Interesting spin on old cars
 

What are your thoughts about this?



https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17Y...ibextid=wwXIfr

I have been saying what he said for 25 years I could see this coming down the road with the graying of the people at the cruise nights and car shows that is why i sold my cars years ago I am 75 years old.

Can you give a summary for those not on Facebook?

K

I saw that back in September when he posted it. I'm not a giant Joe Zolper fan as he has a pretty negative outlook on most car stuff and it seems like he thinks it's his way or the highway. Meh. I think the car world is like everything in life, it changes over time as society and interests change. Nothing lasts forever.
Here's a direct link to the video:
http://0260.tv/joezolper

The age group of people interested in muscle cars is graying and dying the younger generations don't have any interest or the money to buy them

I have no idea why this surprises people. The car hobby has always been generational. Baby Boomers were the largest generation of modern times and collected old muscle in big numbers. Successive generations are much smaller, less involved with things automotive. Those that are collect what they drove in their youth-Trans Ams, Acura Integras, Toyota Supras, Nissans. And trucks.

The law of supply and demand is irrefutable. Father Time always wins.

I'm also into Model T's, so I have watched a bit of what the sunsetting of the hobby looks like. People have been predicting the death of the Model T hobby since the 70s. I'd say it peaked between 2000 and 2010. With some exceptions, the decline in value has really just been inflationary. A car worth $10k 20 years ago is still worth $10k today. They really haven't dropped in price, just haven't kept up with the decline of the dollar.

The big problem in recent years has been parts availability. The T hobby was well supported by many boutique shops making aftermarket parts run by people in the hobby, not corporate entities producing parts in China. This was great for a long time, until they started aging out of being able to produce the parts, and unable to sell the business because everyone else in the business was at an age they wanted to reduce their workload, not add to it.

Musclecars are different, though. They can be driven with modern traffic, even in completely stock form. They'll never be as inconvenient to use as earlier cars. A bone-stock Chevelle could be daily-driven comfortably, and actually handle reasonably well with just tires/sway bars/steering box upgrades. People using the earlier cars as an example of declining interest are forgetting how badly most of the cars up into the 50s drive.

Another factor is dillution of the hobby... An enthusiast today has 120+ years of cars to choose from.

There's a million ways this can go, but I don't think the hobby will crash or die any time soon. Becoming more affordable for the next generations isn't a bad thing.

He is 100% right in most respects(in my opinion). Most people my generation(millennial) don’t care about old cars. They want cool stuff from the 80’s and 90’s, if they’re interested in cars beyond being appliances. They respect the muscle car stuff, but aren’t willing to spend the money on stuff to get heavily involved. Mainly because in the last 20 years prices on white trash fun muscle car stuff has exploded.

I didn’t get into AMC stuff because I loved it from a young age. I got into AMC because they’re the only manufacturer left of the muscle car era where prices haven’t gone crazy. And even that isn’t entirely true. I had to spend 3,000 dollars on a tunnel ram because so few amc tunnel rams were ever manufactured, and baby boomers have hoarded stuff being unwilling to sell and now think everything they held onto had gained in value.

I have nothing but respect for past generations holding onto this stuff when it was just fun cars that sounded cool. But now everyone sees dollar signs. I think certain stuff will always have value, but overall I look forward to prices dropping and being able to pick up fun stuff for cheap.

Also worth noting, if you want your kids involved in the stuff, keep them around and a part of it. I’m sure it’s not guaranteed, and if my young son ends up not liking the cars, eventually at least one will be his to sell or do what he wants with. But I can’t force him to like it. And at a bare minimum, he has cool photos to see from when he was young.

I agree with your summation. People have been predicting the collapse of musclecar market for years. If you love your cars, enjoy and drive them who cares. If they are investments to you then follow the market trends and make financial decisions based on your needs.

It's not just the upfront cost to buy them, which is bad enough. The cost to insure young drivers these days is astronomical and collector car insurance isn't really a thing until you're 25 - by that age the ship has pretty much sailed for most.

Fewer kids are interested in cars/driving these days, and ones that are interested in old cars and driving them are a miniscule subset of those.

The anecdotal stories about kids being into cars may be cute/inspirational to some, but do not reflect society as a whole.