Evolution of automobiles and old drivers

[kent olsen]

So when I turned 16 and got my first car, a 1950 Ford, my dad taught me to drive a clutch and 3spd on the column. Also since we lived under a mountain, how to stop on a hill and continue without rolling back or stalling the engine.

Then came my first sports car, a 57 triumph TR3, with 4spds while in the Navy. Yeah now you're talking. Living in Southern California I was wrapped up in sports car racing and Riverside Raceway.

Then a 67 TR4 which got me into Autoxing. Now 'heel and toe' and I also learned to double clutch. Racing transmissions developed into those that shifted straight forward and back like a motorcycle but still with a clutch.

As I went on to a 65 Corvette and later into my 72T, which I've owned for 23 years, racing was still shifting gears although street cars all had automatics.

Then a few years back I noticed on the racing on TV the paddle shifters. Now no clutch, just a brake pedal and gas pedal. One foot on the brake and one on the gas. I suspect NASCAR was doing that for years.

Now comes the electric cars. Goobs of power, only two pedals and no shifter. Someone, on some forum, asked "what will it be like in the future. Will the young kids still be interested in the old cars?" Or who teach them to drive a clutch?

As you can guess I'm and old fart and all my old cars (65 vette, 72 911T, classic mini cooper) have 4-5 spd gearboxes. I wonder if the kids today will even be interested in cars in the future.

[Mark Salvetti]

My son is 30, so not really the kids you are talking about. But he has a lot more interest in cars than I expected. And he learned to drive a stick (Subaru WRX) when he was in his 20's. Although now he has paddles in his Alfa Giulia (that he bought after getting rid of his Tesla Model 3).

I'm hoping to someday get my SC back on the road so he can drive it and we can (hopefully) enjoy it together.

Mark

[Marine Blue]

My daughter is 14 and absolutely adores both of my Porsche’s. Her request for graduating middle school was to be dropped off and picked up in the Spyder on her last day of school. I told her I would give her the Spyder when I can’t drive it anymore and she’s totally excited about that! Her first comment was “I need to learn how to drive it!”.

[Funracer]

My daughter is 33 and can drive a stick with the best of them. She owns three Miatas
and autox’d when she was in high school. She was at a party recently when someone made an announcement. One of the party goers could not be found and his car was blocking other cars in. “Does anyone here know how to drive a stick shift”. She was the only one at the party who could. It is absolutely a dying skill.

As to the other part of your comment, will kids even be interested in cars in the future?
I think they will. Two of my three kids love cars. My daughter in particular enjoys working on them as much as driving them. When my young son was outside playing sports she was the one crawling around under my 71 LT1 helping me restore it. Kids may drive different cars soon but they will enjoy them, mod them, race them and restore them just like we did.

[Bucketlist]

My son has always had a collection of old cars but he is no longer a kid. I haven't seen much interest from my grandsons who are in their 20s. These days you can buy anything you want if you have the money, so who is buying our old cars and paying top dollar? Probably more old guys like us.

My son showed up at a car show a while back and we both won our class.