I watched a video done by a former TV car guy about the future direction of the car hobby.
He was always the outspoken voice on the show because he was a blunt-force guy with a blunt-force delivery.
He hasn’t changed—he just did a video about older car guys, and he didn’t sugarcoat what he was thinking.
Jerry Sutherland
He talked about what these older car guys are doing wrong in in their succession plans for their beloved old cars and trucks. I have to admit—he was 100% correct.
I’ve interviewed a few thousand car guys since 2009 for MyStar owner’s stories and everyone of them were incredibly proud of their vehicles. They put time, money, blood, sweat, and tears into their classics, so the pride was completely justified.
That pride is something only car guys fully understand because rebuilding a car that’s 60-70 years behind in technology doesn’t make any sense to non-car people. They can’t see the logic and there’s a reason for that—there is no logic.
The same money you put into your old car would buy you a fully loaded, brand new truck that gets 30 miles per gallon–plus it could haul a Brontosaurus. A ‘55 Chevy pickup is like a really old, really tech-deprived version of a new Silverado.
Don’t shoot me—I’m only the messenger. But that’s how things work outside the car hobby.
And that’s how it works with your family if they’re outside the car hobby. They don’t share the same enthusiasm you have for classic iron—if they did you would remember seeing them hand you wrenches every time you worked on your old Ford.
All they see is Dad working on something they don’t understand or care about. There’s nothing wrong with that—in a free society you can pick your hobby. It’s a lot better system than a non-free society where the only choice you have is mandated by some guy with a lot more power than you.
The TV car guy talked about what happens when a car guy dies and leaves an old car behind. He said he gets plenty of calls from widows looking for advice and most of them have no idea how much the late car guy sank into his 60-year-old car.
I know what he’s talking about. I’ve had the same calls over the years and I’ve had to tell grieving widows their late husband’s car is worth a fraction of the 200K he invested in it. It’s bad math—but real car guys understand car guy math. Widows don’t—and they hate being in the dark the whole time.
That’s reality—and the other reality is the next generation has no interest in your SS396. Like the TV car guy said in his rant, all your old car represents to them is a new SUV.
You’ll see a grandfather with a grandkid at a car show and he’s pitching the car hobby the whole time to his third-gen family member. Fortunately, this strategy does work—but not enough to rescue interest in classic old iron.
The TV car guy had the best answer to that problem. He told the 70 to 80-year-old guys to dust off their beloved old cars and drive the wheels off them while they still can–because no one will ever appreciate a classic muscle car or street rod like they did.
They’re going to depreciate as an investment anyhow, so why not pound on them like they were made to be pounded on?
He called it “something you might not want to hear”. I disagree.
This is something every car guy should hear.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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