Modern Car Culture? What Happened?

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Joined
Dec 21, 2013
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Location
Brier, Washington
My Car
1972 Fastback (Factory sprint, but now a bright red Mach 1)
351c 2v(big ol cam, holley dominator intake, roller set, edelbrock 4bbl)

fmx
What happened to car style over the ages? How did going fast in a straight line with roaring v8's and burning tires (d)evolve into things like "STANCENATION" and the sea of 4 door Subaru's, BMW's and assorted "Rice Burners". All carried along on enormous rims, thumping bass and peeling "Plastidip".

What happened? I wasn't alive for the transition and frankly, I don't get it.:huh:

Perhaps I was born too late, or maybe I'm no longer culturally literate due to constantly exposing myself to old-soul things like the mustang or trying my hand at Texas style blues. I would hope that you all could inform me of the metamorphosis that took place and help me understand why my generation is in to all this cultural garble.

So maybe some day I'll be consumed by it and convert to excessive negative camber, and have my car be "HELLAFLUSH" but until then, I'm gonna drive a 72 mustang.:cool:

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Why?

Because the peak of creative skill and ability of the average teenager in 1995 involved screwing a Wally World plastic hood scoop to their parents' 1989 Honda. Cockeyed.

Then another kid down the block said he could do the same thing, and get it straight. So he did.

Then another kid on the block said he could do the same thing AND blend it in with Bondo.

The Bondo cracked. So another kid decided to one-up the previous guy by blending his hood scoop with Fibral.

Then someone with actual bodywork skills decided to flip all of these guys off by customizing a Toyota from the ground up, just for a laugh.

Then all those kids saw it, and lusted after it, and proceeded to screw on whatever else they could find.

And thus began a trend with no logical explanation.

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-Kurt

 
Some members of each generation want to differentiate themselves from all previous generations. They have to find something that hasn't been done and make it be 'cool'. (or sick or the bomb or whatever the word of the day is)

So you see this in cars. They have to find things that haven't been done and make them 'cool'.

It's more obvious with clothes. What was left for the guys? I would have been laughed out of school if I had shown up with shorts that went down past my calf but not all the way to the ankle. Or a t-shirt that went down to mid thigh. And lets not even talk about pants hanging below your butt and your underwear showing.

 
First of all: don't hate on the '04-'06 GTO - I absolutely LOVE those cars and would have one in a flash. "40 years of Progress?" All things considered... yes. Remove all emotional ties to the muscle-car era, and yes... natural progression - and we're actually lucky to have such a beast. But, a discussion for another thread, I suppose. ;)

What happened to the modern car culture? WRC, FnF. video games, the "wannabe" mindset, and the decline of the automobile into basic transportation for the "ecological/economical-minded utilitarian technotard." Add to that the ever-increasing greater need to simply "fit in," (thanks to the '80s and Political Correctness). Pour in the increasing level of difficulty to up the performance of modern automobiles in an affordable manner, and you start to notice the greater numbers of "posers."

Conversely, the social mechanisms in-place for solidarity and acceptance are still in-play within the car culture - things have just "evolved" (not saying 'progressed')... and those with the money have the performance cars, while those with less money have slower and "less-cool" cars.

Getting into the performance car scene these days is a lot tougher, because things are more expensive and cars are more 'technologically advanced,' and that requires a LOT more money and work to make them perform than in the past - it's never really been a "poor man's hobby," but more often than not and even more so these days, it's a game of who has a higher credit line or deeper pockets. I remember when I was a kid seeing all the really cool and fast cars were owned by older guys... and thinking that was a little 'unfair,' on a level. But, that's just how it goes... as you get older, your financial freedom increases so you can afford more and/or better things. As a kid, I know I couldn't afford both "cool and fast," so I focused on what I could afford, which usually consisted of making the car 'look' cooler, until I could afford to make it go faster.

As far as traditional values vs. modern of what's cool? Like I said, "WRC, FnF, and video games." All of those things are actually pretty cool, when you think about it. But the average kid these days thinking their 10-year-old Honda Civic is going to "smoke the competition" because it "looks" like the one on the screen - that's not necessarily a "new" thing... but it's definitely grown into a much bigger animal with time.

 
Here's my idea of 50+ years of progress:

Mid 50's styling with a custom built tubular frame, mid mounted Subaru WRX engine and all Subaru drivetrain & suspension.

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But there is a waiting list about 6 years long.

 
So maybe some day I'll be consumed by it and convert to excessive negative camber, and have my car be "HELLAFLUSH" but until then, I'm gonna drive a 72 mustang.:cool:
First, You are a talented writer. If you don't do it for a living, consider it. It's as good as good if not better than any editorial I have read in Hot Rod. Send it in. They may hire you.

