Thread: future of streetrodding

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I'll toss in my .02 since I'm one of the younger generation at 25. I think there's alot of reasons why alot of the younger crowd is going the way they are. Alot has to do with how you were involved with cars as a kid. If you were around Hot Rods and Street Machines all your life you have a totally different outlook than most others. My old man was heavy into it and there wasn't too many swap meets we didn't attend or wrecking yards we didn't pliage. I have several friends at my age, that are building hot rods. I have 10 cars: 3 muscle cars, 1 streetrod and the others are 1978 or older. I have no use for computer controlled junk. A good tuner and maintence keeps those carbed cars running just as clean as the conputer junk.
There's a guy I graduated with that has his own hot rod shop here in town and has had 7 or 8 cars he built in magazines. There's another friend that's building a Model A Roadster Pu and another that's just starting on a Model A 2D Sedan. I know of other guys here in town with '60's Fords that I have sold parts to. So i don't think the hobby is really going away. It will be gettin more expensive and you'll see the hobby shift to the well-to-do folks just because of the expenses. However, I figure that after the next 10-15 years, you'll probably see a major dip in prices after and baby boomers have passed, so that could jolt a little more interest tward the younger crowd.
Other circumstances..... WOMEN. For some odd reason the younger women (or any woman for that matter), but not all, just DON'T appreciate the hobby, at least not the older cars and the ones that do are with the ricer clans. Fortunately I'm married to one that does put up with me and my old cars and I'm thankful of it! It helps that she likes them too. But I see time and time again, WOMEN wrenching down on their husbands and not letting them experience the greatness of the hobby. Be it overbearing or a control freak, I dunno, I never could understand.
The other thing would probably be, the sheep factor. One cool guy does up a rice burner, the other 50 sheep followers want one too.
I do notice that there is an increasingly large number of younger people getting really interested in the cars coined the phrase "Rat Rods" which to me is just a 50's rod. I guess it because they are basic and cheap to build. Makes sense to me.
Just my thoughts on the subject...

Truckguy, don't work on it!! haha just messing. But yeah then people become dependent on the computer to tell when or what is wrong and wait until something screws up and that check engine light comes on instead of having a carb engine where you have to keep maintaining it. Oh well, that's my twp cents and I am leaving it at that.

ok the people that bout these old cars new say for example a old 70's moddle nova with a straite 6cyl and all they only payed a couple $$$$ for it new and then they drive it until now and they only have maybe at the most in it $10000.00 init and is still running so as for going out and buying a brand new car for ten thousand and buying a older car that will last longer i think i would buy the old car.

i know where a couple old novas are that are still drivable in origanal cond.

just my two cent's

P.s hey FMX i couldnt resist lol

well in 20 to 50 yrs we wont have to worry about it .If the way thing keep going gas will be $12 a gal hotrodding will only be for the rich and the famous . I think the future will be hotrod golf karts

What do you mean? That's the way I think. Why the hell buy a new car that is something like 20 grand when if you have an old car that you paid only 3 grand for or so or even less if it's a street rod (48 or older) then you put that 20 grand into that car, then that car would be worth WAY more and doesn't depreciate like a new car would. I explained this before and wen't into more detail and explained it better but you get the point.

The title of this thread is Future of Streetrodding,Don't that cover everything thats been talked about here? Carbs,Points Fuel Injection,Electronic Ignition,Computers,Rack and Pinion steering,I can see all of these things and more in roddings future!

Future Hot Rods ..................... Has anybody seen/ installed an air bag system in a Street Rod? Or any car or truck that didn't have them as factory equipment? Don't know why I need to know that .....

I'm sure your talking about the steering wheel type. In street rodder mag. someone took the complete dash,motor trans wiring harness complete with SRS (air bags) from a new style Lincoln and installed in I think a 49-50 Merc.

You guys arent looking at something. You say that the late 70s/Early 80s electronics were garbage with a carb. And, i will say, the first thing to go on my 260 olds was the POS D-Jet. But, then again, what about the old TBI units? The design is basicly the same from a 82 Caddy to a 95 GMC 1500 with a 350. The reason being, It Worked. I think the future of hot rodding will be kids going "Hey, if it works with a 4.1 and a 5.7, will it work if i bore it out to a 6.0? how about will it work on a 454? a 500?" This is how hot rodding got started guys. And, as the saying goes, "Everything old is new again"

STREETS , you made my point , after reading your post .i have seen your type at shows , guys like you are the reason i dont go anymore .
go ahead and put me on your list also .

