car culture slowing dying, how about rest of the world?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

You guys just don’t hang in the right circles. Checkout groups like Radwood on Facebook. Tons of younger folks getting excited about cars. Not always the same stuff we are into, but hey to each their own. I was amazed at Rennsport at how large a crosse section of society was there, young and old getting out of all sorts of cars.

I think the rising prices of some of the older stuff has driven more interest in some of the cars that had been previously overlooked as well.

I think that's a lot of the issue, guys see that the younger crowd isn't interested in the cars that they are into, then make the leap that kids just aren't into cars anymore. It's not the case, they are just into different cars. Even in podunk Wichita we have a number of Facebook car groups for things as diverse as lowriders to 1/8 mile drags. I work with multiple guys under 30 who are huge car guys, one of which is DIY building a '65 Mustang drag car with a full cage and a turbo EFI 5.0, another with a modified 370Z Nismo, another who has a WW2 motorcycle complete with side car. That's a big difference that I see in the younger car crowd, there's more diversity in their taste. If you're generalizing, that also makes it much harder to narrow down what defines car culture in a given age group.

[Starless]

I was just at a Trader Joes and happened to park right in front of the door in plain sight. As I walked to the door a little kid, maybe 5-6 years old holding his mothers hand looked at me sheepishly and said, " your car sure is pretty" There is hope.

[IROC]

Our local Cars and Coffee typically draws over 2500 cars. It seems the culture is alive and well.

Harper Auto Square

[manbridge 74]

Let’s be honest. We could all do more to help kill it off. Drive a chrome stake right through its heart.

[tabs]

Modern cars have become appliances. Disposable commodities.

It seems that the car culture is still alive in more rural areas than the metro urban areas.

[look 171]

I think kids getting into cars will always be here and in that sub group of hard core go fast guys (or show cars). Young people driving or interested in driving is shrinking and many of them don't drive until their early 20 where they are forced due to work or school. In my time, most people drive by 18. We took care of our cars. Well, we tried anyway to keep them running. That's just not the case anymore. I am still curious about young people in other countries.

[petrolhead611]

In the north of England a lot of the young car enthusiasts go rallying: we have the forests up here for great events.The Cars & Coffee type meets do attract some young people but they are generally for owners of American cars who tend to be older just to afford them( there are some sad cases who customise PT Cruisers as well).
Some youngsters meet up unofficially with super loud music in mainly horribly modified small cars,eg ridiculous stance and all show no go mufflers.Classic cars are mainly owned by older people who go to the really frequent organized meets. Sportscars in the Park have 2 meets per year in Yorkshire alone, and 1500 or so cars are exhibited mainly older people because they can afford the cars and the insurance. Kitcars seem to be less popular than of late as fewer young people have the basic skills necessary to build them: many of the better ones become track cars as they really aren't pleasant to drive distances. Some young people compete in Autosolos usually in old MX5 or very small old hatchbacks but they are more of a southern thing( I have to drive 80 miles or more each way to the nearest worthwhile events).
Trackdays are popular among the more affluent younger crowd , some people spend a lot on uprating their cars, but if you drive it on the road
as many do,even the tiniest modification has to be declared to your insurer and they will up the premium.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

Car culture was never big.
Car culture is as big as it ever was.
The kids just don't drive $100k Porsches.
You were the weird kid in the Chevelle?
Now that weird kid is in a modded stanced WRX

When I stuck my toe in the Miata culture I was shocked how big it is/was... yeah, as an old fart I didn't get the stanced/stretched tire/air bag/zoomy exhaust thing but I did some thing to my cars as a teen that made my dad roll his eyes. On the other hand when I put coilovers on the Miata I sold the stock springs to a kid who was restoring his Miata to original.

I'm guessing the Civic is the equivalent to the VW bug of our generation, buy one cheap with a blown motor and some cosmetic issues, grab an engine out of a junk yard and you have transportation for cheap.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Possibly true...but there are exceptions. But..the next cruise-in, swap meet, concours, or whatever car event you attend, look around, check the ages. Not many in their teens or 20's there.

But hell, not many my age (75 tomorrow) there either...I haven't bothered to go to even a local cruise-in for 5-6 years. It just all seemed so repetitive after a while.

Happy Birthday.

[Evans, Marv]

Yeah, happy birthday Paul. Hope you have many more enjoyable ones.

[PDKLOL]

The local Porsche, BMW, Audi, VW dealer has a Motorsport shop that puts on cars and coffee events once a month that look like this here in Tampa. It pulls in around 300 cars and it's pretty diverse!

