I've gone to a few car shows over the last few years -- and it seems that most of the entrants and spectators are at least near to my age.

It was different when I was a lad ( oh so long ago). I don't know that there were many car shows -- but I remember that it was guys from their late teens to maybe their 30's who fooled around with cars. The screech of cars ' patching out' was pretty normal. And there was at least one local dragstrip. Cars with nose up, nose down , or just lowered were common ( style depending on the year). And therewere quite a few small plates hanging from chains declaring 'Road Pharohs' or similar names.

In the twin cIties, each city had a 'loop' that you could cruise around in the evening. There were occasional cases of young ladies agreeing to go for a ride if the car and the occupants were acceptable. It was fairly crowded and mufflers were minimal. I was a little intimidated when I brought out my Corvair

I guess I do understand -- you could actually do things to your cars then -- and pretty much everybody did - most to a fairly minor degree. And we were probably the first generation where a young person might actually own a car -- even if it wasn't much. And it was drive in ( not drive through) everywhere.

I do miss that -- but not a lot of other stuff that I pretty much don't think about.

hj

 

I agree, things were ALOT different, & you could get away with alot as well. Not so much anymore, we're always on camera now.
Kids are different these days, there's not many "car" people anymore, maybe because there aren't too many unique cars with character anymore, most are just appliances.

 

Most of us who are of a "certain age" will frequently recall with great nostalgia those times we were growing into various levels of "maturity". Music and old TV programs along with social activities of those by-gone times bring back the sweetest memories as they quickly remind us how the world and road ahead were still right in front of us waiting to be discovered.

Most people in or at "car shows" are of that "certain age" group, we're looking to capture some of that youth, now able to afford cars from those formative years. Me myself I'm still longing for those beautiful women, those who got away due my own lack of knowledge how to attract them. Oh, to know then what I know now..........

OTOH I do agree the interest to "soup up" or hot rod a car has greatly diminished since the 70's due about a million reasons, its not all about the growing complexity modern vehicles now include. The "programmers" have somewhat replaced the "tuners" but yet just under the surface the idea of tinkering with something factory-produced to have an edge over someone else's car still exists----its just that in 20 years an early 2000 Honda Accord will be on display fully restored and just like factory new.

 

Most of my friends were "car guys" back in the 80s. A couple worked for body shops, another for Year One, 3 had street legal supercharged project cars, etc. But the most interesting of the guys happened to be my next door neighbor.

At last count, he'd owned 27 Corvettes. All but two of them were rescued. He'd put them back together, sell them, and move on to the next project car. He built one for a girlfriend that took the car with her when they broke up, another for his first wife that kept the car after their divorce.

Some time in the mid-late 90s he tired of restoring cars and decided to build one. He bought a bunch of 2x3 box steel and built a chassis. He set a Camaro firewall, windshield, roof skin and doors on the chassis. The tail lights came from a Mazda. A 350 was mounted in the back to a Porsche trans-axle. Then he started fabricating fiberglass for the body. Once the body was crafted he painted it a Ferrari red. It was about 2 years from the box steel to the first road test, and probably another year before it saw any serious road time.

I've known a lot of car guys in my life. I don't know one under 40 that I'd call a real car guy.