Second, I'm not sure that I completely agree. "Popular" modern modification isn't my taste but I admire anyone who gets in the garage and blows money they would otherwise spend on clothes and partying to make their mark on steel…this includes the donk craze. I think it looks silly but these guys started with a junker and kept in on the road - sitting 6 feet above it but on the road none-the-less.

 
So maybe some day I'll be consumed by it and convert to excessive negative camber, and have my car be "HELLAFLUSH" but until then, I'm gonna drive a 72 mustang.:cool:
First, You are a talented writer. If you don't do it for a living, consider it. It's as good as good if not better than any editorial I have read in Hot Rod. Send it in. They may hire you.

Second, I'm not sure that I completely agree. "Popular" modern modification isn't my taste but I admire anyone who gets in the garage and blows money they would otherwise spend on clothes and partying to make their mark on steel…this includes the donk craze. I think it looks silly but these guys started with a junker and kept in on the road - sitting 6 feet above it but on the road none-the-less.
Thanks! I think working for HOTROD would be a blast.:p I haven't missed an issue since seventh grade! I'm a huge follower of Drag Week, Power Tour, Roadkill and pretty much anything that David Freiburger and the crew are up to.

I'll have to draft something up! :D

 
So maybe some day I'll be consumed by it and convert to excessive negative camber, and have my car be "HELLAFLUSH" but until then, I'm gonna drive a 72 mustang.:cool:
First, You are a talented writer. If you don't do it for a living, consider it. It's as good as good if not better than any editorial I have read in Hot Rod. Send it in. They may hire you.

+1. Your writing skills are commendable. You are thinking about college, right?

 
What happened? I wasn't alive for the transition and frankly, I don't get it.:huh:
Neither do I.

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Although, these are some of my all time favorite modern moto-culture statements:

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What kind of girl would EVER want to kiss that guy? WTF were people thinking when they do this to themselves? Obviously they never plan to become old.

 
It's just the state of the world. Kids just can't do what we did and they suffer for it. When I look at it from the stand point of my kids I just feel sad. I started driving to school when I was 14. My kids would get busted so fast it would make your head spin and everybody would be in on it, the cops, the school, child welfare. I saved up doing odd jobs and sweeping floors at G.C. Murphy's to get my first Mustang. My kids couldn't do enough odd jobs or work part time for 2.35hr. enough to buy a car when they reach 16. I took a summer job changing oil and brakes at a local GM dealer to support my car habit. Same job today would barely give them enough to get to work let alone buy "hot rod" parts and go-fast stuff. After paying for "life" (insurance, gas, upkeep, etc.) a nasty stick-on ABS hood scoop probably looks pretty appealing to this generation.



What kind of girl would EVER want to kiss that guy? WTF were people thinking when they do this to themselves? Obviously they never plan to become old.
Don't be negative, he's simply created one more job opportunity for my kids.

 
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I keep thinking I have my goal in sight and perpetually as the years go by, the bar keeps getting moved higher and higher. I have always and will always desire a 69 Mach 1. I thought back 23-24 years ago that soon I'd be able to afford one and fix it up just like I did my other hot rods. But as the years go by, their escalating prices and increasing rarity have kept them out of my grasp. I know with many people they get a flash in the pan fascination with things of easy come, easy go. I get cars and keep them. That's the plan anyways. Even at my ripe age of 40yo I could not afford one without serious financial strain. And then it would still be a relative basket case.

With that being said, I have no idea how any of the youth could afford to participate in this hobby without serious financial assistance. We see them racing around in various jelly bean cars, desperately trying to individualize them to suit the present trends of the mainstream car movement. I view it as they are doing what they can, with what they got. Some manage to find and purchase some older muscle, but they are few and fer between. Usually their tastes in modifications follow the rest of the youth movement and we get those epic Craigslist adds as a result.

I'm happy that there are modern muscle cars still being made. It gives some hope for the future. But when even a simple thing like axle back mufflers are priced from $300-$700 for two mufflers plus exhaust tips and about 1' of pipe! Something is really wrong with the way the aftermarket prices parts any more. Not 15 years ago could you get a whole Flowmaster cat back exhaust with stainless LX tips for a fox mustang for <$300. The cost of a gallon of gasoline has been another big detriment to the hobby in the past 7 years. Seems many things have doubled or tripled in price in the past decade. The economy affects everyone in almost every conceivable way.

I can only hope that the next few years will garner a change of direction for America and with an economic upswing. We will see a opportunity for everyone (especially the youth) to experience some of some modern day "glory days" that they likely have never known in their young lives.

