As a classic enthusiast, I think there are very few fellow passionado m / f who are younger than forty years old. If you came to trade fairs for the Coronakriebels, the gray crests or high foreheads were seriously in the majority there. It seems that the love for classics is not something of all times, but only of a few generations.
Measured from that of the country's rebuilders, the now-grumbled baby boomers. And now I haven't studied for it, but we're talking about people who remember wandering around the neighborhood with friends and armed with pencil and paper to ... record license plates of the cars in the area. Or those who went out on Sundays with Father and Mother (then still in that order and with capital letters) and then set up a folding table and a few folding chairs along the road. To get out. To watch cars. Sunday drivers and roadside tourists. The transistor radio on the table. Coffee and sandwiches at hand. The bewildered enjoyment of the very first traffic jam report. That was talked about. Traffic jams. Suddenly it looked like London or New York here!
We as children dreamed about cars
And about motorcycles. What do we cherish most now? Those are our fathers' cars / motorcycles. Our dream cars from the time we were allowed to think about driving licenses. Our first car or motorcycle. And that was not the car or motorcycle you most wanted. You bought what you could afford. And if that was a 250 cc Jawa from 1956 for 100 guilders, or a VW 1600 TL for 300 guilders? You were too rich for the king. Because your wheels were your freedom. You drove for the happiness of being able to drive. Things broke down. You learned to fix them. Because the technology was mechanical and clear.
Many of us have returned to that blissful stage
Together we ride classics and we enjoy the driving, the memories, the technology. Some dream classics are as priceless as in our youth. Because then ten thousand guilders was just as unattainable as a euroton is now. But there are many classics left that used to determine the traffic image. These are now dated, affordable and serviceable cars. And in terms of durability you can not fault it. Here in the editorial office a BX is faithful 1 to 16. And is such a BX a classic or not?
And then you read an interview with a New Era Marketer in a serious magazine
The 36-year-old explains: For his generation, a car is more of a tricky thing than a symbol of freedom and status. Driving, motorcycling and being mobile will become a total concept in which the car or motorcycle is named with utmost seriousness as the perfect platform for your smartphone. And car and motorcycle manufacturers need to establish themselves as inventive, desirable premium brands. This of course also means that they have to supply a whole line of clothing, bags and complete lifestyle interpretation. At Peugeot they approach it like this: The logo became sleek and back to normal 2D. That works better on social media. But the new logo has sufficient recognition support to refer to the history of the brand. Are you still following it a little bit? In addition, the lines are now such that there is a weak link with electronic wiring diagrams. Because that is modern. Just like the marketing slogan that should give the whole face: 'Renaulution'. Oh yes: VW, Audi and Mercedes have already reported that they will not continue to invest in the development of combustion engines.
Rather in an Apple
With regard to the relaunch of the old brands to the new world, a very telling statement is made: "Soon I would rather be in a car called 'Apple' than in a BMW."
Okay. We are the die hards
The (second) last generation The 'last men standing'. In 25 years' time, passion will be a thing of the past and there will only be digital consumers. Whether that is bad? Well, no. Because actually we nostalgically enjoy outdated technology. And in 25 years' time, the last of us will 'drive' virtually in augmented reality and wearing VR glasses in the most beautiful classics. Just. In the living room.
And in that intervening quarter of a century, we can still have a lot of fun.
In my case it is okay, I think (otherwise I will not visit this website either) ..
I've been car-crazy for about 8 years, so as a 19-year-old that's more than half my life)
There really are still auto-offcionados, even for the old stuff. But 'the old stuff' for us is, for example, a 205 from the 90s -my car.
But indeed, it is not very popular, especially in the student world and at pre-university education. I study urban planning, so I am very focused on the future. Also in the Randstad, so that's not a place to be a classic fan at all.
One time when I dropped that I was spending half my free time on a 27-year-old neo-classic, I was looked at as if I were admitting to supporting cockfighting, and personally helping the ozone layer to oblivion.
Indeed, classic love may be less 'mainstream' than it was a few decades ago, but it will never disappear completely, especially now that the internet makes it easy to get info and help from hell
Dear Mark, just keep going like this, and let those hypocrites who don't know about culture or history cycle themselves
We give it to our children, my oldest was two and a half, in front of the bike, knew all the brands of the cars we encountered, (Peshoo, Renoo, Opul, Mesedes, Saab, Vovo, I will never forget)
Take to classic fairs, touring rides, garages, washing, cleaning and carefully tinkering a bit and the virus finds its way ...
Cool? My Tesla Model 3, and our MG-F.
