Still Worried About the Antique Car Hobby Being Dead or Dying??

[Jeff/Illinois]

Go to You Tube. Search 'Old Car Festival Dearborn'. Make it recent even say, 2025 or 2026.

Not only are the videos people post fun to watch... Especially the Night Parade, I want you to study the participants AND the spectators, and look at the smiles on their faces AND study the ages of the people.

Now, come back here and tell ME the hobby is dead or dying

I'm not seeing it!

 

[old31]

I hate to disagree BUT. Yes, I am sure that you saw a lot of smiling faces, nice cars, young and old.

What I am seeing is fewer and fewer older cars and classics at car shows. Where are they? The younger crowds have overtaken many shows with tuners. I see a fair amount of rods, 50-60's, newer jeeps, newer vets, rat rods, but no T's, A's, Packards, etc.

Many times when I bring my 30 or 31, I am the oldest at the show. Yes, me and the car.

 

[jb-ob]

old 31....Sounds like you are attending the wrong shows.

 

[Synchro909]

IMO, further evidence that people are turning away from cars as old as ours is the utter contempt many drivers of modern cars show us on the roads. I've even had comments like "That car shouldn't be on the road."
I'm afraid we are at the tail end of our period. How many people these days collect horse drawn wagons etc? Our cars are going the same way, I suspect but I hope I'm wrong.

 

[nkaminar]

So what? I enjoy driving my Model A and touring with the people who are still in the hobby. Even if everyone else drops out of the hobby I will still be out driving around in my Model A.

Same with my antique model airplane engines (sparkies) and the airplanes that they powered in the 1930's and 1040's. I just enjoy running those old engines and building those old model airplanes. But the clubs for the antique engines and antique planes are dying.

And what if the market drops out for old cars? I am not going to sell mine.

 

[goodcar]

Sad to say but antique cars seem to be going the way of grandma's fine china. Shops are full of the stuff. Doesn't mean they can't still be enjoyed by those who have them.

 

[nkaminar]

Funny you should mention grandma's stuff. My wife has the basement full of her mother's and her grandmother's stuff. She has a high emotional value assigned to that stuff but no one in the family wants it. Most of it will go to the dump some day.

 

[Ruth]

Where I see it most is at our club. As the older folks pass on or can no longer attend, we are not getting new members, so our club is dwindling in size.

 

[goodcar]

Funny you should mention grandma's stuff. My wife has the basement full of her mother's and her grandmother's stuff. She has a high emotional value assigned to that stuff but no one in the family wants it. Most of it will go to the dump some day.

Kinda like the faithful old mare on the farm. Got replaced by the new John Deere. A few got to live out their lives eating oats and green grass in the meadow. Others went to the mink farms and dog food processors.

 

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Go to You Tube. Search 'Old Car Festival Dearborn'. Make it recent even say, 2025 or 2026.

Not only are the videos people post fun to watch... Especially the Night Parade, I want you to study the participants AND the spectators, and look at the smiles on their faces AND study the ages of the people.

Now, come back here and tell ME the hobby is dead or dying

I'm not seeing it!

Jeff, I agree with you 200% about the Hobby isn't dying, -however you did use the top car show in the country to use as an example. I was there, and the people that 'stole the show' this year was the 20yo - 40yo 'Kids'. Missie & I went up early and did the Lansing Run with our 1909 again, and we loaned our freshly restored 1914 Touring for someone to make the run too. When we got back, I decided to spend my Saturday hanging out with the 20 year old - 40 year old 'Kids' ...and after spending the day hanging out, I now know this hobby is in fine shape.

The biggest thing I observed that day at OCF was their ideas of fun vs. what many old hobbyists in the club today do for fun are drastically different. These kids want to drive their antique cars, and wear period clothes, and do stuff together. They do NOT enjoy going to a car show and sitting around waiting for someone to come look at their car. Therefore, they will tell you they don't go to shows because they are boring. I know my own kids who both attended the national Model-T Tour in London, ONT last summer will very quickly tell you their opinion is that Model-A events are boring. That's all I'm going to say about that for the moment, but for the ones that have experienced it for themselves, they know.

Ohh, and at OCF his year, -instead of sitting in a chair beside my car for the day, I waited all of about 5 minutes and found a kid (mid-20s??) who had driven Model-As & Ts his whole life waking by, and I said 'Lets go for a Ride'. As I hand-cranked the engine, when it started I told Stephen 'You drive' and away we went with him driving around the Village. Before you know it, we picked-up other 'kids' who started riding with us. After 4-5 laps, another guy was driving my '09 around and we were waiving and hollering like a bunch of school girls after a football game. This went on for awhile. Then, Missie & I rode in the back seat being ubered around in my own car with other 'kids' ahead of us or following us in their cars, or driving each other's cars. And the thing I noticed is how well each respected the other person's car.

FWIW, I also taught 3 different girls and 2 guys all how to drive a T. They loved it. One of the guys (-who frequents this forum) said he was going to stick with his Model-A, and that's OK. He did say he drove one of the other 'kids' 1921 Dodge Touring around the village quite a bit and he really liked that car. My point in telling all of this is the hobby is going to be around for the next generation however unless things change, at least one of the national clubs won't still be with us, ...and maybe both!!