 
So maybe some day I'll be consumed by it and convert to excessive negative camber, and have my car be "HELLAFLUSH" but until then, I'm gonna drive a 72 mustang.:cool:
First, You are a talented writer. If you don't do it for a living, consider it. It's as good as good if not better than any editorial I have read in Hot Rod. Send it in. They may hire you.

+1. Your writing skills are commendable. You are thinking about college, right?
I plan to go to college! In fact, I also plan to study abroad to Australia if I can:) I'm unsure of what I want to major in though. I've thought a lot about becoming a mechanical engineer because I have the head for it, but I'm concerned it would be too dry and its only remotely related to my passion for cars. :-/

Thanks for all the responses! That guy with the piercings looks like a kid in my History class:D LOL

 
Ok going of topic even further because of the piercings. What's the deal with all the young blokes that want jail house tatts and gangland tattoos. I was part of this world and only the terminally hardcore had neck or hand tatts you had to do time and serious crimes to have em and jail time well that's something you spent a lot of effort trying not to do. No one wanted to look like a hood especially the hoods.Want to look hard ? well it ain't worth shit just looking badass when you meet a real tuff guy.

 
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I imagine we have to look at this in context.

Go back to the 50's and the 'young kids' driving chopped '34 Fords with no fenders and open-piped flathead V8's. They listened to this new music called 'rock and roll' and tried desperately hard to look 'cool' and fearsome.

I don't think that ethos has ever really changed. But the cars have, and so have the styles and the music.

Couple that with changes in social etiquette, language, external influences, the political atmosphere, the economy and it's understandable to see where things are right now. It's an evolution of the past.

I don't like the modern custom scene much. I'm not a fan of ricers in any shape or form and I certainly don't care for the modern fashion of showing one's arse with low-riding jeans. But I'm 44 and my mind is predominantly set in that halcyon (to me) era of the late 60's and 70's.

I recall reading Street Machine Magazine in the UK in the 80's and the outcry even then when it came to the bolt-on glassfibre bodykit that was suddenly 'the in thing' with the custom scene.

My 12 year-old son seems to have got my bug. He hates these modern incarnations as much as I do. I hope that influence grows stronger as we need to feed our enthusiasm to the younger set.

 
I think it's best filed under "times change".

How did we get from Janis Joplin, Hendrix and later ZZTop, Van Halen, Toto or Journey to Skrillex, Coldplay or Kanye West?

How did we go from Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell and Farrah Fawcet to Nicky Minaj?!?

See what mean?

 
Ok going of topic even further because of the piercings. What's the deal with all the young blokes that want jail house tatts and gangland tattoos. I was part of this world and only the terminally hardcore had neck or hand tatts you had to do time and serious crimes to have em and jail time well that's something you spent a lot of effort trying not to do. No one wanted to look like a hood especially the hoods.Want to look hard ? well it ain't worth shit just looking badass when you meet a real tuff guy.
Exactly right Luke just a bunch of wannabes. They think a few tatts and piercings and playing fighting computer games makes them pretty tough. I grew up in one of the worst suburbs in the country, let alone, at one stage the worst street. I never got full on into the scene, but I knew all the biggest and baddest guys around, either grew up with them or it was their brothers or what not. Like you said Luke, it was the hardest and most staunchest bastards that had neck and hand tatts and usually lived in and out of jail and would send fear into people just hearing their name. Nowadays most of these wannabes can't fight without their mates backing them up with weapons and think that they're real tuff. I reckon they're just p--s week wannabes.

 
luxstang has it right, times change. The more they change, the more they stay the same. I remember the late 70's early 80's and just how many 'real' muscle cars were still around...not that many. Most people had 2V 302s and 351s, 307 Chevelles, 318 Dodges. Discount muffler shop dual exhaust (you know the kind, a nasty kink and globby welding where the Y-pipe was cut), the 'race car' sound was achieved by punching holes in your muffler with a screwdriver or just going glasspack, and stickers (not so much for the 'cool' drag race look, but they covered the bubbling paint). Air shocks and taller shackles cured your weak and tired leaf springs. And chuck the a/c because it robs you of power (granted it did, but it also robbed you of the sweat stained wardrobe acquired in your black vinyl interior). Some guys had real nice cars, usually the kid whose dad has a little cash or the guy that actually knows what he is doing and/or has money to pay for it.

It's all the same today, just a little more complicated. Car styles have changed, but a hot 4 door is nothing new in Australia. Just like the old days some guys build cars to look at and while others build cars that go. The rest of us do what we can with what we have.

 
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