Ah, predictions…. Who would have thought that the BX or Volvo 240 would one day become classics? Or that old albums of so-called bad rock bands that were once relocated would become priceless? I see quite young guys in the countryside who have fun in old cars.
You are partly right in the vision as you describe him Dolf, .. There are plenty of young people who are interested in old and young timers. As Glenn described it, he has a point, there are also a lot of vinegar pissers among the oldtimer enthusiasts who simply do not want to share their knowledge and do not intend to teach them those 'snot noses'. Not much is known to young guests, but also not to journalists like you, .. I showed Erik van Putten a different side of the Toyota brand, the rally scene, .. It is therefore a task of AMK to make young people enthusiastic about brand-related information that cannot be found on the internet. It is a task of ONS as young and old-timer enthusiasts to involve the 'brats' instead of driving them into a corner as uninterested people,… ..
Hi Ron, I hope that 'enough' is also 'enough'….
'enough' is also 'enough' Dolf. Separating a bit of chaff from the wheat is not a problem either, ... daydreamers with two left hands are also useless 😉
Hello Ron, you have pieces of grumpy everywhere. I have nothing to do with those people, of whatever age or gender they are. So it doesn't bother me either. Nice and quiet! It is clear that there are still younger fanciers. People who not only read this free site, but also have such an almost free subscription to AMK, see them regularly in the magazine with their pride.
By the way, I still see quite a few young people who love classic cars.
A certain group may not, but you also have that among the elderly.
Well, hope and despair. . . .
My 7-year-old son still thinks it best when I pick him up from school with the Audi 200 Turbo Quattro Oettinger (from '86) (smells good and stuff, he thinks).
Large, quite striking, a little noisy, the well-known 5pitter.
Or with the narrow-gauge tractor, nice and rebellious in the back of the box.
But I also picked him up with the moped, on the back of the Puch Grand Prix.
IN a child seat specially made for that purpose, because “uncle cop” wants something too.
Does a classmate of about 6 years old ask him what that "thing" is at the wheel.
If that turns out to be a helmet, (still had to put it on) you start to doubt (yourself, or lack of education elsewhere...;))
Dolf, it all sounds a bit gloomy, but you hit the nail on the head!
Our hobby has a lot to do with nostalgia and recognisability.
For me, as a 'gray' pigeon, this is the 50-60th years. As a former reader from the beginning of your magazine, I also see the 'progressive interest' in the volumes.
Our youth will also cherish that 'selectively', right?
You can also see this progression in 'our' generation up to and including 'pre-war' classics.
Consolation, my 10-year-old grandson is deeply impressed by Dad's Tesla, but "Grandpa, you should never get rid of your Jaguar XJ8 exclusive - you know!"
What a pessimistic shit article. And also completely based on assumptions; “I don't see any youngsters at the dusty car shows I go to, so they aren't there”. There are plenty of youngsters who love classics, including me (23 years old). Have you ever considered that we might not go to the same shows as you? Maybe we don't feel like sitting among the nagging oldies who are always trying to lecture us that we are a generation that only plays with a Playstation or telephone. And that we know nothing about technology and certainly shouldn't start with it. And that the cars we are interested in (young timers etc.) are always less than their stuff. You may have seen more young people if the older generation had done their best to welcome and help them with their knowledge, instead of making the everlasting condescension negative. There are of course also older people who are very welcoming and with whom young people like to deal with, but an incredibly large part has just never done their best for this and are now whining like you do. What nonsense.
Hi Glenn. You sound almost as grumpy as an old one. Don't let things you disagree with your life. And if you like something, you should definitely not let anyone stop you. Lots of fun!
Dear Dolf. I assume that you are partly right, but there are also exceptions. Since last year, a 25-year-old young lady has been completely addicted to her recently purchased DAF 55, which she has partly refurbished herself. I also know several young gentlemen between the ages of 20 and 30 who are also involved in XNUMXs and XNUMXs cars.
What you miss in the story is the nostalgic feeling. Just as the now 60s / 70s have a nostalgic feeling with classics, some of the young people who now have nothing to do with old stuff, will feel something for it in the future. By the time their children have left their home, they are given time to “look back”. The warm feeling they develop about the time when everything was better, undoubtedly motivates enough to want to own something from that time. Aka so a classic car.
I also see younger people who like older cars. I think there will always be people who like old tech. What I'm really concerned about is the amount of cars on the scrapyard.
And then from BMW e39, Passat B5 Audi 100, Golf 4 Masses Volvo V70 Audi A8 with beautiful interior and made of aluminum, but also older cars such as Jaguar XJ early series,Triumph Spitfire, Peugeot 304 convertible, R4F4, Rover SD1.
