Getting the next generation involved into our Charger addiction

[PrisonHack]

Yep ^^^

[odcics2]

 

It's not the interest, it's their ability to AFFORD them.  Twocents

This. 

And in today's world, a few college degrees, or luck, will net you the disposable income to play with old cars. 

[alfaitalia]

I think a lot of it is your age...lots of us are interested in the cars of our youth....I was a big DoH fan as a yoof...and as such got drawn in to my love of 68/69 Chargers. But to be honest I really could not care less about most other classic American cars....never saw them as a kid so no bond was built. However I do like lots of British classics from the  late 60s and early seventies because I saw them on the streets and in the big UK TV programs of the era.....so that's stuff like The Professionals (Mk2 Ford Escort RS 2000 X pack), Minder (Ford Capri)......although I liked a few later US cars......Jim Rockfords Pontiac Firebird Esprit and Knightriders Trans-am (hey...I was young!). So it would not surprise me to see the younger folks liking slightly newer metal...to rekindle their younger days...like a Charger does mine.

[Laowho]

 

It's not the interest, it's their ability to AFFORD them.  Twocents

This. 

And in today's world, a few college degrees, or luck, will net you the disposable income to play with old cars. 

Unless you factor in the bevy of billionaire dropouts. Case to be made.

[crj1968]

Yeah, can't explain it but the kids seem more stoked than the adults. Got stopped behind a grade school bus, boy got dropped at his driveway, picked up his trash can and got halfway up his drive, and when I looked back he'd dropped the can and was just staring. Dunno where it's coming from--how they know--but it looks real promising.

Definitely, kids freak out when they see my 70. Last time I was out some kid jumped off his skateboard and ran out on the curb to get as close as he could when I drove by. He put one hand out and the other over his heart like he was Fred Sanford having the "big one."  lol

I'm not sure it's all a generational thing. I have 3 bros (we were all born in the 60's)  and they like "old" cars but I am the only one "into" them.

One thing I noticed that is strange is being next to a dudes (women I understand) in new Challengers and they don't even notice my 70.  

[Troy]

Yeah, can't explain it but the kids seem more stoked than the adults. Got stopped behind a grade school bus, boy got dropped at his driveway, picked up his trash can and got halfway up his drive, and when I looked back he'd dropped the can and was just staring. Dunno where it's coming from--how they know--but it looks real promising.

Definitely, kids freak out when they see my 70. Last time I was out some kid jumped off his skateboard and ran out on the curb to get as close as he could when I drove by. He put one hand out and the other over his heart like he was Fred Sanford having the "big one."  lol

I'm not sure it's all a generational thing. I have 3 bros (we were all born in the 60's)  and they like "old" cars but I am the only one "into" them.

One thing I noticed that is strange is being next to a dudes (women I understand) in new Challengers and they don't even notice my 70.   

Much like when these cars are new, they're just transportation to most people. Some people I know literally have no idea what sort of car they drive - let alone any history whatsoever about the brand/model. I think it's a shame but I totally understand it.

Troy

[sean257]

Cars as entertainment is not a cheap form of entertainment, and not always fun for kids I imagine.  There has to be at least some perceived or real excitement, whether that is burning the tires, acceleration that you can really fell, cornering like mad, or running over stuff/driving off road.  Or at least imagining that is what you would be doing in a given vehicle.  At some age I guess kids also get the concept of cars as status symbols, but I would generally try to discourage that at our house.  IE, if it isn't practical, it at least has to be fun.

At least one of their parents having a liking for cars might help, if it is fun for the kids. My daughter came home from the hospital, when she was born, in an AMG.  That was our family car solution at the time.  Got car sick her first, and only, time when she was 3, cornering a little too much in the back of a 911TT. Hey, it was kind of a four seater! My son was riding down trails in the back of our CJ when he was old enough that it wouldn't shake his brain. They both think these are fun ways to use vehicles, and as such may always have interest in hot rods, sports car, and true off road capable vehicles.  Oh, and fire trucks.  Who knew you could get a fully functional fire truck so cheap on Craigslist lol. Whether or not they can, or will want to, afford a play car when they are older???  In some ways I'd almost rather see them spend their money on some kind of adventure.  If they want it to involve a vehicle, then do the trans America trail in a cheap 4x4 or something like that while they don't have kids.

[Mike DC]

 
What is a car to a 21st-century kid?


The car is not helping him be in contact with his friends.  Internet & phones do that.  He can hardly go anywhere to be alone with a girl in the backseat because he's in suburbia.

It's not street-racing fun.  He can barely afford a plastic boring appliance-car at his age let alone a fun one.  Does a Nissan Sentra make you want to go fast?  The nearest place clear enough to safely go fast might be literally hours away, and that's if he even knows about it. 

