Is the car hobby/enthusiast a dying breed?

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted by Miller88
I think there's a paradigm shift going on. Soon to be gone are the days of swapping in a 4 bolt main 350 (which is actually a 305) into any and every 50s-70s car. There's a lot of people in to the 80s-90s stuff now. They aren't being seen as "car people". I have three vehicles, spend a lot of time with a lot of other people in my automotive hobby working on off road toys, wheeling them, traveling with them. I guarantee I put more time into what I do than the stereotypical "car guy" that moves his Nova with a 350 swapped in out of the garage once a month to wash it. But we aren't considered car hobby people.


Well put.

My stock Explorer probably doesn't scream "automotive hobbyist" or "car person," but it takes a lot of enthusiasm for a vehicle and weekends at Pull-A-Part to take it from this...

To this...

And for the sole reason that I want to drive a 25 year old SUV. Boomers in their Tri Five Chevys and 60s muscle cars wouldn't give it a second look, and that's perfectly fine with me.

 

[Red91]

We use a pro cut 9.2. it bolts to the lug studs and self balances to the hub's run out, then you adjust your bits to the desired cut after making initial contact with the rotor. High dollar machine, but it works well once you get the hang of it.

 

[splinter]

Originally Posted by Miller88
...Soon to be gone are the days of swapping in a 4 bolt main 350 (which is actually a 305) into any and every...
LS swaps seem all the rage of late, even into some Fords lol.

iirc the SBC 305 bore was a tiny 3.736-inch bore, which of course limited heads to puny valve configurations.
Know from personally verified measurements that my Tonawanda 350s (010s preferred) left the plant sporting ~4.00" holes.

Nonetheless, cars for me rate amongst my favorite hobbies.

 

[Dinoburner]

The 327 I`m refreshing for the 75 GMC 4wd is using 305 HO heads. that I`ve unshrouded and ported. Maybe it`ll work or not. The cam times at 222 deg. at .050. Obviously it will not threaten any millenial with a turbo 4.

 

[bunnspecial]

At 31 years old, I'm often one of the younger people at British car shows/meetings/etc but I'm certainly not the youngest.

There are plenty of young and enthusiastic people at least out there enjoying MGs. The fact that they're available and affordable helps a lot with younger buyers.

Of course, that's not true of ALL LBCs. E-type Jags have always been expensive, but they're in the stratosphere now. Even 10 years ago, Big Healeys were bordering on affordable-I remember $30K getting a pretty nice driver car then. Now, you're lucky to get a pile of rust that vaguely resembles one for that price, while about the cheapest I've seen something bordering on driveable in the past couple of years was in the $50-60K range. Other 6 cylinder cars are getting drug up in response, and I regularly see TR6s in the $15-20K range and GT6s at that much or more. MGCs might be the most affordable 6 cylinder British sports cars, but they're also big and poor handling. MGBs, Midgets,TR-7s, and Spitfires remain affordable, and probably the only way you can get in to a British sports car for under $10K.

Among the broader world of LBCs-I don't really follow classic Minis, but in the US they rarely come up for sale and seem to bring strong prices if decent. Morris Minors are a bit more affordable, but are hurt by the fact that most are painfully slow(the one I drove with a 1275 Midget engine was decently peppy, and I'd have bought that car if it hadn't other red flags that scared me away). I'm into my Marina for $700, but that's a bit of a weird situation-it's quite an uncommon car in the US(at least in terms of number surviving) but no one really WANTS them. It's going to need a few hundred dollars of work before it's road worthy again, although that's mostly in parts with me doing the labor myself(and a big chunk of that is tires).