If that continues and it goes very fast, then there will soon be a generation that can no longer have the first car as a hobby car, or a classic, they are all scrapped. I drive a VW Passat B5 1.9 TDI every day and got a letter from the RDW, signed by the director. ”According to the manufacturer's data, your car is worse than Euro 3, this means that you are not allowed in the environmental zone and this class will continue to apply at all times. alternative fuel and much better, cleaner emissions are of no use to me. The government is going to make it very difficult for us to drive an older car in Europe. The love must be very great to continue. Paying an extra 50 euros extra on top of the road tax per quarter, while I only get 10.000 km a year Diesel, is just the beginning. And I think that's a shame. There are so many nice cars from before the war to the end of the nineties. And oldtimer or not. , you decide what he means to you.
Well. Each example weakens the argument. Of course they are still there. But are there enough to prevent classic enthusiasts from becoming an endangered species? I hope so.
Combustion engines will remain there for a long time, because there are now also Teslas that run on diesel.
https://nooit.nl/een-tesla-op-diesel/
People just don't want to understand that if you don't drive a lot, an E-oto leaves a bigger environmental footprint than a fuel-powered one. Greening does not work uniformly, though
one that everyone is only too happy to push down their throat. So folks, enjoy all the old beauty that rides and rolls. We don't hurt a fly with it
My 16-year-old son texts me. He is 'secretly' lighting a fire with friends in the park, but they have a problem… They get the logs they brought from home (hey, I also miss 4 beers…) but not to burn them. No matter how long they keep the lighter under the block, it won't turn on! 4 Loose boys, 4 mopeds full of gasoline, 4 beers and at least 1 lighter together in a park ... In my time there had been a campfire, perhaps no more park, maybe no more mopeds ... I should have explained to my mother where my eyebrows and my new coat had remained… Maybe it's all just evolution? And those old cars in the garage? Both son and daughter don't like it ... But they cannot be sold and a division has already been made between which car will go to whom in due course ... there is still hope?
4 mopeds.
Praise yourself rich.
Many young people get an e-bike at the age of 12 (because cycling buddy also has one, and then, and then, and then) and then skip the moped.
Including tinkering with carbs (in the past) or vario and cdi (now), which lays a nice foundation for later.
Times have changed….
Come on, don't be so gloomy, there is always Cuba… (un) reliable cars, women and government, so the nicer weather and the rum and music again is an extra! Only on time there, rowing is too far…. For the time being still nice on the Guzzi and with the Carry…
A great year everyone!
50 Bonus points for the positive approach!
As the son of baby boomers I bought my first classic car when I was 38, a Daf 66 from 1975, and I started a 3 year old-timer restorer training. In addition, I have a lot of contact with other Daf enthusiasts (via Whatsapp of course), of which the most enthusiastic tinkerers have only just or not yet obtained their driver's license. The fact that there are no longer any young people who love old-timers is a bit blunt, there is certainly still hope 😉
A few years ago, he thought about a test drive with a Dodge pickup from '76. Nice 440 bigblock V8 on LPG in it, technically thoroughly tackled, enjoy. Turned out to be a short circuit in the new dots, so simple. As a means of transport I bought a tuned 17-year Subaru WRX again last year, in 2011 the one I had then got rid of after 4 years after a ton of fun because every day 300km commuting became a bit annoying in terms of daily refueling and now you don't have to anymore . 🙂
Ah yes, old one Alfa Had a 1600 GT Sprint from '66 for a long time, 240.000 km with a 205 GTI 1,9, Cobra built with a 7 liter V8, engines etc., very much enjoying it. It's a pity, when you see the backward prices of today, that the nice stuff has become so out of reach. And that I had no storage at the time!!
Well, I love speed and power, not to mention the sound (EV doesn't bother me) and luckily my oldest got that. In the past (very luxurious) had a kart for them, racing and dad as a mechanic etc. Elder emigrated to USA and races there very luxuriously for hobby in F600 and last year 2 races F4 (won with sim competition…). Technology is unfortunately not his thing and the USA unfortunately too far to be able to help. Nice that he regrets that he used to be so stubborn to want to drive alone and not learn to tinker 🙂
I hope we can enjoy these relics for a long time to come, otherwise I did my best with my old '55 (best year of construction haha) house in terms of PV, gasless, collectors, neutral etc. So this compensation I definitely give myself more than: - )))
dear Jan, all a result of RukRutte policy, announced in advance by our famous Zalm. First the euro, then no interest in the bank at all! That makes classics so expensive, and will soon only be driven by the rich establishment, certainly again by this left-wing government!