His license starts out age-restricted so he's not allowed to drive after dark/with friends/etc.  (Basically, he can drive when school/work/parents find it useful but not when he could have any fun with it.)  Every time he goes 36 mph in a 25 zone he gets stopped because he's a kid and then it costs him $300 to get the ticket bribed off his record.  His parents are making him get a job to pay for the car/gas/insurance to get to work.   



A 50yo muscle car probably still looks damn cool to this kid.  But it's about as close to his reality as a Lambo Countach or Ferrari F40 was to us a few decades ago.   

[Dino]

 

A 50yo muscle car probably still looks damn cool to this kid.  But it's about as close to his reality as a Lambo Countach or Ferrari F40 was to us a few decades ago.   

Those two are still pretty unrealistic! I looked for a Countach a few years back, thinking these old clunkers should be affordable by now. Yeah that didn't work out.   

[Offblue]

Well i bought my 68 charger R/T when i was 23, and for me ... a modern car just wouldn't do. I've always been one to work with my hands and do everything myself. Money from parents ? Not a chance. A place to keep it? 150 a month (i got lucky and got it cheap and heated), 30 minutes from my house, we just had no space in the garage. Only help I really got was a ride to see the car.

It's honestly easy, the hard part is helping them realize what they're getting into, the commitment, the overall cost, especially what to look for.

It's called a old mans hobby because old men have been saving all their lives so they can have nice things. Having nice things when your young comes at a cost. I worked 4 years to afford my charger (since I was 19), 4 years, full time, pinching pennies, on a college students diet of Mr.Noodle and peanut butter and that's just the entrance fee and it's not nearly over, I've got my toe wet at the least. Then ... she sat for a year, paying storage fees, re-padding my bank account so i can eat normally again, and just now i got lucky again, i got the chance to have her home without storage costs.

I was luckier than most, I my father parted some of his wisdom on me, make sure she drives, carry a magnet, lookout for rust, and there is always room for the price to come down, and in the end if you aren't the one driving her away well then she wasn't good enough.

So now i'm 24, and soon i get to start paying for insurance (only had fire and theft thus far), it's probably going to murder my wallet (more than it's been doing) but it's funny because i'm perfectly happy with the idea because nothing other than a charger would do. Looking ahead i may have another 10 years before she turns into the picture i had in my head all those years ago.

I say "honestly it's easy" because i knew how much time it would take out of my life to have it, the priorities i'd have to put on hold too, and one day hopefully i wont be forced to sell her but i don't think i'll ever allow myself to be in that situation.

From a kid, with a 49 year old car.

[Brass]

I seem to be doing my part.  The other day two young ladies at the gas station were taking notice, smiling warmly, and glancing my way.  I was thinking I still got it... but it was probably the Charger.   

[Laowho]

I seem to be doing my part.  The other day two young ladies at the gas station were taking notice, smiling warmly, and glancing my way.  I was thinking I still got it... but it was probably the Charger.   

My wife and I were out last week and got the full treatment from a pickup w/ 2 older women askin me to step on it. They kept sidling up hootin and hollerin, and chatting us up at the lights. I make sure everyone knows it's HER car. Vanity plates will help--K8S 500.

[dual fours]

I seem to be doing my part.  The other day two young ladies at the gas station were taking notice, smiling warmly, and glancing my way.  I was thinking I still got it... but it was probably the Charger.   

These cars have always been chick magnets .

[1974dodgecharger]

you guys must meet some weird kids?  The kids I Know are into cars not just cell phones and stuff, but the cell phone is part of their culture as they are as ours.  I met many young kids love the old classics and modern muscle.....I guess im stuck in between...most young kids think my car is, 'badass' and what not, but the older crowd does not like my car what I have done to it.....even forum members on here. 

[cooldude]

I just gave my Charger to one of my daughters for Christmas, and she was stoked!

But, the younger kids dont really understand one key concept...ordinary people can actually work on these older cars.

They seem to think that cars are so complicated and computerized, that only a certified and licensed mechanic can work on a car to any degree. They just seem to take it for granted that the only way to have a nice old car, is to pay somebody to restore it.

Todays kids are basically,herded into a mental box, and taught helplessness and dependency.

I didnt know much at that teenager age either, but we learned, took chances, made some mistakes, and learned some more. The learning curve was sometimes painful and expensive,but we learned what we could do, and where our limits are.

[smithenhiven]

Seems like there is considerable interest in these cars amongst the youth, their only hindrance in getting involved "into our Charger addiction" is being able to afford one.

When I was turning 16, I asked my parents if I could get a car.  They said, sure if you get a job and pay for it, it's gas, and the insurance.  So that's what I did, I worked evenings and weekends and saved up till I had $1,500 and bought a 74 Pontiac Firebird that I saw sitting for sale each morning on my bus ride to school.  I wanted a 70 Charger as my first car, but even back then they were few and far between in my neck of the woods and were priced out of my reach.  My dad kept saying "are you sure this is the kind of car you want?" "Get something economical" "It's gonna drain every penny you got".  And that it did, but I loved that car, I was able to drive it while I learned how to work on it, and best of all the chicks liked it. 

