yeah haha. i love all sorts of cars weather it be american german or japanese 4bangers... as long as they are done right ii have had my eye on a 99 eclipse for awhile when done right 4 bangers can be pretty quick look sharp and be fairly cheap in terms of modding.. i just hate people who do stupid stuff to the 4bangers and make them look dumb and sound like a lawn mower

 

I personally think Mopar is going to be around a long time. I wouldnt worry about people losing interest especially since Japan cant make any more cars lol...


Anyways! Id rather drive my truck over mostly any car(because the car I would be driving would be getting the same gas mileage as my truck haha). Id rather be sittin tall and mighty over them ricers d-bags than having a fart can stickin out my ***. Plus I can go anywhere with my truck

 

First: Your argument presupposes that I have some slight interest in making the market favorable for some folks who aren't going to share with me, which I don't. Second, it amounts to saying that if my business is selling replacement windshields I should contribute to the legal defense of any/every kid arrested for throwing rocks off of an overpass.

The "you" in your argument ain't me, my young friend. Or anyone who deserves to call himself a man.

Your generation doesn't count in the classic auto aftermarket until it's as old as my generation. The demographic of that market (as I've researched an existing, very lucrative market) is 45+, married, one or (more often) no dependent children living in the home, wife works outside the home. He spends $2000 to $6000 per year per vehicle for about six years. Approximately 9% of them will buy another resto after the first is considered finished and will remain in the classic auto aftermarket for as long as 20 years. The other 91% get it out of their systems and extoll the virtues of buying new, or at least <2 years old.

Young people quit this market after they have kids. Generally, that is. Some will get stuck just nursing along a series of crap vehicles until the kids are grown and gone, some will treat their toys as kids and their kids as toys. Such is life. One guy out of 10,000 (or so) will nurse his crap truck along until he can make a classic resto of it and he's going to do that, I think, no matter what happens in some online forum.

I base my opinions in my first-hand knowledge of the classic auto aftermarket. Not some ideas about how it oughta work, or some marketrdroid's BS rationalization of how it appears to work. I know where the money really comes from and of the hard decisions a businessman must make if he wants to make a go of it in this particular niche marrket. Up until about a year and a half ago the bulk of my income came from those who served the automotive aftermarket -- the automotive aftermarket paid for the raising of my kids. It was my business to know that market. I say all of this not to denigrate anyone else but to lend some bit of credence to my own arguments.

When I was a man with a plan in the 70s and the older guys told me I was going wrong, I listened. Every now and then they were right. And once my bonehead ideas went to Bonneville for Speed Week and broke a record or two. I had the benefit of the support of a guy who had already made some Speed Week records of his own. I got lucky. Right or wrong, it does matter whose footsteps you walk in.

Surely you're not suggesting that anything I might say to you or the bonehead OP today is going to change your life or his so dramatically that you don't/he won't get a 2nd gen Ram jones 20 or 25 years from now when there's disposable income of your/his own to support a flourishing classic aftermarket? If that's true, a rational man would wonder if it's rational that you allowed me so much control over one or both of you. I'm just some random guy on the internet or might even be merely software designed to test your responses to various stimuli.

Make your own calls, but fergawdsake be rational about it.

 

I just think kids should be made to ride on an ambulance or fire engine for a week. It only took one dead teenager to make me realize just how dangerous driving is and how mortal we all are. I speak from expirience: When I was in high school i was one of the stupid kids with the rice burners.

Now i'm a stupid 23 y/o with a rice burner and a big truck
Although I do drive sane now.


I think you hit it on the head there. My generation (present company included) Seems to have problems listing to older people, hell even to each other. There seem to be a lot of us who are convinced we are right, even when evidence to the contrary is staring us in the face. I think a lot of us just need to learn to respect the knowledge and experience of those coming before.

 

That's fairly standard behavior for ANY younger generation though. (at least, when dealing with teenagers....) THEY know it all, you don't know squat. Your life is NOTHING like their is, you cannot possibly understand. Etc. Its the same thing, same arguments, same tired thinking, for EVERY teenage generation.

 

I'm not sure how my generation doesn't count in the classic auto generation. I am 28 years old and I own a 1969 383 Charger, a 1971 440-6 Challenger, and I am about to bring home a Plum Crazy Challenger that I will be completing the restoration of. I have three motors sitting in my garage that have all been passed down to me from my Grandfather and I baby and love these cars/motors just as much as I love my own children and wife. Am I one of the rare few who grew up with classic muscle in my blood? I mean, the next two dream cars that I'd love to get off of my friend's dad is a 1971 Roadrunner, and a 1971 426 Hemi Cuda that both need some serious loving.

 

Oh my lord, I really wanna see some pictures!!!

 

I am 17 years old and i have loved trucks since i was an embryo, i believe that I am one of the few people in my school who actually knows things about cars and trucks and how to operate them, i have had my truck for 3 years now and there is not a scratch on it and i plan for it to be that way until i sell it

 

Yes, you are. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, and I know some teenagers, girls even, who are into muscle cars or even older classics. But the bulk of the money being spent in the classic auto aftermarket is coming from middle aged men.

Take a look at who's driving the concours or resto-mod classics of any era you see on the road today -- most of the time, it's a guy who's just old enough that the car was at or near the bottom of its resale value when he was a teenager, and right behind that it's a guy (in a much, much smaller group) who's just old enough that his father would have been the teenager when the car reached the bottom of its resale value.

Ain't that a sad thought, that 25 years from now there will be a generation of middle aged men who spend their time and money restoring fart can ricers?

Those could be some nice scores, especially the Cuda. Heck, the Plum Crazy Challenger is a darn nice score, for that matter. I almost bought one in the early 80's, but it turned out that the seller was not quite good enough at hiding rust and the poor sap who eventually bought it discovered the true meaning of buyer's remorse when the spare tire fell out.

 

speaking of licenses i found out today my road test is on march 29th . Wish i still had the one of my ol dodges.