All:

Would like to get some better understanding of the Hot Rod Market. Is it going to continue to grow or not? I can seem arguments both ways but Hot Rodding in its purest form -- overhauling cars from the early 1950s and earlier might be less attractive to the younger boomers who are more focused on muscle cars?

Why is there not a term used for Muscle Cars that are overhauled with new equipment and not numbers matching (I think the whole numbers matching thing will get old).

Are there any recognized industry analysis on the anticipated future of the hot rod market? Is it SEMA?

Thanks for any opinons you pros might have!!

highman

I think that the natural competitive spirit that is in each and every human being will insure that Hot Rodding will continue to grow. Things like lack of gennie tin, rising fuel cost and insurance cost have made it a harder to build that dream ride that is buried within all of us, but we can and MUST go on. We will do this by finding new ways to do things. We will share ideas and knowledge with those that are lacking.

Our hobby has had it's ups and downs and this will always be true. Just remember, keep it safe and most of all, PROVE it's safe. Clubs and individuals need to show the outsider that we are more than the sum of our automobiles. We need to project our image as a group of people who care about other issues as well. Perhaps holding tech shows at rod runs or gatherings to show how safe building a car can be. Clubs need to continue to do charity runs and make sure the media is there to cover it. The media loves to show how a street racer killed someone in a race. Give them an alternative story. Like, how many toys and donations are gathered for children's hospitals and so on.

When you're showing your ride or maybe just parked at the drive-in, answer a few questions when the young guys show up and want to know what kind of car it is or how you got that blower to work. The youth and the uninformed are the future. To the uninformed, our hobby looks expensive and elitist. Don't scare them away with attitudes and burnouts at 2:00 in the morning. Image is everything. If it LOOKS unsafe and annoying, it probably is or at least that is the perception.

Keep your ears and eyes open for legislation that could be detrimental to us. Let others know about it and contact your legislative body when you spot it. We don't want to wake up and find out that our vehicles are illegal to drive, but it will happen if we wear blinders.

So, will hot rodding continue to grow? The answer is yes, if we want it to.

What tfeverfred said.

Very well put!

Has there ever been an legitimate threats of legislating against Hot Rods?

The SEMA website has a great deal of information about legislative actions for and against hot rodding, equipment legalities, emissions testing registration issues etc.

Although many think it's only purpose is to serve as a marketing alliance, their mission includes informing companies and consumers alike as to legal changes that will affect us and our hobby/business.

http://www.semasan.com/main/main.as...SANcom/HomePage

If you go to the main page and click on legislation and regulations you will see some of the information available to us.
http://www.bipac.net/page.asp?content=startpage&g=sema

I don't know of any other organization that has as much to do with keeping our hobby legal. And you can actually join their PAC to help make a difference.

Later, mikey

__________________
my signature lines...not really directed at anyone in particular..

BE different....ACT normal.

No one is completely useless..They can always be used as a bad example

Yes.
EPA.
1972.
Unleaded gasoline, catalytic convertors, "Clean Air Act", etc.

They THOUGHT they were going to get rid of us.


In response to the original thread:
==========================
Hotrodding (to me at least) is much more than "overhauling cars from the early 1950s and earlier".

Every generation seems to have a nostalgic desire to keep a little piece of their own automotive history alive in thier own back yard (or 180 car warehouse, for some people.)

What I'm saying is that some of our daily drivers (cars like the newer Mustangs, or my 98 Grand Prix) seem destined to become classics and items of nostalgic value in the future.

Who knows ... maybe even a 1978 Chrysler Cordoba <shudder> will fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at a Barrett-Jackson Auction some day.

Hot-rodding is also the spirit involved with personalizing and improving and "making things fit". We're still doing much the same things they did when "hot-rodding" began ... taking a "modern" powertrain / suspension and retrofitting it into an earlier model car or truck ... hoping to improve and/or sustain an existing vehicle.

Hot-Rodding can also be defined as the pride of ownership, pride of enginuity, the enjoyment of accomplishment and the desire to share of all of that with the motoring public (translation: show off) that drives most of us.
Well that ... and the desire to chrome EVERYTHING.

So, Highman, I see you asking these questions on another forum as well.


Is there anything besides curiosity that makes you ask this?

Are you personally involved with any kind of PAC or business that would help with keeping the growth of hotrodding moving?

Just curious
Later, mikey

__________________
my signature lines...not really directed at anyone in particular..

BE different....ACT normal.

No one is completely useless..They can always be used as a bad example

I agree with ya there, its an individuality race to build something you want and no one else has.

I am new to this hobby/industry. I am looking at an investment in the industry and do wonder about its future. I am not part of a pac or have any negative or positive agenda just trying to understand.

Question: Is there an easy reference for the production runs for the various cars by make and model?

I looked in the knowledge center and couldn't find it.....

powerrodsmike - His original question may have the answer.



I think the operative word here is "Market". Not hobby or sport. This sounds like someone doing "market" analysis - perhaps to start a business or to "invest" in a hot rod.

Quote:
Originally Posted by highman
Has there ever been an legitimate threats of legislating against Hot Rods?

This suggests checking out any "threats" to a new business or investment.

"Market" and "threats" sounds like business planning to me.

I am not suggesting that if a person is planning to get into the hot rod business they shouldn't come to this board to ask these types of questions. What better place is there to find out about our hobby/sport.

EDIT: Looks like I should type faster.

[QUOTE=home brew]

I am not suggesting that if a person is planning to get into the hot rod business they shouldn't come to this board to ask these types of questions. What better place is there to find out about our hobby/sport.

QUOTE]

I see no problem with answering questions either. Much of this industry depends on continued support from investors.

What better way to help guide the direction of this hobby than to help fresh money make an informed desicion.

Later, mikey

__________________
my signature lines...not really directed at anyone in particular..

BE different....ACT normal.

No one is completely useless..They can always be used as a bad example

I have no agenda against or for anyone on this board. Just look at an investment down south.

I would expect that there WILL be continuing interest in the hot rodding hobby by successive generations... but probably not to the extent that it is today.

As is the case with most "markets" ... it seems to following the demand of the "baby boomers". I was born in 1957, which many seem to call the tail-end of the "boomer" generation. At the age of 50, I expect to enjoy about another 10 or 15 years of this hobby before life and health changes influence my interests.

Generation "x" kids never had the interest in cars (IMHO) that the boomers did. They seemed to be more interested in car audio than performance.

The kids of the 90's were back into the customizing and performance scene, with japanese cars, NOS, LED exhaust tips, under-glow, and big wings.

Most Y2K teens have been pretty much surgically attached to thier x-boxes and play-station ... so I'm not holding out a whole lot of hope for many of them as far as hot-rodding goes.

That being said, though, we do have quite a few "young guns" on this site that continually amaze me with the skills that they have already acquired. I suppose that some of them are the children of baby-boomer hot-rodder types, and have inherited an interest?

In any case, the automobile has been giving teen-agers one of thier first tastes of independance for many years now ... which has surely forged some attachments and memories.

The questions are:
Are those attachments going to continue to fuel the nostalgic desires that drive this hobby?
Is the government going to "suck the fun" out of the hobby with legislation?
Can you "hot-rod" electric or solar-powered vehicles? (Tim Allen probably could, and Scotty WAS continually tinkering with those anti-matter reactor engines ... trying to get that warp-factor into the double-digits.)

OK... now I'm drifting WAY off-topic here ... but speaking of Star Trek ... check out some of the links on this page.

Science Fiction becomes Science FACT?