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Depends on what you mean but "classics" if you are speaking of the 40s and 50s muscle cars- they are already antiques and a lot of them are gone, junked, scrapped, in collisions, rusted out, probably only a few percent of the whole are even around any more, that also makes them valuable as collectors items which prices them out of the range of most people who can't afford $50,000 for a car that will need restoration work, a secure heated garage to store it in, and which gets 8-10 mpg of $4 a gallon gas to run it.
Many of the older cars yet from the 20s 30s were completely ruined by teens modifying them into stupid wide tire "hotrods"
Many cars made in the 70s and 80s weren't worth the steel they were stamped from because they didn't last, got poor mpg and after 1973 the big block V8 engines in those two ton cars just didn't cut it any more due to gas prices.
Jay Leno has an awesome car collection, his youtube videos show them well, and running. The one I really like the looks of and everything else is his Doble steam car from the 1920s, fully restored and he takes it on drives all the time.
He has a video on that car showing everything about it, including how he can fire up the boiler from a cold start and drive off in about one minute, and reach freeway speeds easily while actually producing more steam than the engine uses at that speed.
He gets about the same mpg as a large SUV gets today, it burns any liquid fuel- oil, kerosine, diesel, but for ease of finding it on every street corner he uses gasoline.
I can build a SB Chevy V8 which gets 20+ mpg. 4bbl, headers and everything. You can buy a crate engine which does the same. Technology has advanced.
Don't know any kids into cars and most are not in any hurry to get a license... even into their early 20's.
When I was in school, it was right of passage on the day you turned 16...
All the guys had to have wheels... even if you had to work on it all the time.
Friends are also very particular on what their kids drive... two very close friends were offered grandpa's Nissan pickup for one and an s10 to the other... both parents declined and one was even mad... reason... no airbags, etc..
A trend I do see working here at the hospital is when a car is in the picture... most of my coworkers will buy a brand new Civic or Corolla to send their daughters off to college.
I'm working with a 25 year old nurse that has like new Corolla her parents bought for her new 7 years ago... she really wants to get rid of it because it's boring... she want a new BMW...
I bought my first car at age 12 with money I earned and it came home on a hook... 1929 Model A Ford for a $1,000 dollars... still have it today.
I can agree with this. My 21 year old son had his drivers permit for several years now and can care less about a drivers license, his girlfriend or my other son takes him everywhere. Neither of my boys share my passion for cars. They don't know much of anything about cars and don't care to learn, as long as they can get from point A to point B, that's all that matters to them. I cant turn them into car enthusiast, the passion is just not there. I wished at least of them share my passion, I cant even have a conversation with them about cars. I do have a nephew that loves cars and share my passion, but my boys act all jealous when I gives him all the attention.
Kids just don't care. They don't understand how a car works and anything vaguely modern is far too complex and costly for them to wrench on.
Back in the 80s I had to learn how to rebuild my Ford 331 engine out of necessity, it was in a school bus I bought used to convert into an RV, so I got the book and Napa did the machine shop stuff and I assembled it.
Napa had a freeze plug in backwards on the block and had to swop that, but when I fired it up the first time with a mechanic who had a timing light to adjust the timing for me, I had the timing only a little off.
I never had a bit of trouble with that engine and it saw some very heavy use and at screaming redline speeds (driving 70-75 on the freeway with that slow city speed rear axle ratio it had, think it was 7:20 to 1)
I used that experience to rebuild a few other engines after that, but those were in vehicles where everything was super easy to get at, that bus you could sit inside the engine compartment and work on the engine, you could get at everything without having to remove 6 other things just to get at the one you need to!
I was able to replace the alternator on the road with nothing more than an adjustable wrench, with vehicles today you almost can't work on them any more, everything is computer and sensor driven, you often need special tools as well as metric, and everything is so jammed in there that just to replace something like the starter you almost have to remove half the top of the engine just to get at it!
I don't know where all the kids are that don't care about cars, not around here for sure.
Yeah they like different cars but that is what makes the world go round.
They'll chop roof Supras, do all kinds of things to the suspension and pull Gs in turns like older muscle cars could only dream of. They can run them in the high 20 MPG range and still bust 11s in the quarter.
Not everyone gets stuck in a time bubble. Classics take time. The old Mustangs? Literally some of the worst designed cars around but they had some appeal.
The cars of today and just different and casting a cynical eye on the younger people of today is what your parents used to do and you probably didn't like it much.
Stop hanging around the wrong kids I say. The kids around here like cars, motorcycles and can turn wrenches too. They have no trouble tearing a car down to frame and building it up as they want it. They'll swap engines, blend in roll bars that look like it came that way from the factory.
My nephew loves driving his 2003 Passat. His sister is 16 and is hoping for a used Beetle. Some young people still want cars and the freedom it gives them.
Jay Leno has an awesome car collection, his youtube videos show them well, and running. The one I really like the looks of and everything else is his Doble steam car from the 1920s, fully restored and he takes it on drives all the time.
He has a video on that car showing everything about it, including how he can fire up the boiler from a cold start and drive off in about one minute, and reach freeway speeds easily while actually producing more steam than the engine uses at that speed.
He gets about the same mpg as a large SUV gets today, it burns any liquid fuel- oil, kerosine, diesel, but for ease of finding it on every street corner he uses gasoline.
Love that Doble Steamer...
Visited the factory where they were made in Emeryville CA.
Quite a car and on par or better than the finest cars of that period and priced accordingly.
For many cars are simply an appliance... almost like a toaster... would say can opener... but lots of people no longer have them.
Always received good service from my mustangs... owned 4 and still have two.
Did one for my brother for his 16th birthday... a 1968 with factory air, console, GT rims and gas cap... good looking car and one he drove on the engine I built 25 years... they moved and he didn't like seeing it outside... put an ad on Craigslist and had a guy from New Zealand and a guy from Germany standing in the driveway... sold it for $8,000 to New Zealand.
Except for brake pads, tires and oil changes... never needed anything other than a $45 water pump...
Seems the only guys into cars here are into Japanese stuff...
When I grew up there were a lot of Honda motorcycles... have not seen one in years... minibikes were the big thing for those too young to be legal...
I think video games, social media, and parents' work schedules these days have all had an effect. I also believe that the growth of the HOA has had a negative impact as well since too many busy-bodies are all to happy to complain about seeing a project car in the garage. Technology comes in to play a bit, too (airbags, etc).
I sure hope my son is interested in cars and boats as he grows up. He does seem to like my Mustang so far. I even let him sit in it and watch Mickey Mouse like a drive-in. He was all smiles.
HOA is a factor I dismissed... a friend is restoring a camaro and has gotten grief from his HOA... he can have it in the garage... just can't have the garage door up when he is working on it...
I have one HOA experience... HOA was formed in 1948 and my neighbors are cool about it... nevertheless, the CC&R's could be a problem if someone were so inclined.
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