It seems to me that Hot Rodding is a state of mind...

There are always going to be people who want to modify their cars to improve performance and drivability... Isn't that what the hobby is all about...

Seems like there is a case of Hot Rod snobery going on in the hobby today, maybe it has always been like that... I don't understand why we all seem to get so caught up in what types of cars other people like or the style in which they like to build thier cars... I wonder if we can ever just appreciate cars for the craftsmanship of their construction...

I don't know what the future of "Street Rodding" is going to be, in fact the term "Street Rod" was defined by the NSRA a couple of decades ago and IMHO is already out-dated....

I agree with what Don said, it is up to the current group of rodders to invest their time in the younger generations if we want to keep the hobby alive, reguardless of what typs of cars they like...

Just Mt 2¢...

Dave Brisco

Originally posted by TRUCKGUY
...as for going out and buying a brand new car for ten thousand and buying a older car that will last longer i think i would buy the old car.

i know where a couple old novas are that are still drivable in origanal cond.

Depends on what you're looking for. Obviously, in this type of forum, if we didn't like old cars, we wouldn't be posting here. And in most cases, older cars do appreciate after hitting rock bottom on the value side. But your example is flawed in a few ways.

If you live in the rust belt like I do, how long will that $10K Nova last driven as an everyday driver, including the winter. I'd give the car two or three years before the rust starts popping through. And if this is a carburated car, will it start on 4 degree morning in the middle of February?

Now if you're buy the $10,000 Nova as toy, this is fine. But you are not going to find a new or late model car being used strickly as a toy for $10,000 unless it's a used Mustang, Camaro or Firebird.

I paid $12,000 for a 2001 Ford Ranger pick up truck in 2002. It had 7800 miles on it when I bought it. I currently have 115,000 on it with no problems. Would I trade this as a daily driver with a '75 Ford Currier? Are you kidding me? Every panel on the truck is galvanized. How many rusty cars do you see on the road anymore with quarter panels flapping in the breeze? How many trucks do you see with the bed floors so badly rotted that you can no long put stuff back there without worring about it falling out the bottom?

Most cars built before the 1980's had a 100,000 mile shelf life. New cars should easily get 200,000 if not more. Yes, they are more complicated to work on (this depends on your point of view), but as everyday drivers, new cars are far more reliable than anything built by the Big 5 (yes, I'm including AMC and Studebaker).

I see the build quality that went into my '64 Studebaker, and I can tell you I know why Studebaker failed.

i couldnt imagine buying a car off the lot and losing thousands of dollars as soon as you leave at least with an old ride your steadily gaining intrest I'm 16 and i could never see my self driving an import or 4-cly i love hot rods and old cars wouldnt give up my galaxie for the world but at the way were goin are cars will be showpieces because no more gas will be left or it will be so outrageous bill gates will be the only person who is not driving a car run offf hydrogen

I think those rice burners are hot because all you have to do to turn them into race cars is put on a muffler with a 7" diameter tip. . . ..right.
Oh yeah, and you also have to find a 3 foot piece of corrugated aluminum to affix over the trunk so that the tires stay planted when your weaving between cars on the highway.
After that you get a 9" tachometer with a big red "max rpm" button and stick it on the A pillar, then your ready to race.

ok here is some more from me

now a ricer is a ricer not a HOTROD why do people get this confused it is very simple everyone is talking about (ricer's) being the new HOTROD'S they cant be a hotrod is an older car that somone has built engine etc. to get the most power out of it and a ricer is just a bunch of people putting 18in wheels on stuff with 2in tires and 7-10 mufflers and a big tach light on the dash of a automatic, so if there isnt NO old cars or truck's that somone has built there want be any HOTROD'S in the futer there wont be any there will just be ricer's.

mine will alway's be around long as i'm living

just like me and my mom went to look at some of the new trucks that we were thinking about buying we was wanting somthing to pull trailersetc, and we told him that we pulled them with our 81 chevy and he looked at it and said oh well if that truck can this truck defently can, what it is is people with new cars think there SH*T is better than our's but i have a few thing's to let them know it ISNT cause i was riding with a friend and he said this is what your mom needs to pull her trailer with here he was talking about his new ford expodition that could only go 100 mph and sucked down 18 miles to the gallon i think is what he said but i have news for him and i told him that my international will pull its load and go 100mph up hill.
and i do know that from expirenece my uncle done it with it

so HOTROD'S are HOTROD'S and ricer's are ricer's

???what's so hard to understand???