BTW, I hope someone comes along and posts two pictures from the OCF event. One would be a picture or two of Kyle Barrow's 1929 Fordson-powered Gallion Road Grader that he brought from Maryland for OCF, ...and stole the show driving around and even grading a couple of the back roads!! That grader absolutely pegged the COOL factor meter! The 2nd picture that I hope someone posts would be the Greenhorn group picture taken of the 'kids' and their cars that they brought to OCF.


UPDATE: I decided to add a few random pictures of OCF 2026 that I stole from some of those 'kids' social media pages........

.

 

[Hitman]

Oh, I thought the hobby was dying. The people claiming it’s dying are just pit stirring and sitting behind a keyboard and not a steering wheel

MAFCA’s Durango tour sold out in a day too. Must be lack of demand.

 

[TMB]

I don't believe the fascination with these cars will ever die. What concerns me more is the gradual loss of the knowledge and skills needed to maintain these wonderful machines.

As vehicles have become increasingly complex, fewer people grow up learning basic automotive repair skills at home. People used to be more comfortable working on their own cars and passing those skills down to their children. The complexity of modern vehicles, along with the specialized knowledge required to maintain them, has reduced both the opportunity and the confidence for many people to develop hands-on mechanical skills. As a result, fewer young people gain experience under the hood.

I was fortunate to have a dad who loved tinkering with cars and was willing to teach. Because fewer people experience that upbringing today, the thought of purchasing, restoring, or maintaining a nearly 100-year-old automobile can seem intimidating.

That's why forums such as this are so important. The willingness of experienced owners to share their knowledge, answer questions, and offer encouragement helps preserve not only these cars but the skills needed to keep them on the road. The kindness and courtesy shown here go a long way toward reducing that intimidation factor and may inspire the next generation of enthusiasts to take the leap into the hobby.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to share their experience and expertise. Your generosity makes this hobby far more approachable and helps ensure that these remarkable automobiles continue to be enjoyed for generations to come.

 

[nkaminar]

I am comfortable working on old cars. They are easy for me. But modern cars are easy for me too. I just need the code reader that hooks to the car and tells me what is wrong and what needs to be replaced. Some of the sensors can be repaired, like cleaning the mass air flow sensor, but most need to be replaced when they go bad.

There lies the problem. Modern mechanics rely on the code reader. Old cars do not have an onboard computer that can tell the mechanic what is wrong. Intelligence and experience are needed. Maybe in the future artificial intelligence will become good enough to be the code reader.

 

[alexiskai]

Maybe in the future artificial intelligence will become good enough to be the code reader.

The future is now for a lot of owners. New owners who are not in technically-minded clubs are better off troubleshooting with an AI than on web forums. The quality of advice dispensed on Facebook in particular is atrocious. An untrained AI is probably 2x better than asking on Facebook, and an AI that was trained on, say, the Les Andrews blue book would be 10x better – better even than FordBarn.

 

[Bob Bidonde]

Membership in my local club is on the rise. I disagree that our hobby is dying!!!

 

[old31]

Hey guys, don't get me wrong. I just said what I see. I am not the guy claiming it’s dying and sitting behind a keyboard and not a steering wheel.

I drive about 3,000 per year, every year for the last 20 years. I love working on these old cars, and at the same time I hate working on these old cars. You know what I mean. In fact, I am looking to pick up another A to start working on.

One night I needed some tools so I went to Harbor Freight. So I decided to take the 30. In the parking lot there were at least 200 tuners with kids from 16-28. Their attitude was, hey old man, you and your piece of sh*t need to get out of here. When I started to leave EVERYONE started blowing their horns. I am ok with it, I get it, I was 16 once.

I remember the days when parking lots were full of old cars and the shows were full of old cars and they had nothing to do with sponsored national clubs.

Listen, I love seeing young kids involved with cars. And I appreciate that their mechanical skills allow them to get 600 HP out of a small 4-cylinder. I could not do that.

OK, I got that off my chest, I will get off my keyboard and go out in the garage were I belong

 

[47topless]

Wonderful, encouraging posts above. At these events, leave your lawn chairs and DO NOT TOUCH signs at home. The cargo shorts and white socks and sandals crowd need to try harder to embrace the 21st century. It ain't 1956 anymore.
Thank you for the great photos of people, hands on, participating in the hobby.
"They can have my Model A when they pull my cold dead fingers off the steering wheel".

 

[rotorwrench]

The population and agrarian society is dwindling every year so there are fewer folks with mechanical aptitude. I mentioned that in the other reviving the hobby thread. Drive your cars and let youngsters look them over, That's how I got interested.

 

[Jeff/Illinois]

..................

One night I needed some tools so I went to Harbor Freight. So I decided to take the 30. In the parking lot there were at least 200 tuners with kids from 16-28. Their attitude was, hey old man, you and your piece of sh*t need to get out of here. When I started to leave EVERYONE started blowing their horns. I am ok with it, I get it, I was 16 once.

Old31, I think that situation was just a bunch of like minded punk kids with no manners! The Entitled crowd.

Don't judge all of that generation like that there are too many GOOD 'kids' out there I see it everyday

Part of it is what part of the country you live in. Illinois still has lots of rural farm kids who still respect you and your things !! And have morals!

 

[Chuck Sea/Tac]

Frankly, I’m more worried about whether I’m dead or dying!