Can't do that today.  What average kid has $25K for a decent driver, or $10K for a project, or even $5K for a bottom of the barrel left over parts car.

[Bronzedodge]

Can't do that today.  What average kid has $25K for a decent driver, or $10K for a project, or even $5K for a bottom of the barrel left over parts car.

Right.  What does $1500.- buy you today?  My local CL shows a 91 Ford LTD wagon or a 1996 Dodge truck.  Both may be less reliable than your 74 Pontiac.

[Laowho]

The money question cuts both ways; this is more about Platonic solids and the persistence of archetypes through the human psyche. When Enzo Ferarri called the E-type the most beautiful car ever made he wasn't being subjective, and what Richard Sias pulled off is just as objectively real. These are things that don't go away, emergent properties of the universe like time and space and our own consciousness. My cousin is a career service writer for some of the largest dealerships in Chicago w/ his own 10-year 56 Chebby build, and when I sent him the mega-squirt project link from here that the "kid" was doin to his Charger he was floored. Never seen anything like it. These are deep waters. If Max Tegmark of MIT can claim that the universe is literally made of numbers, then we can confidently expect that the design of the 2d Gen will always continue to find purchase in the awareness of every generation.

[G-man]

People will always love 2nd Gen Chargers just like people will always like Ferraris.

But the reality is, not everyone can afford them, and the way prices are going for old metal is stupid.

These days it has come to the point where, why spend 50,000 on an old car that needs work when I can get a hotted up 'new' car for that money. N this is all given that you 'have' the 50,000 which most people don't.

So will these cars be purchased in the future by all generations? Sure, but only those that are Rich or had Mum and Dad hand down their charger to their kid. For the rest of us, it's just watch and don't touch.

[Mike DC]

  
But they never built hundreds of thousands of those Ferraris.  There were hundreds of thousands of Chargers built.


Muscle car prices are stupid because about 40 years of gearheads all want the same couple years of cars.  

Everybody wants a 1969 Dodge.  Nobody is very hot after a 1949, '59, '79, '89, or '99 Dodge.  

[c00nhunterjoe]

While 1500 wont get you much in a charger anymore, it can get you a fox body mustang. And that's the equivalnt "muscle car" for today's youth as the charger was for me when i bought my 69. But you dont see many young kids running around in any form of hotrod.

[GreenMachine]

 
But they never built hundreds of thousands of those Ferraris.  There were hundreds of thousands of Chargers built.


Muscle car prices are stupid because about 40 years of gearheads all want the same couple years of cars.  

Everybody wants a 1969 Dodge.  Nobody is very hot after a 1949, '59, '79, '89, or '99 Dodge.  

I wouldn't include '59 in there. A 1959 Custom Royal 2 door hardtop is at least '69 Charger money if not more. A convertible would be a lot more.

[cooldude]

When we look at how the currency has devalued over time and adjust for inflation, then 1500 bucks was a lot of money back in the day, depending on the calender to give us a more specific read on it.

We bought our Barracuda back in 1985, and paid 1500 bucks for it. That was some real little bit of money back then.

And weve still got the car. 

[c00nhunterjoe]

When we look at how the currency has devalued over time and adjust for inflation, then 1500 bucks was a lot of money back in the day, depending on the calender to give us a more specific read on it.

We bought our Barracuda back in 1985, and paid 1500 bucks for it. That was some real little bit of money back then.

And weve still got the car. 

Its all relative. You save your money as a kid instead of buying $60 video games.... i mowed grass and pulled weeds, saved the cash on my own and bought my car. Im tired of hearing that its too expensive. If you gave up the xbox one and 10 new video games, you could damn near   buy a 5.0 mustang in todays world.

[G-man]

When we look at how the currency has devalued over time and adjust for inflation, then 1500 bucks was a lot of money back in the day, depending on the calender to give us a more specific read on it.

We bought our Barracuda back in 1985, and paid 1500 bucks for it. That was some real little bit of money back then.

And weve still got the car.  

Its all relative. You save your money as a kid instead of buying $60 video games.... i mowed grass and pulled weeds, saved the cash on my own and bought my car. Im tired of hearing that its too expensive. If you gave up the xbox one and 10 new video games, you could damn near   buy a 5.0 mustang in todays world.

I don't think there is enough xbox games to buy or lawns you could mow to save up the money needed. By the time you pay for food/rent/bills... lawns wont even sort that out. Realistically, unless you are earning 100,000 (or close to) per year... a charger is not buyable anymore.

Which puts it back into, either you are well off, or, you had mum and dad (in todays world).

N that is the problem more people are not into these cars. Well, they are, they just cant have them.