The Future of our British Car Hobby

We need to get these guys on the forum!
Paul

Nice! Sounds like me, but mine didn’t run.

Great video, Paul. Thanks for posting!

Very neat, Paul. You're closer, go find 'em!

Reminds me of the mid and late '70's. Five Elans within a ten mile radius. The salesfolk at Dave Bean referred to us as: " The Western Pennsylvania Lotus Mafia". Glad to see there are younger guys with the inquisitiveness and determination to keep those cars on the road.

As a slightly discouraging aside, I find that most young folks these days don't use web forums. Facebook and messaging, yes. Forums and email, no.

harumph
TM

Loved it...like them, for me it's always been about the driving.

We occasionally get some new young members in our club. They want to learn but most don't want to hang out with us older people.
What I worry more about is the politicians who say they are going to ban fossil fuel cars off the roads. Jerry Brown says California is planning on that in about 15 years or so.

Whew....
I figured this was some sort of article about banning old cars.....
Good to know the hobby has some young guns waiting to take over when we keel over. All the more reason to talk to any kid that shows interest in our cars.

Would give the next generation a chance to work on cars with nothing more than a normal set of tools. No expensive scan tools needed but it does need us to pass on the knowledge before we take it with us to the great beyond.

Been watching a you-tube channel of a small one man shop and he has scan tools to read almost everything. Can determine which cylinder is low compression with a scan tool. Hate to think how much he has invested in those electronic tools.

David

I don't like to say it, but I have said it before and I will say it again, because I believe it is true. There will always be exceptions but for the most part the popular car hobby (excuding the really high end stuff like old Bugattis) will be driven by people wanting to own, restore and drive cars from their youth, either because of good memories, or infulfilled dreams.

When I was younger the prior generation fiddled with Model A's and stuff. The market for the mainstream pre-war cars has been pretty stagnant the last twenty years while the price of post war collector cars has boomed.

Add to that the changing interests of the younger generation, who seem to define themselves less and less by the car they drive ("our" cars were a cool new trend in the 50s and 60s, an alternative to stodgy American cars, Walter Cronkite even did a video about it https://youtu.be/bySosXZHnfI ) and more and more by their high tech phones and watch thingies.

The old British sports car hobby has probably already peaked. ****, the old car hobby in general may have peaked or be close to it. It's a hobby, they come and go, they used to sell model railroad stuff at Sears and Kresges, now it is purely a specialty store item. Times change, life goes on.

glemon,
I completely agree with what your saying here, but I can see it going another way as well. I think the key to getting the younger generation involved is to make the cars cool again (not that they haven't always been cool). I'm on the slightly younger side of British car enthusiasts, being 44 next month. My dad had a GT6 when I was a kid, and in HS my friend's grandmother had an early TR6 that we got up and running again as we learned the fine art of grease monkey-ing. I got a TR6 as soon as I could scrape up the cash. Coming from the deep rural south, all of our friends were into muscle cars. Our interest in the TRs and British sports cars in general was in what they could do. Rapidly moving from A to B, feeling the mechanical nature of the thing, learning it's personality and how to keep it happy.
These cars were first build to be driven hard. They still can be. With even the slightest bit of unobtrusive "hotrodding" (for lack of a better term), any LBC can be made into a tight handling little go kart with enough power to have fun without needing to achieve Ludicrous Speed to feel like you're working it. That's where they next generation will be brought on board IMO. Get a big vintage rally culture going, organize clubs around events and drives and using the cars the way they were designed. Not many kids are going to be interested in parking in a field twice a month all summer with a wicker basket on the back luggage rack waiting for judges to tell them what's not correct on their car.

glemon said:

I don't like to say it, but I have said it before and I will say it again, because I believe it is true. There will always be exceptions but for the most part the popular car hobby (excuding the really high end stuff like old Bugattis) will be driven by people wanting to own, restore and drive cars from their youth, either because of good memories, or infulfilled dreams.

When I was younger the prior generation fiddled with Model A's and stuff. The market for the mainstream pre-war cars has been pretty stagnant the last twenty years while the price of post war collector cars has boomed.

Add to that the changing interests of the younger generation, who seem to define themselves less and less by the car they drive ("our" cars were a cool new trend in the 50s and 60s, an alternative to stodgy American cars, Walter Cronkite even did a video about it https://youtu.be/bySosXZHnfI ) and more and more by their high tech phones and watch thingies.

