on their cars.
I know guys who have never lifted the hood of their car, and have no desire to. I find this amazing. Of course, these are the same guys that think they own a comprehensive set of tools becasue they have a $10 box of Taiwan sockets, two screwdrivers, and a cheap pair of pliers. They couldn't change their own wiper blades if you held a gun to their heads. It is really no wonder why very few later generations got into cars...no one showed them, and there was just plain nothing to get excited about.
Look at stock car racing. Used to be these events got kids exicted about buying a car. The old saying "Win on Sunday, buy on Monday" (or something like that). Well, stock cars starting in the late 70's were not very stock. Nowadays, remove the fiberglass bodies, and they all look the same. No longer could you even think of buying anything at the dealership that even closely related to the cars at the races.
Sadly, like the drive in theater, hang out diner, gas station mechanic, and chrome, enthusiasm for muscle cars is dying. I consider myself lucky to have grown up loving old cars, my ability to fix them up, and getting into the car crowd. I have never had a mechanic pull one over on me, that is, for the very few times I needed to even go to one (Usually new car warranty nonsense where they try to sell me some stupid repair amazingly NOT covered by the warranty).
Anyway, I agree with the idea of getting the younger kids interested. My next show, I am going to let a few rugrats hop in behind the steering wheel (gently of course) and see if that will help ignite a sparkle in their eyes.
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