JohnnyT

The younger crowd these days started their car fascinations with the Fast & Furious movies. Economy cars that responded well to mods, and were affordable to the everyday teen. Back when I was a teen the only muscle cars most of us could afford were fox bodies or early-mid 90s Camaros.

Happy to say I grew out of the import scene (while nearly all of my friends are still stuck there). Picked up my first 'vette at 24 and will never look back

TorchRedRocket

It kind of depends on what you grew up around. I'm 25 now, and I have always been a gearhead, having grown up around snowmobiles, motorcycles, boats, and cars with my Dad.

Dave68

My dad was the opposite of a car guy, had short hair, and loved soft, slow music. I (and most of my generation) became the opposite of my Dad.

So yes, some kids take after their dads and some do a 180, often just to be different.

RubiconMike

My father was a butcher and owned grocery stores and restaurants. I can't ever remember seeing him work on any of the family cars - not at all a car guy.

He was always disappointed that I loved mechanical things and had zero interest in the food business.

I do remember as a very young kid (maybe 7 or 8?) going with my dad to pick up our car at a local mechanic friend's place, and the guy gave me an old one barrel carburetor to play with. I must have taken that thing apart and put it back together a hundred times (by myself, my dad had no interest).

I'm sure having a gearhead dad encourages the development of a gearhead son, but for me, that just wasn't the case.

robert21122

guess it dependeds on the kid. im 23 and have my two first cars 84 vette, and my 97 vette. i also have a 06 yamaha r6. all are fun well not the missfire injection 84 was fun till i got my 97

C5Wolfe

I've had young people tell me that the cars in my day really were not that quick on the street! I beg to differ, at least in my and my friends case. These pictures are of my "32" Ford roadster my dad and i built back in 1964. It was powered by a "394" J-2 Olds with an "Isky" cam.I ran 4.11 gears in a "banjo" rear with a Ford top loader. The car was driven on the street to school by me and on the strip on the weekend.
{also a little street action} The car ran 11.50s at around 118 mph!
i think it would have held its own today against 90% of the cars out there. By the way, It wasn't the fastest car around either. A guy named Joe Tomoro in a wicked "55' Chevy showed me his tailights on more than one occassion! To the good old days.

1sickz51vette

I've had a corvette since I was 16, now own a C5 for the past 7 years and love it.... just turned 26!

Zujin87

I drove my dad's '57 Chevy truck to high school and work until I could afford a '97 Camaro. For my 26 birthday I bought the '02 Vette. My father and I are also restoring his '68 Camaro using a '96 LT1 and 4L60E (I wanted the T56).

My wife LOVES cars from the '20s through the early '40s. She would take most '30's cars over a new Corvette. MAYBE the '50s & '60s Corvette over the older cars.

Did I mention we are 26?

gregm999

I'm 25 and been a car guy since day one. I remember when I was 10 years old I'd browse the for-sale magazines and dream about buying a vette some day. Bought my first one when I was 17 and haven't looked back since. Here's a list of all the cars I've had, in order of when I owned them:

84 Corvette- Red
84 Corvette- Black
85 Corvette
84 Fiero Indy Pace Car
87 Camaro Z28
86 Firebird
86 Fiero GT
90 Corvette ZR-1
93 Camaro Z28
87 Porsche 944
90 Z28
2002 Z06 (current)
93 Z28 (current)

99FRC Newb

i started tinkering around age 15. got an 86 monte carlo SS at 17 (bigger motor. loud as ****). 98 Z28 at 18 (heads/cam/bolt ons). 99 corvette at 20.

i still have my vette (now forged motor/twin turbo/e85) and i just bought a 5th gen camaro. I'm 24 years old.

i'd say yes, younger people are still into it.

liveaboard74

Bingo...
Little Saturn Sky with the maggie is the same thing. Fun, fast, and if I set cruse at 62 she will pull down over 30mpg and no its not a PSI vette but at 8.20's in the 1/8 it will hurt your feelings if you not on your toes.

I'm different I suppose. I enjoy seeing anyone fix any of the cars up as long as they are having fun and they don't over look their family for the sake of the car. Several mustangs and a total custom 73 Camero LT1 till 25 then the 1820 pound full race pinto from 25 to 32. Got out of cars and into boats till 5 years ago. Bought the Rear end dragster, sold it when I bought the sky and now playing with the vette. I don't think it ever gets out of our blood as long as you have something that fills the need for speed in some way or another but I think these younger people still enjoy it, just in a different way than we did, years ago.

DevilDog II

Awesome pictures!

wheresmycoffee

Well said. The kid who can't even properly identify the generation of Corvette you're driving can often identify what kind of ricer is approaching from 3 blocks away. I agree that kids still love cars - many just don't love the same cars we do. I'm lucky that both our boys are car guys. Our oldest (24) appreciates the classics and new American muscle. Our youngest (21) is a hard-core car guy and already an ASE technician for Nissan. He appreciates performance under any manufacturer's badge.

n8dogg

There is a lot to blame for the lack of car enthusiasts in today's youth. Think about when you were 15, 16, 17... The cars that you could maybe afford if you worked your butt off were something to have. Today there are no cars that are "cool" that a first time jobber could save up and buy.

Also fewer and fewer people are going into skilled trades. Everyone wants to be on Facebook, the computer and their smart phones. I'm OK with that because those in skilled trades have the least problem getting jobs .

Oh, and I'm 26, been a car nut since I was in the womb.

MongoZ06

There are plenty of young guys out there into cars, as it has been mentioned over and over they are just into a different genre. Are people with lifted trucks that are all chromed out with custom paint jobs into "cars".... Yes, just a different genre. I can appreciate the diversity in what's out there and think its great to the automotive culture as a whole, my only concern is when will the automotive enthusiast be a dying breed because of politicians, economics and the influx and push for Americans to drive "appliance" cars like the Camry.

RetiredSFC 97

Good points

dacfan

I keep seeing on this thread the mention of kids with lifted trucks. Since I live in rural South Carolina it is so much a part of the normal scenery that I didn't even think about that being a fad with young drivers. Almost everyone around here has a "huntin' truck" which is anything that is 4x4, rusty and lifted.
Nearly every home with a teenager here in the country also has a Z71 with a lift kit in the yard and most homes with a teenager in town has a fart can hondazdazukiyota.
20 years ago in the neighborhood I grew up in every home with a teenager either had a fox body stang, an f body camaro or a LOWERED Nissazdazukiyota. In the time since I was a teen, they quit lowering the trucks and started jacking them up....and the prices on fox stangs and f bodies went up significantly.

0ddball

Or something AWD with a turbo.
I'm 20 and all my friends have wrx's and other 4 cylinders. I get made fun of for having a c5, midlife crisis car. I love Corvettes, nothing like RWD V8.

OkieBikerDude

It depends on what their father's interest is. The sons of my friends are all into sports or computers and aren't interested in the freedom we believed went with a "set of wheels".

OBD

chasboy

Nothing sounds as good as a healthy V-8 engine.