I also noticed that Audi has thrown in the towel with “lead by technology”… .. it seems as if there are no up-and-coming car engine engineers anymore.
There you say something Dolf… I recently visited Aaldering with my son. My son likes a lot of old stuff, but when we walked outside after 1,5 hours and I walked up to 2 DS, he looked at me with a look of what are you doing ... When I told him that my first two cars were of this type he almost doubled over with laughter, couldn't imagine anyone wanting to be seen in there!
On the other hand, it is an avid car enthusiast.
When he was a toddler I had a Traction Avant. After all, that was my first car memory. My father drove it in the late 50s. That same toddler, who thought the DS was ridiculous, loved the TA he loved lovingly Citroën- Rolls Royce named because of the ornament on the radiator.
So it might be in there, but has yet to come out? I will not experience those 25 years, because then I would be over 90, but secretly I hope that he will still remember the smell of leather, oil and petrol as I did when I bought the Traction at the time ...
Mwah, as long as the friend (25 years old) of my youngest is still very happy with my Opel Kadett 1970, tinkering with the approach to make the thing drivable again and to go on tour with it, I think it will not be that bad
When I came home with my oldtimer (Royal Enfield from 1939) my son looked at it and asked where the start button was ……
When I explained that such a thing had to be started with the kick-starter, he walked away shaking his head.
I wish those 25 years of Dolf to everyone and even much more, but I will not experience them again.
Before then I have to sell it because if he has to determine the value, the weight is estimated and the iron price is looked at on the internet ………….
I was talking to a top motorcycle mechanic and I started talking about the magneto. He gave me a blurry look; no idea what I was talking about.
Unfortunately, it is no different.
As long as it can: Enjoy it.
The fact is that the electrically moving vehicles at the end of the battery life are chemical waste that cannot simply be melted down before reuse.
The fact that they do not emit CO2 does not mean that the environment is better. Not even the (child) miners in Africa. Because of those mines, only the Chinese get better.
A grower said that if he wants to improve the harvest in the greenhouse (with ??), he INCREASES the CO2 content in the greenhouse. According to the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid) this can also be extended to the earth level. And (if we already succeeded in reducing the CO2) you work by doing that in my opinion on your own starvation.
In my opinion, a much more pertinent theory that I came across was that in the ice ages we had in the 16th 17th and 19th centuries, there were NO sunspots. Apparently they have been observed for centuries. A real fact is that there are now (almost) no sunspots. Only that fact has not yet reached NOS. because they still come up with Global warming details to cover up the bigger picture.
So then with your e-oto you automatically bump into the fact that your 'tank' yields fewer kms :-) maybe you better take a diesel generator with you to get your kms. You could also build in a diesel-fired parking heater. It costs less power from your battery (30 to 40W.
I am now 42 years old and cherish my classics (or rather young timers) in this case a VW Santana from 1983 imported from Belgium two years ago, a BMW 735i from 1990 that is used daily until now, than the Volvo 340 of my mother who has just been patched up and has been saved from the shredder and I also have a VW Passat B1 from 1979 half apart and which hopefully has a future with a lot of welding.
I was born with petrol in my blood and I have absolutely nothing to do with those driving tablets of today, so as long as I live I drive Classic.
In the 60s, 70s and partly 80s a multitude of (now) beautiful specimens from the 30s, 40s and 50s entered the blast furnaces. Then it was just old iron. The time will indeed come that there are almost no enthusiasts anymore, but after that time there will be another hobby. This wave movement is also there with antique furniture. They were worth treasures in the 70s (registration for old-timers). Nowadays, old-timers are worth treasures and antique furniture is hardly change. Everything goes up and down and the remainder is cherished extra hard afterwards.
I read that article, yes. The 36-year-old will probably just as he is not familiar with the operation of a 'choke', nor know about the fact that VW Beetles had a 'litter box'.
Refurbishing such an R4 from the base is quite a job, but it still pays off and we are happy with it over those 25 years of Dolf!
my ritmo diesel also runs on sunflower oil if necessary ...
There will come a time ... when everyone moves by riding, sailing or flying Duracell ...
The individual who still travels by combustion engine then has a 10-day pass, on which exactly how many of those 10 days / year are still kept via scanned license plate ...
Converted petrol will cost € 10 / ltr (because money will have been replaced by units by then); diesel is no longer available.
I'm not going to experience that time again, but my heart is bleeding for generations to come ..
My old side valve, which I hope will be passed on, will soon be melted down because “where do the batteries go?”… Sigh.