Motorsports by Reeves Gathering

I would say that you may not see many of the youth getting into Porsche's because the aircooled tax is not an easy one to afford.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

It has gotten stupidly expensive and ridiculously regulated. Tinkering / modding is definitely discouraged if not outright illegal. When I was younger there was a lot of tinkering and modding... now it’s all about who has the most money to throw at the most expensive bolt-on kit... nothing about ingenuity or interesting approaches or real “hot-rodding” anymore. It’s sad really.
.

Cars are way cheaper today.
I bought a Mustang as a teen for $3k while earning $5/hr.
You can get a Mustang, Miata, or BMW for $4k.
High school jobs pay about $15/hr now. That's 5x more.

Plus, credit is cheap, and people live like rock stars.

Tools are cheaper than ever in the past century.

Today's mods are mindless?

Right b/c slapping on a set of Cragar's
raised white letter tires,
subwoofer in the trunk,
NOS,
adding pinstripes,
tinting windows,
jacking up the rear,
adding tractions bars,
and gluing on a hood scoop was ingenious?

Car culture has not changed one bit.
The same ratio of idiots permeate the hobby then and now.

[chapo]

It seems like " I have lost interest in cars, cars show etc, so the hobby is screwed" is more of the hidden topic here. Like I said before, drift, off road, rally, is hugely popular but not easily accessed on the net. I have never understood car shows that you drive to, then sit in a chair next to your static car. People are shocked when I tell them the only time I drive my car is at a race or track event. My F150 does fine for daily use.

[chapo]

My dad raced and had street cars, when I was younger I was into off road in a big way. He didn't understand, until I took him for a ride up our street in a 1200 lb off road buggy with a 2275 turbo. Then he laughed out loud when the front end was about a foot off of the ground and we were pulling 3rd gear.

[jcommin]

It depends. My 24 yr old does not drive or have a license. He is not car crazy at all.

My oldest, who is 30, likes cars but is more enamored with technolog.

Me - I love cars but my taste is changing too. I'm 68 and I don't like driving at night. My DD is an appliance - it gets me to/from.

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by porsche tech

Mark, sorry if I offended, didn't mean to. My own 16 year old grandson bought himself a really nice 58k mile Miata (he has a job too). My only point was, times seem a little different than when I was a kid. (And I'm a little jealous of your son's Audi coupe)!

None taken
I just wanted to be clear that he did work hard for it. He's a good kid and although Tim Hortons is just a PT job to him he was trained and promoted to baker at the start of the summer. He's the only PT teenager that's been trained as a baker, the other bakers are all FT adults.
His manager wants to have him start training to be an assistant manager, likely he'll be the weekend night shift manager when he turns 18. He makes almost $15/hr now.

He'll be looking for an apprenticeship (HVAC or plumbing) once he graduates. He's doing a HS co-op placement with a big outfit right now, he said he's the unofficial foreman of the 6 other co-op students, so I'm hoping this will be a good lead for him.
Smart kid, quick study and trades are in major demand here.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by chapo

I said before, drift, off road, rally, is hugely popular but not easily accessed on the net. I have never understood car shows that you drive to, then sit in a chair next to your static car.

I dig static car shows, street driving a 1940 Buick or 1952 beetle is just for fun and if you take the time to chat with the guy or gal in the chair usually you will find them very interesting.

Now drifting I don't get at all... I'm guessing it is driven by the whole FF crowd.

[Coastr]

The number of young people getting a licence is going down, but I’m guessing the number of young people with a licence who are into cars is same or growing.

I was car obsessed long before I had a licence. The day I got that thing and got to drive my own car to meet up with friends was one of the happiest in my life. The same thing would apply now - if they haven’t got the big by 16 or so, probably not going to happen.

I don’t think the tech thing is that related - plenty of people have cool tech and cool cars. There really is only so much tech you can actually buy. A lot of gamers play racing games. There is a lot of crossover.

I would say younger people now are less likely to go the full dollar resto but get something quirky and rat rod it. The last VW show I went to was all rusty slammed type 3s with old luggage on the roof. Not thing but I appreciate the creativity on a budget.

[Jims5543]

There is a cars and coffee event in West Palm Beach once a month and they get 20,000 people attending each month.

https://www.carsandcoffeepb.com/


I have never seen anything like it in all my years being a motor head outside maybe the Turkey Rod Run at Daytona every Thanksgiving.

[flipper35]

I've probably posted this a couple times, but our 16 year old daughter does not like trucks, jeeps or others of that nature. She does like to ride in the Cobra replica and asked what her dream car is she likes low slung quick cars, like the Hellcat Charger. She also wants a bike like this:



Our 9 year old boy wants a yellow Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a matching yellow freedom top. A Sahara or Rubicon package, he doesn't mind either as long as it has the right tires on it.

We have a couple places here that get together with pre-1974 cars and both kids enjoy going with dad and me. The girl likes the Mach 1 from that era. The boy likes the Chargers from that era. She did like the 1971 911 when we had one. He is meh.