The old British sports car hobby has probably already peaked. ****, the old car hobby in general may have peaked or be close to it. It's a hobby, they come and go, they used to sell model railroad stuff at Sears and Kresges, now it is purely a specialty store item. Times change, life goes on.

Click to expand...

Alfred E. Neuman said:

glemon,
I completely agree with what your saying here, but I can see it going another way as well. I think the key to getting the younger generation involved is to make the cars cool again (not that they haven't always been cool). I'm on the slightly younger side of British car enthusiasts, being 44 next month. My dad had a GT6 when I was a kid, and in HS my friend's grandmother had an early TR6 that we got up and running again as we learned the fine art of grease monkey-ing. I got a TR6 as soon as I could scrape up the cash. Coming from the deep rural south, all of our friends were into muscle cars. Our interest in the TRs and British sports cars in general was in what they could do. Rapidly moving from A to B, feeling the mechanical nature of the thing, learning it's personality and how to keep it happy.
These cars were first build to be driven hard. They still can be. With even the slightest bit of unobtrusive "hotrodding" (for lack of a better term), any LBC can be made into a tight handling little go kart with enough power to have fun without needing to achieve Ludicrous Speed to feel like you're working it. That's where they next generation will be brought on board IMO. Get a big vintage rally culture going, organize clubs around events and drives and using the cars the way they were designed. Not many kids are going to be interested in parking in a field twice a month all summer with a wicker basket on the back luggage rack waiting for judges to tell them what's not correct on their car.

Click to expand...

Interesting opposite siides of the same coin. I lean toward glemon's side as I see the results of it in our local Healey club. Average age is 65. I wish we had a few members like Alfred E., It would be great. I'd love to hear your ideas on how to reach younger enthusiasts and what kind of events would interest them. And how do we get younger people interested in the cars in the first place? I sometimes hear people say we need to preserve these cars as original for the future and my response is, for whom? There are only so many museums to stuff them in when we die off. I have two sons and one might be interested in the car, the other one probably not. But keeping a "toy" car is difficult for young folks trying to buy a house, pay student loans, etc.

Here's a good example of the kind of stuff I'm talking about. It doesn't have to be organized to nearly this level to be just as much fun. This is exactly what I plan on doing with my TR4.

Alfred E.-Great Stuff, and am all for the younger generation getting involved and thrilled when they do. Love to talk to people of all ages about my car. Will also add we have about 150 in our local, multi marque car club. At 57 I am one of the young ones, there are maybe 2-3 couple or individuals younger than me. Basically the average age has kept going up in straight relationship to the years passing, we get new members but they are all retirement range.

Great video.

David

Just a thought, but the few young "car" folks I run in to aren't interested in cars as cars. They seem to want loud engines and screeching tires. They know little or nothing about mechanicals, other than how to jack up the suspension or add a muffler cut-out. Same for trucks - lots of shiny chrome and interior luxury - but other than the raised suspension and loud engines, no interest.

The few young folks I know with an interest in "classic cars", are the children of parents who have lots of resources and lots of cars already. They like to drive dad's or mom's classic(s), but don't have an interest in how it works.

As the Whyte sisters say "The reason we started rallying in the first place was through our dad, he used to enter rallies as a driver when we were very little ...". They've been doing entertainment and "presenting" for over ten years. Methinks there's some money there.

OK, back to my cave.
Tom M.

Alfred E. Neuman said:

Here's a good example...

Click to expand...

Sure was...Excellent.

Every hobby is undergoing the same problem. "How do we get younger people to join?"
Average age of private pilots is way up and numbers are down. Ditto for classical music concerts, stamp and coin collectors, golfers, etc, etc. Many golf clubs have folded - turned into condos or even a cemetery.Everything costs more today, especially around here. I just spent $13 for a bowl of oatmeal with bananas and brown sugar and a cuppa decaf in a local diner with my tennis group. How much is it in your town? Dinner for two with a glass of wine is $80 to $100 including tip. There are a few bargain places around. Last night, my wife and I shared a small Greek salad with souvlaki chicken and cup of tea for $14.50 plus $3 tip. Ample for 2 people. Place is always crowded.

Alfred E.-Great Stuff, and am all for the younger generation getting involved and thrilled when they do. Love to talk to people of all ages about my car. Will also add we have about 150 in our local, multi marque car club. At 57 I am one of the young ones, there are maybe 2-3 couples or individuals younger than me. Basically the average age has kept going up in straight relationship to the years passing, we get new members but they are all retirement range.